SBIR Phase I: High Performance, Environmentally Benign, Surface Cleaning and Copper Passivation Processes for Cu-Interconnect Manufacturing

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This Small Business Innovation Research Phase I research project will develop a new process technology for cleaning and passivating copper for semiconductor device Cu-interconnect manufacturing. The development of higher performance semiconductor devices with smaller feature sizes has driven the adoption of copper and SiCOH low-k dielectric materials. Corrosion is a leading source of yield loss and device failure. Whereas aluminum readily forms a protective passivating oxide, copper does not. Preliminary data suggests that it is possible to both clean and passivate copper with a single chemistry where corrosion protection is achieved through the selective formation of a thin inorganic passive layer on exposed copper surfaces. The successful completion of this research program will culminate in the development of a critical resource for use in the manufacture of the coming generations of high-density semiconductor devices. This new approach to copper cleaning and passivation has the potential to increase manufacturing productivity and manufacturing yield. This copper passivation process not only can be used in back-end-of-line (interconnect formation steps) in semiconductor device manufacturing, but also may find use in back-end packaging applications, and applications outside of semiconductor device manufacturing. The chemistry used for this cleaning and passivation process offers the additional benefit of being low cost and environmentally benign.