CVD and electrodeposition phenomena link revealed. (News Briefs).

NIST researchers have quantified the link that exists between chemical vapor deposition and liquid solution electrodeposition for superconformal filling of high-aspect ratio, fine features. This recent work exploits the curvature enhanced accelerator coverage (CEAC) mechanism developed at NIST and used to quantify superconformal electrodeposition of copper (widely used for integrated circuit production), as well as super-conformal electrodeposition of silver, also a recent NIST discovery.

The CEAC mechanism explains the link between the coverage of catalyst adsorbed on the surface of the growing metal and the changing area of that surface as it impacts the local metal deposition rate. Models based on this mechanism explain why deposition of metal occurs predominantly at the bottom of sub-micrometer dimension trenches and vias, leading to bottom-to-top filling of high aspect ratio features, an essential ingredient of integrated circuit fabrication in today's electronics. The newest NIST work explains experimental observations, published in the last year, of superconformal filling during chemical vapor deposition of copper. Based on these results, industry might one day be filling vias and trenches with a variety of metals using techniques in addition to electrodeposition.

CONTACT: Daniel Josell, [phone]; daniel. [e-mail] or Thomas Moffat, [phone]; [e-mail].