Effects of direct current and pulse-reverse copper plating waveforms on the incubation behavior of self-annealing

This study investigates spontaneous microstructural evolution in electroplated Cu films with various plating current densities involving direct current and pulse-reverse waveforms and various possible driving forces. Studies have explained the grain growth and resistivity decrease during the self-annealing of as-deposited Cu film, but the incubation behavior of self-annealing under various direct current and pulse-reverse current waveforms at a certain film thickness is unknown. In this study, it was found that pulse-reverse current retards the incubation behavior more significantly than does direct current. According to the measurements of resistivity, stress, and secondary ion mass spectrometer, the large stress difference between the initial and critical values and the low impurity content of pulse-reverse current postponed the incubation, and led to a slow self-annealing rate. The combination of the stress difference and the impurity effect explains the incubation behavior of self-annealing under various plating current densities. The resistivity and X-ray diffraction results suggest that stress is the primary driving force that dramatically speeds up grain growth above the critical stress, and that high current density with a rapid grain growth rate enhances the (200) texture for strain energy minimization in electroplated Cu film. © 2010 Published by Elsevier B.V.