CMP-free and CMP-less approaches for multilevel Cu/low-k BEOL integration
A CMP-free process by electropolishing (EP) the planar contact plating (CP) Cu film and TaN dry etching which eliminate the stress induced peeling during CMP was demonstrated. Nanometer smoothness and a highly <111> texture of Cu can be achieved by optimizing the EP process. A 4-level Cu/low-k interconnect with CMP-less process was demonstrated with excellent yield. This process improves the throughput on ECP and CMP by two and has less dishing. authors: M.H. Tsai, S.W. Chou, C.L. Chang, C.H. Hsieha, M.W. Lin, C.M. Wu, W.S. Shue, D.C. Yu, M.S. Liang
Interconnect
On-chip Interconnect
On-chip interconnect today is based on copper/low-k wiring – in today’s chips, there can be more than 100 km of copper wires.
TSMC’s leading edge technologies use a novel copper gap-fill solution to enable the fabrication of smaller conductor lines. Newly-developed materials and processes allow significant reduction in line and via resistance to improve chip performance. A comprehensive suite of innovations on integration scheme, low-k material, and low-k process with selective deposition further enhance both performance (through capacitance reduction) and reliability. Beyond copper interconnect, explorations of single metallic elements, binary and ternary alloys, and 2D materials for future interconnect materials are underway both within TSMC and with our academic partners.
