Abstract
Electroplated Cu is a cost efficient metallization method in microelectronic packaging applications. Typically in 3-D chip staking technology, utilizing through silicon via (TSV), electroplated Cu metallization is inevitable for the throughput as well as reducing the cost of ownership (COO).To achieve a comparable film quality to sputtering or CVD, a pre-cleaning process as well as plating process is crucial. In this research, atmospheric plasma is employed to reduce the usage of chemicals, such as trichloroethylene (TCE) and sodium hydroxide (NaHO), by substituting the chemical assisted organic cleaning process with plasma surface treatment for Cu electroplating. By employing atmospheric plasma treatment, marginally acceptable electroplating and cleaning results are achieved without the use of hazardous chemicals. The experimental results show that the substitution of the chemical process with plasma treatment is plausible from an environmentally friendly aspect. In addition, plasma treatment on immersion Sn/Cu was also performed to find out the solderability of plasma treated Sn/Cu for practical industrial applications.
