Abstract
The self-annealing which leads evolution of microstructure in copper electroplating layers at room temperature occurs after forming deposition layer. During the process, crystal orientation, size and sheet resistance of plating layer change. Lastly, it causes the change of physical and mechanical characteristics such as a tensile strength of plating layer. In this study, the variation of incorporated impurities, microstructure and sheet resistance of copper plating layer formed by electroplating are measured with and without inorganic additives during the self-annealing. In case of absence of inorganic additives, the copper layer presents strong total intensity of incorporated impurities. During the self-annealing, such width of reduction was significant. Moreover, microstructure and crystal size are increased while the tensile strength is decreased noticeably. On the other hand, in the presence of inorganic additives, there is no observable distinction in the copper plating layer. According to the observation on movements of the incorporated impurities in electrodeposition copper layer, within 12 hours the impurities are continuously shifted from inside of the plating layer to its surface after as-deposited electroplating. Within 24 hours, except for the small portion of surface layer, it is considered that most of the microstructure is transformed.
