Electro deposition chemistry

• US 6,113,771 A
• Filed: 07/13/1998
• Issued: 09/05/2000
• Est. Priority Date: 04/21/1998
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Applied Materials Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Applied Materials Incorporated
• Inventors: D'Urso, John J., Landau, Uziel, Rear, David B.
• Primary Examiner(s): Gorgos, Kathryn
• Assistant Examiner(s): Tran, Thao
• Application Number:
  US09/114,865
• Time in Patent Office: 785 Days
• Field of Search: 205/261, 205/296, 205/297, 205/298, 205/123, 106/1.22, 106/1.25, 106/1.26
• US Class Current: 205/123
• CPC Class Codes: C25D 3/38 of copper
• CPC Class Codes: C25D 7/123 Semiconductors first coated with a seed layer or a conductive layer

Abstract

The present invention provides plating solutions, particularly metal plating solutions, designed to provide uniform coatings on substrates and to provide substantially defect free filling of small features, e.g., micron scale features and smaller, formed on substrates with none or low supporting electrolyte, i.e., which include no acid, low acid, no base, or no conducting salts, and/or high metal ion, e.g., copper, concentration. Additionally, the plating solutions may contain small amounts of additives which enhance the plated film quality and performance by serving as brighteners, levelers, surfactants, grain refiners, stress reducers, etc.

Claims

1. A method for electrolytic plating of a metal on a semiconductive substrate, comprising:

connecting the semiconductive substrate to a negative terminal of an electrical power source;

disposing the semiconductive substrate and an anode in a solution comprising metal ions and less than about 0.05 molar concentration of a supporting electrolyte; and

electrodepositing the metal onto the semiconductive substrate from the metal ions in the solution.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the metal is copper.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the supporting electrolyte comprises sulfuric acid.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the metal ions are copper ions.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the copper ions are provided by a copper salt selected from the group consisting of copper sulfate, copper fluoborate, copper gluconate, copper sulfamate, copper sulfonate, copper pyrophosphate, copper chloride, copper cyanide, or mixtures thereof.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the copper ion concentration is greater than about 0.8 molar.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the substrate has an electronical resistivity between 0.001 and 1000 Ohms/square cm.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the solution further comprises one or more additives selected from polyethers.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the solution further comprises one or more additives selected from polyalkylene glycols.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the solution further comprises one or more additives selected from the group consisting of organic sulfur compounds, salts of organic sulfur compounds, polyelectrolyte derivatives thereof, and mixtures thereof.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the solution further comprises one or more additives selected from the group consisting of organic nitrogen compounds, salts of organic nitrogen compounds, polyelectrolyte derivatives thereof, and mixtures thereof.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the solution further comprises polar heterocycles.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the solution further comprises halide ions.

14. A method for electrolytic plating of copper on a substrate, comprising:

connecting the substrate to a negative terminal of an electrical power source;

disposing the substrate and an anode in a solution consisting essentially of water, a copper salt, and a supporting electrolyte selected from the group consisting of sulfuric acid, sulfamic acid, fluoboric acid, sulfonic acid, hydrochloric acid, nitric acid, perchloric acid, gluconic acid, and mixtures thereof, wherein the solution comprises less than about 0.05 molar concentration of the supporting electrolyte; and

electrodepositing copper metal onto the substrate from the copper salts in the solution.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the copper salt is selected from the group consisting of copper sulfate, copper fluoborate, copper gluconate, copper sulfamate, copper sulfonate, copper pyrophosphate, copper chloride, copper cyanide, or mixtures thereof.

16. The method of claim 14, wherein the copper salt has a concentration greater than about 0.8 molar.

17. The method of claim 14, wherein the supporting electrolyte comprises sulfuric acid.

18. A solution for electroplating copper onto a substrate, comprising:

water;

greater than about 0.8 molar concentration of a copper salt selected from the group consisting of copper sulfate, copper flouroborate, copper gluconate, copper sulfamate, copper pyrophosphate, copper chloride, copper cyanide, and mixtures thereof; and

a supporting electrolyte selected from the group consisting of sulfuric acid, sulfamic acid, fluoboric acid, sulfonic acid, hydrochloric acid, nitric acid, perchloric acid, gluconic acid, and mixtures thereof, wherein the solution comprises less than about 0.05 molar concentration of the supporting electrolyte.

19. The solution of claim 18, wherein the supporting electrolyte is an acid.

20. The solution of claim 18, wherein the supporting electrolyte is sulfuric acid.

21. A method for forming a metal film on a semiconductive substrate, comprising:

electrodepositing a metal onto the semiconductive substrate using an electrolyte that contains greater than about 0.8 M of metal ions and about 0.05 M or less of a supporting electrolyte.

22. The method of claim 21, wherein the electrolyte further comprises additives selected from the group consisting of ethers and polyethers.

23. The method of claim 22, wherein the ethers comprise ethylene glycol and the polyethers comprise polyalkylene glycols.

24. The method of claim 21, wherein the electrolyte comprises greater than 0.85M copper concentration.

25. The method of claim 21, wherein the electrolyte further comprises additives selected from the group consisting of organic sulfur compounds and their corresponding salts and polyelectrolyte derivatives thereof.

26. The method of claim 21, wherein the electrolyte further comprises additives selected from the group consisting of organic nitrogen compounds and their corresponding salts and polyelectrolyte derivatives thereof.

27. The method of claim 21, wherein the electrolyte further comprises additives selected from the group consisting of quaternary amines.

28. The method of claim 21, wherein the electrolyte further comprises additives selected from the group consisting of polar heterocycles.

29. The method of claim 21, wherein the electrolyte further comprises additives selected from the group consisting of aromatic heterocycles of the following formnula:

R'"'"'--R--R" where R is a nitrogen and/or sulfur containing aromatic heterocyclic compound, and R'"'"' and R" are the same or different and can be only 1 to 4 carbon, nitrogen, and/or sulfur containing organic group.

30. The method of claim 21, wherein the electrolyte further comprises additives selected from the group consisting of organic disulfide compounds of the general formula R--S--S--R'"'"' where R is a group with 1 to 6 carbon atoms and water soluble groups and R'"'"' is the same as R or a different group with 1 to 6 carbon atoms and water soluble groups.

31. The method of claim 21, wherein the electrolyte further comprises additives selected from the group consisting of activated sulfur compounds of the general formula S═

C--R'"'"'.

32. The method of claim 31, where R is an organic group having from 0 to 6 carbon atoms and nitrogen, and R'"'"' is the same as R or a different group having from 0 to 6 carbon atoms and nitrogen.

33. The method of claim 21, wherein the electrolyte further comprises additives selected from the group consisting of halide ions.