Improvement of thermal stability and electrical property of Cu/Cu(Zr)/SiOC:H film stack by controlling the structure and composition of Zr(Ge) nano-interlayer

Nano-layered films of Cu/Cu(Zr)/Zr(Ge) and Cu/Cu(Zr) were deposited on the p-SiOC:H/Si substrates by RF magnetron sputtering in Ar. Samples were subsequently annealed at temperatures ranging from 350-500^oC in vacuum, and characterized by four-point probe technique (FPPT), glancing incident angle X-ray diffraction (GIXRD), Auger electron spectroscopy (AES) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM), respectively. Results indicated that these samples have a high thermal stability and favorable electrical property when the Ge content in the Zr(Ge) nano-interlayer ranged from 26% to 79%. The fundamental relationship between the alloy content of the Zr(Ge) nano-interlayer and the property of the Cu/Cu(Zr)/Zr(Ge)/SiOC:H/Si film stacks was established, and the critical temperature of the self-formed ZrO"x/ZrSi"yO"x barrier formation was also revealed.