저널

Multi-level thin films are very important in ULSI applications because of their high electromigration resistance. This study presents the effects of titanium, titanium nitride and titanium tungsten underlayers of the stability of multi-aluminum thin films during isothermal annealing. High purity Al(99.999%) films have been electron-beam evaporated on Ti, TiN, TiW films formed on SiO2/Si (P-type(100))-wafer substrates by RF-sputtering in Ar gas ambient. The hillock growth was increased with annealing temperatures. Growth of hillocks was observed during isothermal annealing of the thin films by scanning electron microscopy. The hillock growth was believed to appear due to the recrystallization process driven by stress relaxation during isothermal annealing. Thermomigration damage was also presented in thin films by grain boundary grooving processes. It is shown that underlayers of Al/TiN/SiO2, Al/TiW/SiO2 thin films are preferrable to Al/SiO2 thin film metallization.