Fractal Characteristics and Microstructure Evolution of Magnetron Sputtering Cu Thin Films  

作　　者：DU Shiwen LI Yongtang 

机构地区：[1]School of Materials Science and Engineering,Taiyuan University of Science and Technology

出　　处：《Chinese Journal of Mechanical Engineering》2013年第1期137-143,共7页中国机械工程学报（英文版）

基　　金：supported by National Basic Research Development Program of China (973 Program,Grant No. 2009 CB724200);Tribology Science Fund of State Key Laboratory of Tribology of Tsinghua University of China (Grant No. SKLTKF09B08);Shanxi Provincial Science Foundation for Youths of China (Grant No. 2010021023-4)

摘　　要：How to describe surface morphology characteristic and microstructure evolution are the hottest researches of current thin film researches. But in traditional characterization of surface morphology, the roughness parameters are scale related. And the microstructure evolution of thin film during post-treatment is usually not considered in detail, To give a better understanding of the roughness of thin films topography, fractal method is carried out. In addition, microstrueture evolution of thin films is analyzed based on the crystallography and energy theory. Cu thin films are deposited on Si （100） substrates by magnetron sputtering, and then annealed at different temperatures. Surface topography is characterized by atomic force microscope （AFM）. Triangular prism surface area （TPSA） algorithm is used to calculate the fractal dimension of the AFM images. Apparent scale effect exists between the surface morphology roughness and film thickness. Relationship between the fractal dimension and roughness is analyzed by linear regression method and linear relationship exists between fractal dimension and surface roughness root mean square （RMS）. Fractal dimension can be characterized as a scale independence parameter to represent the complex degree and roughness level of surface. With the increase of annealing temperature, surface roughness and fractal dimension decrease. But when the annealing temperature exceeds the recrystallization temperature, due to the agglomeration and coalescence of Cu grain, surface roughness and fractal dimension increase. Scale effect and changing regularity of grain growth and shape evolution for different film thickness under different annealing temperatures are analyzed. Based on minimum total free energy, regularity of grain growth and changing is proposed. The proposed research has some theory significance and applicative value of Cu interconnect process and development of MEMS.How to describe surface morphology characteristic and microstructure evolution are the hottest researches of current thin film researches. But in traditional characterization of surface morphology, the roughness parameters are scale related. And the microstructure evolution of thin film during post-treatment is usually not considered in detail, To give a better understanding of the roughness of thin films topography, fractal method is carried out. In addition, microstrueture evolution of thin films is analyzed based on the crystallography and energy theory. Cu thin films are deposited on Si （100） substrates by magnetron sputtering, and then annealed at different temperatures. Surface topography is characterized by atomic force microscope （AFM）. Triangular prism surface area （TPSA） algorithm is used to calculate the fractal dimension of the AFM images. Apparent scale effect exists between the surface morphology roughness and film thickness. Relationship between the fractal dimension and roughness is analyzed by linear regression method and linear relationship exists between fractal dimension and surface roughness root mean square （RMS）. Fractal dimension can be characterized as a scale independence parameter to represent the complex degree and roughness level of surface. With the increase of annealing temperature, surface roughness and fractal dimension decrease. But when the annealing temperature exceeds the recrystallization temperature, due to the agglomeration and coalescence of Cu grain, surface roughness and fractal dimension increase. Scale effect and changing regularity of grain growth and shape evolution for different film thickness under different annealing temperatures are analyzed. Based on minimum total free energy, regularity of grain growth and changing is proposed. The proposed research has some theory significance and applicative value of Cu interconnect process and development of MEMS.

关 键 词：fractal dimension metal thin film surface morphology microstructure evolution 

分 类 号：TB383.2[一般工业技术—材料科学与工程]