Effect of pH and chemical mechanical planarization process conditions on the copper-benzotriazole complex formation

Abstract

Benzotriazole (BTA) has been used to protect copper (Cu) from corrosion during Cu chemical mechanical planarization (CMP) processes. However, an undesirable Cu-BTA complex is deposited after Cu CMP processes and it should be completely removed at post-Cu CMP cleaning for next fabrication process. Therefore, it is very important to understand of Cu-BTA complex formation behavior for its applications such as Cu CMP and post-Cu CMP cleaning. The present study investigated the effect of pH and polisher conditions on the formation of Cu-BTA complex layers using electrochemical techniques (potentiodynamic polarization and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy) and the surface contact angle. The wettability was not a significant factor for the polishing interface, as no difference in the contact angles was observed for these processes. Both electrochemical techniques revealed that BTA had a unique advantage of long-term protection for Cu corrosion in an acidic condition (pH 3). (C) 2016 The Japan Society of Applied Physics