Comparison of (hexafluoroacetylacetonate)Cu(vinyltrimethylsilane) and (hexafluoroacetylacetonate)Cu(allyltrimethylsilane) for metalorganic chemical vapor deposition of copper

For the metalorganic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) of copper, (hfac)Cu(VTMS) (hfac = hexafluoroacetylacetonate, VTMS = vinyltrimethylsilane) and (hfac)Cu(ATMS) (ATMS = allyltrimethylsilane) were compared, and the effect of L ligand in (hfac)Cu–L was examined. It was found by 1H-NMR (nuclear magnetic resonance) that the thermal stability of (hfac)Cu(VTMS) was better than that of (hfac)Cu(ATMS) due to the relatively weak Cu–ATMS bond. From in situ Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) experiments, the formation of Cu(hfac)2, the product of disproportion reaction of Cu(hfac), was observed in the gas phase and (hfac)Cu(ATMS) was found to be more reactive to form Cu(hfac)2. The minimum temperature for the deposition of copper films from (hfac)Cu(ATMS) was as low as 60 °C, which was about 70 °C lower than from (hfac)Cu(VTMS). The grain size of the film deposited with (hfac)Cu(ATMS) was substantially larger than that with (hfac)Cu(VTMS), which showed that the chemical reactivity of the precursor had an influence on the microstructure along with the deposition temperature.