Observation of Grain Growth in Cu Films by In-Situ EBSD Analysis

2003 ◽  
Vol 766 ◽  
Author(s):  
D.P. Field ◽  
M.M. Nowell ◽  
O.V. Kononenko
Keyword(s):  
Grain Size ◽  
Grain Growth ◽  
Crystallographic Texture ◽  
Texture Evolution ◽  
Tantalum Nitride ◽  
Cu Films ◽  
Orientation Imaging ◽  
Film Characteristics ◽  
Beam Deposition

AbstractRecrystallization, grain growth and crystallographic texture evolution in Cu films is an area of importance for IC interconnect fabrication as the film characteristics influence the resulting line microstructure. This study examines Cu films deposited by partially ionized beam deposition onto a sublayer of tantalum nitride and additionally onto alpha- C:H. The films were annealed in-situ in the SEM chamber and intermittent orientation imaging was used to characterize the grain growth and crystallographic texture evolution in the films. Both initial and final textures are weak in each of the films analyzed, but are a function of sublayer material and thickness. Grain size in the Cu films is significantly smaller for the tantalum nitride sublayer than for the á-C:H sublayer.

Texture Evolution in Cu Films and Lines

2007 ◽  
Vol 990 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chia-Jeng Chung ◽  
David Field ◽  
No-Jin Park ◽  
Christy Woo
Keyword(s):  
Grain Growth ◽  
Strain Energy ◽  
Texture Evolution ◽  
Growth Conditions ◽  
Geometric Constraints ◽  
In Situ Observation ◽  
Processing Conditions ◽  
Cu Films ◽  
Unique Character

ABSTRACTGrain growth in polycrystalline films is controlled by the energetics of the surface, interface and grain boundaries as well as strain energy. The unique character of damascene lines fabricated from electroplated Cu films introduces the additional considerations of bath chemistry and geometric constraints. The moderate stacking fault energy of Cu allows for the development of a substantial twin fraction for certain growth conditions. This paper discusses in-situ observation of grain growth in Cu films and lines under various processing conditions. It is shown that for thicker films and for structures constrained within damascene trenches the energetics of twin boundary formation play a large role in texture development of these structures.

scholarly journals Mean Field Analysis of Orientation Selective Grain Growth Driven By Interface-Energy Anisotropy

1994 ◽  
Vol 343 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. A. Floro ◽  
C. V. Thompson
Keyword(s):  
Grain Size ◽  
Size Distribution ◽  
Grain Growth ◽  
Texture Evolution ◽  
Mean Field ◽  
Orientation Distribution ◽  
Interface Energy ◽  
Abnormal Grain Growth ◽  
Field Analysis ◽  
Energy Anisotropy

ABSTRACTAbnormal grain growth is characterized by the lack of a steady state grain size distribution. In extreme cases the size distribution becomes transiently bimodal, with a few grains growing much larger than the average size. This is known as secondary grain growth. In polycrystalline thin films, the surface energy γs and film/substrate interfacial energy γi vary with grain orientation, providing an orientation-selective driving force that can lead to abnormal grain growth. We employ a mean field analysis that incorporates the effect of interface energy anisotropy to predict the evolution of the grain size/orientation distribution. While abnormal grain growth and texture evolution always result when interface energy anisotropy is present, whether secondary grain growth occurs will depend sensitively on the details of the orientation dependence of γi.

In-Situ Laser Ultrasound Measurements of Austenitic Grain Growth in Plain Carbon Steel

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christian Kerschbaummayr ◽  
Martin Ryzy ◽  
Bernhard Reitinger ◽  
Mike Hettich ◽  
Jan Džugan ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Grain Size ◽  
Carbon Steel ◽  
Grain Growth ◽  
Plain Carbon Steel ◽  
Ex Situ ◽  
Ultrasound Measurement ◽  
Laser Ultrasound ◽  
Austenite Grain Size ◽  
Ultrasound Measurements

Abstract The macroscopic mechanical properties like yield-strength, ductility or hardness play an important role during the steel production and the design of new steel grades. The austenite grain size is an important parameter, which influences the final microstructure and the properties of a material. When developing grain growth evolution models, typically many samples have to be treated thermally and micrographs have to be prepared ex-situ. To reduce the time expenditure of this procedure we carried out in-situ laser ultrasound measurements of austenitic grain growth in plain carbon steel (AISI 1045). A thermomechanical simulator of the type Linseis L78/RITA has been upgraded with a laser ultrasound measurement system, which enables the continuous and contactless determination of the austenite mean grain size during a thermal cycle. In this work we will show the calibration workflow and grain size results by a new attenuation model for plain carbon steel. In-situ laser ultrasound measurement data is compared with several micrographs defined at supporting points along a specified temperature program to corroborate the findings.

In-Situ Tem Investigation During Thermal Cycling of thin Copper Films

1996 ◽  
Vol 436 ◽  
Author(s):  
R.-M. Keller ◽  
W. Sigle ◽  
S. P. Baker ◽  
O. Kraft ◽  
E. Arzt
Keyword(s):  
Grain Growth ◽  
Room Temperature ◽  
Dislocation Motion ◽  
In Situ Tem ◽  
Copper Films ◽  
Stress Evolution ◽  
Cu Films ◽  
Transmission Electron ◽  
Insight Into

AbstractIn-situ transmission electron microscopy (TEM) was performed to study grain growth and dislocation motion during temperature cycles of Cu films with and without a cap layer. In addition, the substrate curvature method was employed to determine the corresponding stresstemperature curves from room temperature up to 600°C. The results of the in-situ TEM investigations provide insight into the microstructural evolution which occurs during the stress measurements. Grain growth occurred continuously throughout the first heating cycle in both cases. The evolution of dislocation structure observed in TEM supports an explanation of the stress evolution in both capped and uncapped films in terms of dislocation effects.

Structure Evolution in Plated Cu Films

2005 ◽  
Vol 863 ◽  
Author(s):  
D.P. Field ◽  
NJ Park ◽  
PR Besser ◽  
JE Sanchez
Keyword(s):  
Film Thickness ◽  
Grain Growth ◽  
Texture Evolution ◽  
Structural Evolution ◽  
Similar Process ◽  
Structure Evolution ◽  
Line Geometry ◽  
Strong Function ◽  
Cu Films ◽  
Line Widths

AbstractStructure evolution in plated Cu films is a function of sublayer stacking, film thickness, plating chemistry, plating parameters, and temperature. The present work examines grain growth and texture evolution in annealed plated Cu on a 25 nm thick Ta sublayer for films of 480 and 750 nm in thickness. These results are compared against those obtained from damascene Cu lines fabricated from a similar process, using a series of line widths. The results show that the initial structures of the plated films are similar, with slightly weaker (111) texture, a higher fraction of twin boundaries, and larger grains in the thicker films. The microstructure of the Cu within the trench constraints is a strong function of line geometry with the propensity for twin boundary development controlling structural evolution.

scholarly journals Increasing the mean grain size in copper films and features

2008 ◽  
Vol 23 (3) ◽  
pp. 642-662 ◽  
Author(s):  
K. Vanstreels ◽  
S.H. Brongersma ◽  
Zs. Tokei ◽  
L. Carbonell ◽  
W. De Ceuninck ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Grain Size ◽  
Grain Growth ◽  
Driving Forces ◽  
Texture Evolution ◽  
Deposition Process ◽  
Interface Energy ◽  
Growth Mode ◽  
Copper Films ◽  
Mean Grain Size ◽  
The Mean

A new grain-growth mode is observed in thick sputtered copper films. This new grain-growth mode, also referred to in this work as super secondary grain growth (SSGG) leads to highly concentric grain growth with grain diameters of many tens of micrometers, and drives the system toward a {100} texture. The appearance, growth dynamics, final grain size, and self-annealing time of this new grain-growth mode strongly depends on the applied bias voltage during deposition of these sputtered films, the film thickness, the post-deposition annealing temperature, and the properties of the copper diffusion barrier layers used in this work. Moreover, a clear rivalry between this new growth mode and the regularly observed secondary grain-growth mode in sputtered copper films was found. The microstructure and texture evolution in these films is explained in terms of surface/interface energy and strain-energy density minimizing driving forces, where the latter seems to be an important driving force for the observed new growth mode. By combining these sputtered copper films with electrochemically deposited (ECD) copper films of different thickness, the SSGG growth mode could also be introduced in ECD copper, but this led to a reduced final SSGG grain size for thicker ECD films. The knowledge about the thin-film level is used to also implement this new growth mode in small copper features by slightly modifying the standard deposition process. It is shown that the SSGG growth mode can be introduced in narrow structures, but optimizations are still necessary to further increase the mean grain size in features.

Abnormal Grain Growth during Annealing in Nanocrystalline Fe-Ni Alloys

2007 ◽  
Vol 558-559 ◽  
pp. 1279-1282 ◽  
Author(s):  
J.H. Seo ◽  
Jong Kweon Kim ◽  
Yong Bum Park
Keyword(s):  
Grain Growth ◽  
Fibre Type ◽  
Texture Evolution ◽  
Orientation Imaging Microscopy ◽  
Abnormal Grain Growth ◽  
Morphological Features ◽  
Ni Alloys ◽  
Early Stages ◽  
Orientation Imaging

The texture evolution due to grain growth that takes place during annealing was investigated in nanocrystalline Fe-Ni alloys fabricated by using an electroforming method. In the current materials, the as-deposited textures were of fibre-type characterized by strong <100>//ND and weak <111>//ND components, and the occurrence of grain growth during annealing resulted in the strong development of the <111>//ND components with a significant decrease of the <100>//ND components. It was clarified that abnormal grain growth plays an important role on the evolution of the microstructures and textures. The abnormally grown grains were observed using orientation imaging microscopy in the early stages of grain growth, and their morphological features have been discussed.

Electroplated Cu Recrystallization in Damascene Structures at Elevated Temperatures

1999 ◽  
Vol 564 ◽  
Author(s):  
Qing-Tang Jiang ◽  
Michael E. Thomas ◽  
Gennadi Bersuker ◽  
Brendan Foran ◽  
Robert Mikkola ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Crystal Structure ◽  
Grain Size ◽  
Film Thickness ◽  
Grain Growth ◽  
Elevated Temperatures ◽  
Retardation Effect ◽  
Cu Films ◽  
Grain Sizes ◽  
Geometrical Constraints ◽  
The Difference

AbstractTransformations in electroplated Cu films from a fine to course grain crystal structure (average grain sizes went from ∼0.1 µm to several microns) were observed to strongly depend on film thickness and geometry. Thinner films underwent much slower transformations than thicker ones. A model is proposed which explains the difference in transformation rates in terms of the physical constraint experienced by the film since grain growth in thinner films is limited by film thickness. Geometrical constraints imposed by trench and via structures appear to have an even greater retardation effect on the grain growth. Experimental observations indicate that it takes much longer for Cu in damascene structures to go through grain size transformations than blanket films.

scholarly journals Orientation Imaging of Recrystallization, Grain Growth and Phase Transformations Using In-situ Heating

2005 ◽  
Vol 11 (S02) ◽  
Author(s):  
M M Nowell ◽  
D P Field ◽  
S I Wright ◽  
D Dingley ◽  
P Scutts ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Phase Transformations ◽  
Grain Growth ◽  
Orientation Imaging ◽  
In Situ Heating
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