Published In

Journal of The Electrochemical Society

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

2010

Subjects

Atomic force microscopy, Mass spectrometry, Semiconductor films

Abstract

The corrosion behavior of electrochemically deposited copper thin films in deaerated and non-deaerated commercial cleaning solutions containing HF was investigated. Potentiodynamic polarization experiments were carried out to determine active, active–passive, passive, and transpassive regions. Corrosion rates were calculated from Tafel slopes. The addition of hydrogen peroxide to the solution and its influence on corrosion was also investigated by employing inductively coupled plasma-mass spectroscopy (ICP-MS) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). The ICP-MS and potentiodynamic methods yielded comparable Cu dissolution rates. Surface analysis using atomic force microscopy and scanning electron microscopy, performed before and after the cleaning solution treatment, did not reveal any indication of pitting corrosion. The presence of hydrogen peroxide in the cleaning solution led to more than an order of magnitude suppression of copper dissolution rate. We ascribe this phenomenon to the formation of interfacial CuO detected by XPS on the wafer surface that dissolves at a slower rate in dilute HF.

Description

This is the publisher's final PDF. © The Electrochemical Society, Inc. 2010. All rights reserved. Except as provided under U.S. copyright law, this work may not be reproduced, resold, distributed, or modified without the express permission of The Electrochemical Society (ECS). The archival version of this work was published here: http://jes.ecsdl.org/content/157/1/C24.abstract

DOI

10.1149/1.3245999

Persistent Identifier

http://archives.pdx.edu/ds/psu/11953

Included in

Chemistry Commons

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