The effect of substrate texture and electroplating conditions on the texture and surface morphology of copper electrodeposits

Cu electroplating is a key process in manufacturing interconnects in electronic chips. Electroplating technique have been studied extensively in the past, however the influence of substrate texture and electroplating conditions on the texture and surface morphology of electrodeposits is still unclear. In this study, a role of various electroplating conditions and substrates having different texture is investigated. Three different polycrystalline copper specimens are used as substrates and electrodeposits are plated using different current densities. The surface morphology of the deposits was analyzed by SEM and AFM, and the microstructure and texture were measured by X-ray and OIM (EBSP). The mechanism of growth of Cu deposits and the importance of smooth surface morphology are analyzed.