Multiscale simulation of metallic copper and copper oxide atomic layer deposition from Cu Beta-diketonates

Copper (Cu) interconnects have been widely used to replace aluminum in ultra-large-scale integration due to low resistivity and superior resistance to electromigration. Current processes for the fabrication of interconnects require thin Cu seed layers before the subsequent Cu filling by electrochemical deposition (ECD). It is crucial that these seed layers are coated conformally and smoothly in vias and trenches, ensuring that the ECD Cu films are free of voids. With the continuous scaling down of device dimensions, atomic layer deposition (ALD) has been considered as the most promising technology for making the Cu seed layers, because of its excellent conformality and precise thickness control. This dissertation is dedicated to the multiscale simulation of Cu ALD using the Cu beta-diketonate precursors (nBu3P)2Cu(acac) and Cu(acac)2. Different co-reactants (H, H2, H2O, O3 and wet O2) were investigated with respect to their application for the ALD of metallic Cu and Cu oxides. While Cu beta-diketonates have been widely applied in ALD, the mechanistic details of the surface reactions are still largely unknown. Ab initio calculations were performed to obtain the input data for reactive molecular dynamics (RMD) simulations and thermodynamic modeling, which were realized at the molecular-scale and macroscale, respectively.