Enhancement of Cu-Cu Bonding Interfaces Through High Creep Rate in Nanocrystalline Cu

This study investigates the use of nanocrystalline Cu (NC-Cu) to suppress interfacial voids in low-temperature Cu-Cu bonding for 3D IC packaging. We quantitatively compared the void characteristics of electrodeposited NC-Cu (grain size ~89.3 nm) and (111)-oriented nanotwinned Cu (NT-Cu, ~621.8 nm) bonded at 200 °C. Plan-view STEM-HAADF analysis revealed that NC-Cu achieved a much lower void area ratio (1.8%) than NT-Cu (4.0%), attributed to its high grain boundary density, which enhances atomic diffusion and grain boundary migration. At 250 °C, typical Ostwald ripening was observed, with fewer but larger voids. However, a rise in total void area fraction suggests a competing mechanism—possibly new void nucleation at grain boundaries triggered by residual defects from the electroplating process. These results highlight the superior void-mitigating capability of NC-Cu under low thermal budgets.