Copper deposition by electron cyclotron resonance plasma

An electron cyclotron resonance plasma reactor has been built in order to study the filling of high aspect-ratio features on semiconductor devices with metal. The reactor produces a plasma of copper which is nearly 100% ionized at the substrate, without the use of any buffer or carrier gas. The ion flux is dependent on both the feed rate of copper neutrals into the plasma region, and on the microwave power absorbed in the plasma. Solid filling of features having aspect ratios as high as 4.2 is demonstrated, and a simple model is derived to explain the fill characteristics.