Characterization of Cu surface cleaning by hydrogen plasma

When a Cu surface is exposed to a clean room ambient, a surface layer containing Cu2O, CuO, Cu(OH)2, and CuCO3 is formed. Thermal treatment in a vacuum combined with hydrogen plasma can remove this layer. Water and carbon dioxide desorb during the thermal treatment and the hydrogen plasma reduces the remaining Cu oxide. Ellipsometric, x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, and time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectroscopy analyses indicate that the mechanism of interaction of the H2 plasma with this layer depends on temperature. When the temperature is below 150 °C, H2 plasma cannot completely reduce Cu oxide. Hydrogen diffuses through the oxide and hydrogenation of the Cu layer is observed. The hydrogenated Cu surface has a higher resistance than a nontreated Cu layer. The hydrogen plasma efficiently cleans the Cu surface when the substrate temperature is higher than 150 °C. In this case, hydrogen atoms have enough activation energy to reduce Cu oxide and adsorbed water forms as a byproduct of Cu oxide reduction. When the wafer temperature is higher than 350 °C, the interaction of the Cu film with hydrogen and residual oxygen is observed.