(Invited) Innovative Advances in Copper Electroplating for IC Substrate Manufacturing

Tuesday, 15 October 2019: 14:00
Room 210 (The Hilton Atlanta)
K. Ganesan (Intel Corpororation), R. Manepalli, M. Wall, A. Wentzel, H. Castro, W. Li, and T. Heaton (Intel Corporation)
Low cost electroplating of copper to create Fine Line Space (FLS) features and Blind Micro Via’s (BMV) is a key technology element of high density substrates for integrated circuit packaging. In this work, we demonstrate a capable deposition methodology to influence gap fill behavior inside microvia along with a uniform deposit in the fine line patterned regions for substrate packaging applications. Interconnect circuitry in IC substrate packages comprises of stacked microvia that varies in depth from 20µm to 100µm with an aspect ratio of 0.5 to 1.5 and fine line patterns defined by photolithography. Photolithography defined pattern regions incorporate a wide variety of feature sizes including large circular pad structures with diameter of 20µm - 200µm, fine traces with varying widths of 3µm - 30µm and additional planar regions to define a IC substrate package. Electrodeposition of copper is performed to establish the desired circuit. Electrodeposition of copper in IC substrate applications holds certain unique challenges in that they require a low cost manufacturing process that enables a void free gap fill gap fill inside the microvia along with uniform deposition of copper on exposed patterned regions. Deposition time scales to establish the desired metal thickness for such packages could range from several minutes to few hours. In this work, we show case an electrodeposition methodology that achieves void free gap fill inside the microvia and uniform plating in FLS (Fine Lines and Spaces) regions with significantly higher deposition rates than traditional approaches. In order to achieve this capability, systematic experimental and simulation studies were performed to show a strong correlation of the independent parameters that govern the electrodeposition process to the deposition kinetics and deposition uniformity in fine patterned regions and gap fill rate inside the microvia.