imec Successfully Demonstrates Low-Resistivity Conductor Films That Outperform Cu & Ru on 300mm Wafers
26 May 2023
Celebrated semiconductor research institute imec has made public initial experimental data relating to a thin conductor film on a 300mm silicon wafer.
The resistivity of this film can be lower than that of either copper (Cu) or ruthenium (Ru) - which are currently widely employed in interconnect metallisation schemes. Resistivity figures as low as 11.5µWcm have been measured for the binary alloy at 7.7nm thicknesses. This represents a significant point in the progression of low-resistivity interconnects with sub-10nm widths - which is what ongoing device miniaturisation is going to mandate in the years ahead (particularly for next generation logic and memory ICs).
As Zsolt Tokei, Program Director of Nano-Interconnects at imec, explains; “The experimental existence of low-resistive thin conductor films on 300mm wafers motivates us to continue our search for binary and ternary alloys. At the same time, we investigate the composition control of the alloys and their integration compatibility with future metallisation schemes that will likely be based on subtractive etch.”
Contact Details and Archive...
