Enhancing the local conductivity of Cu films using temperature-assisted agglomerated Cu nanostructures

Kim, Jiwoong; Ju, Tae-Seong; Song, Sehwan; Lee, Dooyong; Cho, Sam Yeon; Bu, Sang Don; Ko, Wonhee; Li, An-Ping; Park, Jewook; Park, Sungkyun

doi:10.1088/1361-6463/ab5b49

Attention

Certain functionality on DOE PAGES may be limited from July 10th, 8 PM EDT through July 13th, 6 AM EDT. We apologize for any inconvenience.

Title: Enhancing the local conductivity of Cu films using temperature-assisted agglomerated Cu nanostructures

Journal Article · 16 December 2019 · Journal of Physics. D, Applied Physics

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1088/1361-6463/ab5b49 · OSTI ID:1761721

Kim, Jiwoong ^[1]; Ju, Tae-Seong ^[1]; Song, Sehwan ^[1]; Lee, Dooyong ^[1]; Cho, Sam Yeon ^[2]; Bu, Sang Don ^[2];

^[3];

^[4];

^[1]

Pusan National Univ., Busan (Korea, Republic of)
Jeonbuk National Univ., Jeonju (Korea, Republic of)
Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States). Center for Nanophase Materials Sciences (CNMS)
Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States). Center for Nanophase Materials Sciences (CNMS); Inst. for Basic Science, Pohang (Korea, Republic of); Pohang Univ. of Science and Technology (POSTECH) (Korea, Republic of)

We investigate the structural and electrical properties of Cu film and reveal their changes as a function of post-annealing temperature. Thermal annealing of a Cu film on a dielectric substrate can improve its crystallinity; however, high-temperature annealing also leads to a morphological transformation that hinders the precise measurement of electrical properties. The enhanced crystallinity of the Cu films is verified with x-ray diffraction as the annealing temperature increases. To examine the electrical properties of the Cu film after the dewetting processes, which promotes the formation of voids and agglomerations, we utilize both conventional micro four-point probe method as well as an advanced four-point probe scanning tunneling microscopy (4P-STM) technique to measure the conductance and evolution of the microscopic structural properties. We could eliminate a deceptive effect of voids with 4P-STM technique, and disclosed a significantly reduced resistivity (1.88 ± 0.07 µΩ∙cm) of Cu nanostructure after post-annealing at 700 °C. We unveiled impact of crystallinity and imperfections of Cu nanostructure, and discussed the critical role of the twin grain boundaries of single-crystalline Cu (1 1 1) on an Al₂O₃ substrate. We anticipate that understanding the evolution of the structures and the enhanced electrical properties of the post-annealed Cu nanostructures would be important for nanoscale devices where Cu is used as an interconnecting material and could provide a new route to control the plasmonic applications.

View Accepted Manuscript (DOE)

Cite

Export

Save

Research Organization:: Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States). Center for Nanophase Materials Science (CNMS)

Sponsoring Organization:: Korea Inst. for Basic Science (IBS); National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF); USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES)

Grant/Contract Number:: AC05-00OR22725

OSTI ID:: 1761721

Journal Information:: Journal of Physics. D, Applied Physics, Journal Name: Journal of Physics. D, Applied Physics Journal Issue: 9 Vol. 53; ISSN 0022-3727

Publisher:: IOP PublishingCopyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

References (30)

Electron Transport at the Nanometer-Scale Spatially Revealed by Four-Probe Scanning Tunneling Microscopy Li, An-Ping; Clark, Kendal W.; Zhang, X. -G. Advanced Functional Materials, Vol. 23, Issue 20 https://doi.org/10.1002/adfm.201203423	journal	March 2013
Measurement of Sheet Resistivities with the Four-Point Probe Smits, F. M. Bell System Technical Journal, Vol. 37, Issue 3 https://doi.org/10.1002/j.1538-7305.1958.tb03883.x	journal	May 1958
The Thermodynamics and Kinetics of film agglomeration Srolovitz, David J.; Goldiner, Max G. JOM, Vol. 47, Issue 3 https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03221433	journal	March 1995
Orientation relationships of copper crystals on c-plane sapphire Curiotto, Stefano; Chien, Harry; Meltzman, Hila Acta Materialia, Vol. 59, Issue 13 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.actamat.2011.05.008	journal	August 2011
Dewetted nanostructures of gold, silver, copper, and palladium with enhanced faceting Preston, Arin S.; Hughes, Robert A.; Demille, Trevor B. Acta Materialia, Vol. 165 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.actamat.2018.11.036	journal	February 2019
Copper Better than Silver: Electrical Resistivity of the Grain-Free Single-Crystal Copper Wire Cho, Yong Chan; Lee, Seunghun; Ajmal, Muhammad Crystal Growth & Design, Vol. 10, Issue 6 https://doi.org/10.1021/cg1003808	journal	June 2010
Efficient Directional Coupling between Silicon and Copper Plasmonic Nanoslot Waveguides: toward Metal−Oxide−Silicon Nanophotonics Delacour, Cécile; Blaize, Sylvain; Grosse, Philippe Nano Letters, Vol. 10, Issue 8 https://doi.org/10.1021/nl101065q	journal	August 2010
Large Discrete Resistance Jump at Grain Boundary in Copper Nanowire Kim, Tae-Hwan; Zhang, X. -G.; Nicholson, Don M. Nano Letters, Vol. 10, Issue 8 https://doi.org/10.1021/nl101734h	journal	August 2010
Stabilizing nanostructures in metals using grain and twin boundary architectures Lu, K. Nature Reviews Materials, Vol. 1, Issue 5 https://doi.org/10.1038/natrevmats.2016.19	journal	March 2016
Fabrication of high-quality single-crystal Cu thin films using radio-frequency sputtering Lee, Seunghun; Kim, Ji Young; Lee, Tae-Woo Scientific Reports, Vol. 4, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1038/srep06230	journal	August 2014
Repeated Solid-state Dewetting of Thin Gold Films for Nanogap-rich Plasmonic Nanoislands Kang, Minhee; Park, Sang-Gil; Jeong, Ki-Hun Scientific Reports, Vol. 5, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1038/srep14790	journal	October 2015
Sub-micron resolution surface plasmon resonance imaging enabled by nanohole arrays with surrounding Bragg mirrors for enhanced sensitivity and isolation Lindquist, Nathan C.; Lesuffleur, Antoine; Im, Hyungsoon Lab Chip, Vol. 9, Issue 3 https://doi.org/10.1039/B816735D	journal	January 2009
Sub-30 nm thick plasmonic films and structures with ultralow loss Teo, Ee Jin; Toyoda, Noriaki; Yang, Chengyuan Nanoscale, Vol. 6, Issue 6 https://doi.org/10.1039/C3NR05502G	journal	January 2014
Thickness dependence on the thermal stability of silver thin films Kim, H. C.; Alford, T. L.; Allee, D. R. Applied Physics Letters, Vol. 81, Issue 22 https://doi.org/10.1063/1.1525070	journal	November 2002
Influence of surface and grain-boundary scattering on the resistivity of copper in reduced dimensions Wu, W.; Brongersma, S. H.; Van Hove, M. Applied Physics Letters, Vol. 84, Issue 15 https://doi.org/10.1063/1.1703844	journal	April 2004
Control of bonding and epitaxy at copper/sapphire interface Oh, Sang Ho; Scheu, Christina; Wagner, Thomas Applied Physics Letters, Vol. 91, Issue 14 https://doi.org/10.1063/1.2794025	journal	October 2007
A cryogenic Quadraprobe scanning tunneling microscope system with fabrication capability for nanotransport research Kim, Tae-Hwan; Wang, Zhouhang; Wendelken, John F. Review of Scientific Instruments, Vol. 78, Issue 12 https://doi.org/10.1063/1.2821610	journal	December 2007
Epitaxial grain growth in thin metal films Thompson, C. V.; Floro, J.; Smith, Henry I. Journal of Applied Physics, Vol. 67, Issue 9 https://doi.org/10.1063/1.344969	journal	May 1990
Stability of the grain configurations of thin films—A model for agglomeration Rha, J. J.; Park, J. K. Journal of Applied Physics, Vol. 82, Issue 4 https://doi.org/10.1063/1.365960	journal	August 1997
Dewetting of Au and AuPt alloy films: A dewetting zone model Manuela Müller, Claudia; Spolenak, Ralph Journal of Applied Physics, Vol. 113, Issue 9 https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4794028	journal	March 2013
Modification in electrical transport with a change in geometry from a nanowire to a nanotube of copper: effect of the extra surface Venkata Kamalakar, M.; Raychaudhuri, A. K. New Journal of Physics, Vol. 14, Issue 4 https://doi.org/10.1088/1367-2630/14/4/043032	journal	April 2012
Size-dependent resistivity of metallic wires in the mesoscopic range Steinhögl, Werner; Schindler, Günther; Steinlesberger, Gernot Physical Review B, Vol. 66, Issue 7 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.66.075414	journal	August 2002
Kinetics of voiding and agglomeration of copper nanolayers on silica Saxena, R.; Frederick, M. J.; Ramanath, G. Physical Review B, Vol. 72, Issue 11 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.72.115425	journal	September 2005
Surface and grain-boundary scattering in nanometric Cu films Sun, Tik; Yao, Bo; Warren, Andrew P. Physical Review B, Vol. 81, Issue 15 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.81.155454	journal	April 2010
Heteroepitaxial growth of MgO(111) thin films on Al 2 O 3 (0001): Evidence of a wurtzite to rocksalt transformation Martínez-Boubeta, Carlos; Botana, Antía S.; Pardo, Victor Physical Review B, Vol. 86, Issue 4 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.86.041407	journal	July 2012
Grains, Growth, and Grooving Rost, M. J.; Quist, D. A.; Frenken, J. W. M. Physical Review Letters, Vol. 91, Issue 2 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.91.026101	journal	July 2003
X-Ray Wavelengths Bearden, J. A. Reviews of Modern Physics, Vol. 39, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1103/RevModPhys.39.78	journal	January 1967
Ultrahigh Strength and High Electrical Conductivity in Copper Lu, L. Science, Vol. 304, Issue 5669 https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1092905	journal	April 2004
Advanced Interconnects: Materials, Processing, and Reliability Baklanov, Mikhail R.; Adelmann, Christoph; Zhao, Larry ECS Journal of Solid State Science and Technology, Vol. 4, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1149/2.0271501jss	journal	October 2014
Loss mechanisms of surface plasmon polaritons propagating on a smooth polycrystalline Cu surface Lee, Hyun Seok; Awada, Chawki; Boutami, Salim Optics Express, Vol. 20, Issue 8 https://doi.org/10.1364/OE.20.008974	journal	January 2012

Similar Records

Plasma spray deposited superconducting Y-Ba-Cu-oxide coatings

Journal Article · 1990 · Modern Physics Letters B; (USA) · OSTI ID:6516835

Rohr, S; Bacher, I; Schlafer, U; +5 more

Microstructure of in situ epitaxially grown superconducting Y-Ba-Cu-O thin films

Journal Article · 1989 · Appl. Phys. Lett.; (United States) · OSTI ID:6335801

Hwang, D M; Venkatesan, T; Chang, C C; +4 more

Morphology of silver on YBa sub 2 Cu sub 3 O sub 7 minus. delta. thin films

Conference · 1991 · IEEE Transactions on Magnetics (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers); (United States) · OSTI ID:5932777

Roshko, A; Ono, R H; Beall, J A; +3 more

Related Subjects

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE
Cu nanostructure
agglomeration
crystallinity
four-point probe scanning tunneling microscopy
nanoscopic transports
thermal annealing
twin grain growth
x-ray diffraction

Title: Enhancing the local conductivity of Cu films using temperature-assisted agglomerated Cu nanostructures

Citation Formats

References (30)

Similar Records

Related Subjects