Mechanisms of Scaling Effect for Emerging Nanoscale Interconnect Materials

Abstract

The resistivity of Cu interconnects increases rapidly with continuously scaling down due to scatterings, causing a major challenge for future nodes in M0 and M1 layers. Here, A Boltzmann-transport-equation-based Monte Carlo simulator, including all the major scattering mechanisms of interconnects, is developed for the evaluation of electron transport behaviors. Good agreements between our simulation and the experimental results are achieved for Cu, Ru, Co, and W, from bulk down to 10 nm interconnects. The line resistance values of the four materials with the inclusion of liner and barrier thicknesses are calculated in the same footprint for a fair comparison. The impact of high aspect ratio on resistivity is analyzed for promising buried power rail materials, such as Ru and W. Our results show that grain boundary scattering plays the most important role in nano-scale interconnects, followed by surface roughness and plasma excimer scattering. Surface roughness scattering is the origin of the resistivity decrease for high-aspect-ratio conductive rails. In addition, the grain sizes for the technical nodes of different materials are extracted and the impact of grain size on resistivity is analyzed.