Reduced stability of copper interconnects due to wrinkles and steps on hexagonal boron nitride substrates

摘要

There is great scientific and technological interest in the use of chemical-vapor-deposition grown hexagonal boron nitride dielectric substrates for microelectronics applications. This interest stems from its superior heat spreading capability compared to silicon dioxide as well as the lack of surface dangling bonds or charge traps in hexagonal boron nitride which results in superior performance for graphene based electronics devices. However, surface heterogeneities, such as wrinkles or steps, are ubiquitous in such devices due to the fabrication and processing of chemical vapor deposition grown hexagonal boron nitride. In this study, we characterize the effect of such surface heterogeneities on the stability of copper interconnects used in microelectronics devices. Based on the theoretical thermo-physical properties of the constituent thin film layers, our simulations predict that copper interconnects deposited on hexagonal boron nitride can withstand ～1.9 times more power than on a silicon dioxide substrate, due to its superior in-plane thermal conductivity. However, our electrical measurements reveal that copper wires melt and fail at consistently lower current densities on hexagonal boron nitride than on silicon dioxide. This was verified by testing in air as well as under vacuum. Scanning electron microscopy and atomic force microscopy characterization of the hexagonal boron nitride surface indicates that this contradictory result is due to nanoscale surface non-uniformities (i.e., wrinkles and steps) which are omnipresent in chemical-vapor-deposition grown and transferred hexagonal boron nitride films. Our results highlight the critical need for improved processing methods before large-scale microelectronics applications of chemical vapor deposition grown hexagonal boron nitride can be realized.