Selective Ru ALD as a Catalyst for Sub-Seven-Nanometer Bottom-Up Metal Interconnects

Integrating bottom-up area-selective building-blocks in microelectronics has a disruptive potential because of the unique capability of engineering new structures and architectures. Atomic layer deposition (ALD) is an enabling technology, yet understanding the surfaces and their modification is crucial to leverage area-selective ALD (AS-ALD) in this field. The understanding of general selectivity mechanisms and the compatibility of plasma surface modifications with existing materials and processes, both at research and production scale, will greatly facilitate AS-ALD integration in microelectronics. The use of self-assembled monolayers to inhibit the nucleation and growth of ALD films is still scarcely compatible with nanofabrication because of defectivity and downscaling limitations. Alternatively, in this Research Article, we demonstrate a straightforward H2 plasma surface modification process capable of inhibiting Ru ALD nucleation on an amorphous carbon surface while still allowing instantaneous nucleation and linear growth on Si-containing materials. Furthermore, we demonstrate how AS-ALD enables previously inaccessible routes, such as bottom-up electroless metal deposition in a dual damascene etch-damage free low-k replacement scheme. Specifically, our approach offers a general strategy for scalable ultrafine 3D nanostructures without the burden of subtractive metal patterning and high cost chemical mechanical planarization processes.