Adhesion enhancement of polyimide on copper by Ar ion beam etching of copper

Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
Ar ion beam etching (IBE) can be used to roughen a Cu surface and thus improve the adhesion of subsequently spin-coated polyimide (PI) films. During Ar IBE, the surface morphology of sputter-deposited Cu changes from round bumps to a rough cone structure. The ultimate tensile strength (UTS) of the PI/Cu interface is increased for certain specific beam conditions. Under optimal conditions, the UTS of the etched PI/Cu interface (6.2 MPa) is twice that of the unetched PI/Cu interface (3.1 MPa). Cu is detected in the deposited PI by Rutherford backscattering spectrometry (RBS). The amount of Cu at the top surface of the 2.5 μm thick PI film is 0.1 at. %; this is determined by RBS and XPS. While the Cu is dissolved by polyamic acid and diffuses into the PI, an oxygen-rich region is formed in the Cu. The oxygen-rich region in Cu grows from 50 A (approximately Cu2O) before PI deposition to more than 2000 A (where the oxygen concentration is about 5 at. %) after PI deposition. The oxygen source is not the PI itself but either dissociated oxygen from the water vapor in the PI imidization process or a product of the chemical reaction between Cu and polyamic acid.

This publication has 18 references indexed in Scilit: