Pinning Effect of Fe(ClO) and Ti(ClO) Compounds on Cu Grain Growth in Very Narrow Cu Wires

We have clarified that the grain growth of Cu in very narrow Cu wires is reduced by the pinning effect of Fe(C10) and Ti(C10) compounds at a grain boundary based on results of a nano-order-analysis of aberration-corrected scanning transmission electron microscope (Cs-corrected STEM) observations and an ab initio calculation. From the calculation, we estimated the segregation energy for the Fe(ClO) and Ti(ClO) compound impurities at the Cu grain boundary. Combining the ab initio calculation and measurement results, we proposed a pinning mechanism to suppress the grain boundary movement. (C) 2015 The Electrochemical Society. All rights reserved.