阅读说明：本技术 一种铜柱凸点互连结构及其制备方法 (Copper pillar bump interconnection structure and preparation method thereof ) 是由 高丽茵 刘志权 孙蓉 于 2019-10-10 设计创作，主要内容包括：本发明公开了一种铜柱凸点互连结构及其制备方法,属于微电子和微机电系统封装领域。该铜柱凸点互连结构中的铜柱为柱状晶结构,其上部为纳米孪晶组织,由特定的镀液配方及直流电沉积的工艺方法一次性在晶圆基底上制备获得,并进一步加工为铜柱凸点互连结构。一方面,可以利用铜柱中的纳米孪晶铜湮灭界面柯肯达尔孔洞、调控化合物择优生长等,从而提高铜柱凸点的互连性能和服役可靠性；另一方面,与全纳米孪晶组织的铜柱相比,本发明涉及的铜柱组织可以有效减少镀层生长应力。本发明涉及的直流电镀工艺可以和现有的晶圆级封装技术兼容,使该发明成果更容易实现产业化。(The invention discloses a copper pillar bump interconnection structure and a preparation method thereof, belonging to the field of microelectronic and micro electro mechanical system packaging. The copper column in the copper column salient point interconnection structure is a columnar crystal structure, the upper part of the copper column salient point interconnection structure is a nanometer twin crystal structure, the copper column salient point interconnection structure is prepared on a wafer substrate at one time by a specific plating solution formula and a direct current deposition process method, and the copper column salient point interconnection structure is further processed. On one hand, nanometer twin crystal copper in the copper column can be used for annihilating interface Kinkendall holes, regulating and controlling preferential growth of compounds and the like, so that the interconnection performance and the service reliability of the copper column salient points are improved; on the other hand, compared with the copper cylinder with a full nanometer twin structure, the copper cylinder structure can effectively reduce the growth stress of the plating layer. The direct current electroplating process can be compatible with the existing wafer level packaging technology, so that the achievement of the invention is easier to realize industrialization.)

1. A copper pillar bump interconnection structure is characterized in that: the copper column bump interconnection structure comprises a copper column which is prepared on a substrate through a direct current deposition process, wherein the copper column is of a columnar crystal structure, the upper part of the columnar crystal structure is a nanometer twin crystal structure containing a high-density twin crystal sheet layer, the lower part of the columnar crystal structure is free of the nanometer twin crystal structure, and the growth direction of the columnar crystal is perpendicular to the plane of the substrate.

2. The copper pillar bump interconnect structure of claim 1, wherein: the twin crystal lamella is parallel to the base plane, and the thickness of the twin crystal lamella is 15-100 nm.

3. The copper pillar bump interconnect structure of claim 1, wherein: the height of the nanometer twin crystal tissue area accounts for 20-80% of the total height of the copper column.

4. The copper pillar bump interconnect structure of claim 1, wherein: and a fine crystal transition layer exists between the copper pillar and the substrate material according to the difference of the crystal structures and the orientations of the substrate material and the copper pillar-shaped crystal structure.

5. The copper pillar bump interconnect structure of any of claims 1-4, wherein: the copper pillar bump interconnection structure further comprises an insulating layer, a metal pad, a dielectric layer, a seed layer, a solder bump and a wafer substrate; wherein: the surface of the wafer substrate is provided with an insulating layer, the metal bonding pad is arranged on the insulating layer on the surface of the wafer substrate, the dielectric layer covers the insulating layer and the outer edge of the metal bonding pad, the seed layer is sputtered on the metal bonding pad, a copper column is electrodeposited on the seed layer, and a solder bump is arranged above the copper column after the surface of the copper column is subjected to electrolytic polishing.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the copper pillar bump interconnection structure comprises: firstly, preparing a wafer or a chip with a seed layer as a substrate, then preparing a copper cylinder on the seed layer by adopting a direct current deposition process, and finally preparing a solder bump on the surface of the prepared copper cylinder to obtain a copper cylinder bump interconnection structure; wherein: the electroplating solution used in the galvanic deposition process had the following composition:

7. the method of claim 6, wherein the copper pillar bump interconnection structure comprises: in the direct current deposition process, the electroplating anode plate adopts a phosphorus copper plate, the content of P element in the phosphorus copper plate is 0.03-0.1 wt.%, and the current density is 1-10A/dm²The stirring speed is 100-1000 rpm.

8. The method of claim 6, wherein the copper pillar bump interconnection structure comprises: the wetting agent in the electroplating solution is polyethylene glycol or polyethyleneimine, wherein when the polyethylene glycol is adopted, the concentration of the wetting agent in the electroplating solution is 10-200 ppm, and when the polyethyleneimine is adopted, the concentration of the wetting agent in the electroplating solution is more than 0-200 ppm; the surfactant is gelatin, and the concentration of the gelatin in the electroplating solution is 10-60 ppm.

9. The method of claim 6, wherein the copper pillar bump interconnection structure comprises: the method specifically comprises the following steps:

(1) preparing a wafer substrate with an insulating layer, coating the insulating layer with a dielectric layer, selectively etching the dielectric layer, arranging a metal pad, continuously coating the dielectric layer, and exposing the surface of the metal pad in a dielectric layer window; or, directly using the chip with the metal bonding pad and the interconnection line as a substrate;

(2) preparing a seed layer at the exposed window position of the metal pad and on the dielectric layer;

(3) coating photoresist, and patterning the photoresist to expose the area where the copper pillar needs to be deposited;

(4) taking the seed layer as a cathode, and electroplating a copper column by direct current, wherein the copper column is connected with the bottom metal pad through the seed layer, and the side wall of the copper column is directly contacted with the photoresist;

(5) performing electrolytic polishing on the obtained copper column, and electroplating a solder on the top end of the copper column;

(6) removing the redundant seed layer on the photoresist and the dielectric layer;

(7) and reflowing the solder on the top of the copper pillar to form a solder bump.

10. The method of claim 6, wherein the copper pillar bump interconnection structure comprises: the method is applied to a copper pillar bump technology using a copper filling process or other advanced packaging technologies similar to a copper pillar bump interconnection structure.

Technical Field

The invention relates to the technical field of microelectronic and micro-electromechanical system packaging, in particular to a copper pillar bump interconnection structure and a preparation method thereof.

Background

During reflow of the flip chip package, the conventional solder balls collapse from a ball shape into a drum shape. To achieve alignment with the pads on the wiring board, the conventional solder ball size and the spacing between solder balls are typically large, thereby limiting the total number of microelectronic device I/os, especially 2.5D/3D packages and IC design developments. And after the solder joint spacing is reduced to a certain size, the spherical flip-chip solder balls are inevitably bridged, so that other reliability problems are caused. In order to realize the small-spacing and high-density packaging, the copper column salient points are generated, the deformation generated in the reflow process is small, and the allowed welding spot spacing is tighter. The copper pillar bump is composed of a copper pillar and a top solder, and is interconnected with the substrate through the solder. Compared with the traditional welding spot structure, the copper stud bump has more copper and less tin, and can simultaneously reduce Joule heating and current crowding effect due to good electrical property of Cu. However, the copper pillars are much harder than the common solder, thereby introducing a large stress to the package. Moreover, if a large amount of intermetallic compounds are generated on the Cu/Sn interconnection interface and a large amount of kirkendall holes are introduced in the reliability process, the mechanical property of the packaging structure is seriously affected, and the reliability is reduced.

In recent years, researchers try to use nano twinned copper as a substrate material in the field of microelectronics and an interface reaction process of tin solder, and find that the nano twinned copper has unique advantages in both interface compound regulation and interface hole inhibition. Lin et al found that an interface compound Cu was formed during the interfacial reaction between nano-twin copper and tin-based solder at 260 deg.C for 3min using a copper film of full nano-twin structure as a base material₆Sn₅0001 has obvious preferred orientation and grows parallel to Cu 111. The research proves that the controllable preparation of the interface IMC can be realized by utilizing the nano twin crystal copper, and the early failure of individual welding spots caused by uneven grain orientation under the premise of miniaturization is avoided (Acta materialala, 2013). Secondly, Liu et al found that when the brazing point of the nano twin crystal copper film and the common structure is compared at 150 ℃ for long time aging of 1000 hours, nano twin crystal copper film is subjected to long time agingThe rice twin boundary can effectively annihilate the Kendall pores in the interfacial reaction process and even can generate a full compound (Cu) without pores₃Sn) to ensure reliability of the solder joint (script material, 2013). Furthermore, chinese patent CN 105633033 a proposes a copper pillar bump technology using nano twin structure. However, the preparation technology of the nanometer twin crystal copper is mainly based on direct current deposition preparation methods with high current density, high acidity and the like, and the prepared full nanometer twin crystal copper coating has large growth stress, is not beneficial to subsequent processing and has certain influence on thermal stability. In practice, therefore, researchers often desire a less stressed, stable coating.

Disclosure of Invention

Aiming at the defects in the prior art, the invention aims to provide a copper column bump interconnection structure and a preparation method thereof, in the copper column bump interconnection structure, a copper column structure with a nanometer twin structure at the upper part can be prepared by one-time electrodeposition by utilizing a specific electroplating solution formula and process parameters, and columnar crystals without the nanometer twin structure are formed at the lower part, so that the copper column structure not only retains the advantages of nanometer twin copper interface reaction, slows down the growth of Kendall holes and promotes the preferential growth of interface compounds; meanwhile, the growth stress of a plating layer introduced by a nanometer twin structure is reduced, and the reduction of the plating layer stress is beneficial to improving the service reliability of the wafer-level packaging interconnection body.

In order to achieve the purpose, the technical scheme adopted by the invention is as follows:

a copper column salient point interconnection structure comprises a copper column which is prepared on a substrate through a direct current deposition process, wherein the copper column is of a columnar crystal structure, the upper part of the columnar crystal structure is a nanometer twin crystal tissue containing a high-density twin crystal lamella, the lower part of the columnar crystal structure is free of the nanometer twin crystal tissue, and the growth direction of the columnar crystal is perpendicular to the plane of the substrate.

The twin crystal lamella is parallel to the substrate plane, the thickness of the twin crystal lamella is 15-100nm, and the distance between the twin crystal lamella is 15-100 nm.

The height of the nanometer twin crystal tissue area accounts for 20-80% of the total height of the copper column. And a fine crystal transition layer exists between the copper pillar and the substrate material according to the difference of the crystal structures and the orientations of the substrate material and the copper pillar-shaped crystal structure.

The copper pillar bump interconnection structure further comprises an insulating layer, a metal pad, a dielectric layer, a seed layer, a solder bump and a wafer substrate; wherein: the surface of the wafer substrate is provided with an insulating layer, the metal bonding pad is arranged on the insulating layer on the surface of the wafer substrate, the dielectric layer covers the insulating layer and the outer edge of the metal bonding pad, the seed layer is sputtered on the metal bonding pad, a copper column is electrodeposited on the seed layer, and a solder bump is arranged above the copper column after the surface of the copper column is subjected to electrolytic polishing.

The preparation method of the copper pillar bump interconnection structure comprises the following steps: firstly, preparing a wafer or a chip with a seed layer as a substrate, then preparing a copper column on the seed layer by adopting a direct current deposition process, and finally preparing a solder bump on the surface of the prepared copper column to obtain a copper column bump interconnection structure; wherein: the electroplating solution used in the galvanic deposition process had the following composition:

in the direct current deposition process, the electroplating anode plate adopts a phosphorus copper plate, the content of P element in the phosphorus copper plate is 0.03-0.1 wt.%, and the current density is 1-10A/dm²(preferably 2 to 5A/dm)²) The stirring speed is 100-1000 rpm.

The wetting agent in the electroplating solution is polyethylene glycol or polyethyleneimine, wherein when the polyethylene glycol is adopted, the concentration of the wetting agent in the electroplating solution is 10-200 ppm, and when the polyethyleneimine is adopted, the concentration of the wetting agent in the electroplating solution is more than 0 and less than or equal to 200 ppm; the surfactant is gelatin, and the concentration of the gelatin in the electroplating solution is preferably 10-60 ppm.

The preparation method of the copper pillar bump interconnection structure specifically comprises the following steps:

(1) preparing a wafer substrate with an insulating layer, coating the insulating layer with a dielectric layer, selectively etching the dielectric layer, arranging a metal pad, continuously coating the dielectric layer, and exposing the surface of the metal pad in a dielectric layer window; or, directly using the chip with the metal bonding pad and the interconnection line as a substrate;

(2) preparing a seed layer at the exposed window position of the metal pad and on the dielectric layer;

(3) coating photoresist, and patterning the photoresist to expose the area where the copper pillar needs to be deposited;

(4) taking the seed layer as a cathode, and electroplating a copper column by direct current, wherein the copper column is connected with the bottom metal pad through the seed layer, and the side wall of the copper column is directly contacted with the photoresist;

(5) performing electrolytic polishing on the obtained copper column, and electroplating a solder on the top end of the copper column;

(6) removing the redundant seed layer on the photoresist and the dielectric layer;

(7) and reflowing the solder on the top of the copper pillar to form a solder bump.

The preparation method is applied to the copper stud bump technology using the copper filling process or other advanced packaging technologies similar to the copper stud bump interconnection structure, including but not limited to 2.5D, 3D and integrated fan out (InFO) packaging technologies and the like.

The design principle of the invention is as follows:

with respect to the mechanism of nano-twinning, researchers tend to resolve from stress and energy perspectives. For example, Xu et al [ Xu et al, j.appl.phys.,2009(105): 023521; xu et al, appl. phys.lett, 2007(91):254105] used the first principle calculation method to calculate the energy of nano-twin copper, which is more stable from the energy point of view than the copper of stressed normal structure because of stress release due to twin formation when biaxial planar stress is applied, and further indicates that the nano-twin structure grows in the presence of a copper film with higher stress. Therefore, the nano twin crystal structure is considered to be a special texture generated by intermittent release of the growth stress of the plating layer in the electrodeposition process, and the plating layer after electrodeposition still has large growth stress due to the harsh electrodeposition conditions.

The invention can change the stress state of the plating layer by adjusting the components and the content of the plating solution, the parameters of the electrodeposition process and the like. In the formula research process of the invention, a critical stress can be obtained by using high-concentration copper sulfate and lower-concentration acid under a certain electrodeposition condition. When the plating layer just begins to deposit, the plating layer is thinner and the plating layer stress is smaller, the formed columnar crystal without the nanometer twin crystal structure is, the plating layer stress is continuously accumulated along with the increase of the plating layer thickness, and when the critical stress required by the nanometer twin crystal formation is reached, the nanometer twin crystal structure is formed.

In particular, such electrodeposited copper films are suitable for copper pillar applications. In the copper pillar bump structure, the height of the copper pillar is often over 100 μm, and the electrodeposition conditions for preparing the full nanometer twin copper structure are relatively harsh in order to ensure that enough stress is available for growing the nanometer twin copper. Compared with the copper film with the structure of full nanometer twin crystal copper, the electrodeposited copper film designed by the invention has smaller stress contained in the plating layer. The internal stress of the plating layer easily causes the plating layer to be brittle, the excessive stress of the plating layer often causes the deformation or the generation of cracks of the matrix, sometimes even causes the plating layer to be peeled off and fall off, and the like, so that the application of the device is not facilitated, and the plating layer with smaller stress has better stability in the subsequent use process, thereby being beneficial to improving the service reliability of the wafer-level packaging interconnection body.

Compared with the prior art, the invention has the beneficial effects that:

1. according to the invention, the columnar crystal copper column with the upper part being the nanometer twin crystal structure can be prepared through one electrodeposition process, only the upper part of the copper column contains the nanometer twin crystal structure, and compared with the copper column salient point with the full nanometer twin crystal structure, the coating has smaller internal stress and more stable structure, and the electrodeposition preparation process is less difficult only by controlling the microstructure at the top of the coating. The method can be applied to the copper pillar bump technology using the copper filling process in the wafer level packaging process.

2. The copper pillar bump interconnection structure is the same as a full-nanometer twin crystal structure, and the interconnection interface with the solder is still a nanometer twin crystal structure, so that the advantages of elimination of a Kinkendall hole, adjustment of the preferred orientation of an interface compound and the like are retained, and the interconnection performance and the service reliability of the copper pillar bump can be effectively improved;

3. the direct current deposition process adopted by the invention can be compatible with the existing wafer level packaging preparation technology, so that the achievement of the invention is easier to realize industrialization.

Drawings

Fig. 1 is a schematic diagram of a copper pillar bump interconnect structure of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a scanning electron microscope photograph of a copper pillar structure with a nanometer twin copper structure on the top, prepared by the DC plating method in example 1.

FIG. 3 is a nano twin structure prepared by the DC plating method of example 1; wherein: (a) a transmission electron microscope photograph; (b) shows a Cu 110 direction diffraction pattern in which the twin plane is oriented in the (111) plane.

FIG. 4 is a scanning electron microscope photograph of the copper pillar structure with the upper part of a nanometer twin copper structure prepared by the DC plating method in example 2.

Detailed Description

The present invention will be described in further detail with reference to the accompanying drawings and examples.

Fig. 1 is a copper pillar bump interconnection structure of the present invention, which includes a wafer substrate 1, an insulating layer 2, a dielectric layer 3, a metal pad 4, a seed layer 5, a copper pillar 6 and a solder bump 7; wherein: an insulating layer 2 is prepared on the surface of a wafer substrate 1, a metal pad 4 is arranged on the insulating layer 2 on the surface of the wafer substrate 1, a dielectric layer 3 covers the insulating layer 2 and the outer edge of the metal pad 4, a seed layer 5 is sputtered on the metal pad 4, a copper column 6 perpendicular to the wafer substrate 1 is electroplated on the seed layer 5, and a solder bump 7 is arranged at the top end of the copper column 6.

The wafer substrate is made of silicon or silicon-germanium semiconductor material, or a chip or a device containing silicon or silicon-germanium;

the insulating layer is made of silicon oxide or silicon nitride, the dielectric layer is made of oxide or polymer (the polymer can be epoxy resin or polyimide), the seed layer comprises a titanium layer and a copper layer, the copper layer is connected with the copper column, and the titanium layer is an adhesion layer and used for ensuring that the seed layer and the wafer substrate have good adhesion.

The copper column electroplated on the seed layer 5 is in a columnar crystal structure, and the upper part of the copper column is a nanometer twin crystal structure area with a high-density twin crystal sheet layer. Due to the crystal orientation difference between the base material and the columnar crystal structure, a thin fine-crystal transition layer with the thickness below 2 microns may be arranged between the base material and the columnar crystal, and the thickness of the transition layer is negligible because the thickness size of the transition layer is different from that of the whole copper column structure with the thickness of hundreds of microns by several orders of magnitude.

The preparation process of the copper pillar bump interconnection structure comprises the following steps:

(1) preparing a wafer substrate with an insulating layer, coating the insulating layer with a dielectric layer, selectively etching the dielectric layer, arranging a metal bonding pad, continuously coating the dielectric layer until the wiring layer, the wiring layer and the like are manufactured, and exposing the surface of the metal bonding pad in a dielectric layer window; or directly using the chip with the metal bonding pad and the interconnection line as a substrate;

(2) depositing a seed layer on the dielectric layer and the exposed metal pad by using methods such as magnetron sputtering and the like;

(3) coating photoresist, and patterning the photoresist to expose the area where the copper pillar needs to be deposited;

(4) taking the seed layer exposed in the photoresist window as a cathode, and electroplating a copper column by direct current, wherein the copper column is connected with the bottom metal pad through the seed layer, and the side wall of the copper column is in direct contact with the photoresist;

(5) performing electrolytic polishing on the obtained copper cylinder to obtain a flat surface, and performing electrodeposition of a solder on the surface of the copper cylinder;

(6) removing the redundant seed layer on the photoresist and the dielectric layer;

(7) and (4) reflowing the copper pillar salient points after electrodeposition, and forming the cap-shaped salient points by utilizing the surface tension of the solder.

Before the electroplating in the step (4), the seed layer is activated, and 5 wt.% hydrochloric acid is used for acid washing activation to ensure the bonding strength between the plating layer and the substrate.

In the step (4), in the process of direct-current electroplating of the copper pillar: the electroplating solution comprises the following components: 130-180 g/L of copper sulfate, 3-15 mL/L of sulfuric acid, 10-28 ppm of sodium chloride (calculated by chlorine content), 0-1000 ppm of wetting agent, 10-1000 ppm of surfactant and the balance of water; the wetting agent in the electroplating solution is polyethylene glycol or polyethyleneimine, wherein when the polyethylene glycol is adopted, the concentration of the wetting agent in the electroplating solution is 10-200 ppm, and when the polyethyleneimine is adopted, the concentration of the wetting agent in the electroplating solution is more than 0-200 ppm; the surfactant is gelatin, and the concentration of the gelatin in the electroplating solution is 10-60 ppm.

In the electroplating process of the step (4): the electroplating anode plate adopts a phosphorus copper plate, the content of P element in the phosphorus copper plate is 0.03-1 wt.%, and the current density is 1-10A/dm²(preferably 2 to 5A/dm)²) And in the electroplating process, an electromagnetic stirring mode is adopted to ensure that the concentration of the plating solution is uniform and consistent, and the stirring speed is 100-1000 rpm.

And (5) in the electrolytic polishing process, performing electrolytic polishing in a constant voltage mode, setting the voltage to be 7-10V, polishing for 5-10 min, taking the coating as an anode, and taking insoluble metal as a cathode. The electrolytic polishing solution comprises the following components: 500-700 mL of phosphoric acid, 300-500 mL of alcohol, 10-20 g of urea, 50-200mL of isopropanol and the balance of water.