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EXTENDING COPPER TECHNOLOGY:
Thinner barriers, better performance
 Ultra-thin
molecular structures—known to researchers for about 20 years—can
be used in a new way that could make computers and other microelectronic
devices faster and more efficient.
A team headed
by Ganapathiraman Ramanath, assistant professor of materials science
and engineering at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, has for the
first time, successfully used self-assembled molecular layers
(SAMs) as ultra-thin barriers to keep copper from diffusing into
adjacent insulating layers in microelectronics devices. SAMs are
a class of materials whose molecules stand up straight and form
a dense continuous layer.
“The
advantage of SAMs is that, because of their size, they can
be used with current copper technology as well as with future
technologies such as carbon nanotube-based molecular electronics.”
—Ganapathiraman Ramanath—
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This advance,
reported in the April 23 issue of Applied Physics Letters,
could extend copper technology by allowing cheaper fabrication
of smaller, more reliable interconnect structures with more than
twice the interconnect speed than would otherwise be possible.
Copper, the
preferred material for interconnecting devices in a chip, easily
diffuses into insulation layers that separate multilevel metal
wiring. To prevent diffusion, barrier layers separate the copper
from the insulation. Ramanath’s group, the first to test
SAMs for barrier properties, has demonstrated that SAM layers
as thin as 1.5 nanometers inhibit copper diffusion into silica.
“The
advantage of SAMs is that, because of their size, they can be
used with current copper technology as well as with future technologies
such as carbon nanotube-based molecular electronics,” Ramanath
says.
CONTACT: Theresa Bourgeois, (518) 276-2840,
bourgt@rpi.edu
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