Barrier Property of a Ta/MnSixOy Layer Formed by a Ta–Mn Alloy for a Cu Interconnect

The advanced back-end module of very-large-scale-integrated-circuits (VLSIs) requires an ultrathin diffusion barrier layer between the Cu interconnect and low-K oxides. In this letter, we investigated the electrical properties of the barrier layer formed by a Ta-Mn alloy on SiO
₂
. A diffusion barrier layer self-formed at the interface during annealing, and the Ta/MnSi
_x
O
_y
bilayer structures were investigated by standard microscopy. Black's equation and the measured mean-time-to-failure (MTTF) were used to obtain the reliability characteristics under different temperatures and current densities. The reliability is approximately two times better than that of the conventional TaN/Ta counterpart. The confidence intervals at 95% for each MTTF confirmed the single failure mode, and the electromigration phenomenon was observed to be the failure mechanism. Our results provide evidence that Ta/MnSi
_x
O
_y
is a promising barrier material for Cu interconnects in VLSIs.