Corrosion at the Grain Boundary and a Fluorine-Related Passivation Layer on Etched Al-Cu (1%) Alloy Surfaces

After etching Al-Cu alloy films using SiCl4/Cl_2/He/CHF3 mixed gas plasma, the corrosion phenomenon at the grain boundary of the etched surface and a passivation layer on the etched surface with an SF6 plasma treatment subsequent to the etching were studied. In Al-Cu alloy system, corrosion occurs rapidly on the etched surface by residual chlorine atoms, and it occurs dominantly at the grain boundaries rather than the crystalline surfaces. To prevent corrosion, the SF6 gas plasma treatment subsequent to etching was carried out. The passivation layer is composed of fluorine-related compounds on the etched Al-Cu surface after the SF6 treatment, and it suppresses effectively corrosion on the surface as the SF6 treatment pressure increases. Corrosion could be suppressed successfully with the SF6 treatment at a total pressure of 300 mTorr. To investigate the reason why corrosion could be suppressed with the SF6 treatment, behaviors of chlorine and fluorine were studied by various analysis techniques. It was also found that the residual chlorine incorporated at the grain boundary of the etched surface accelerated corrosion and could not be removed after the SF6 plasma treatment.