Published online by Cambridge University Press: 10 February 2011
Fracture mechanics models indicate that nonplanarity of the interface should have a significant effect on the measured fracture energy [1–5]. Previous work on a typical interconnect structure (Fig 1) has demonstrated that two thin film systems with nominally the same composition, but processed under different conditions exhibited different SiO2/TiN interface fracture energies [6,7]. pon investigation via crosssectional TEM, it was found that the stronger interface was significantly rougher than the weaker interface. These results indicate that small changes in processing conditions can significantly effect both interface morphology and adhesion. Accordingly, in this study, samples differing in the flow rate of Ar to a plasma arc during deposition of a TIN layer were chosen in order to investigate the effects on the interface morphology and the resulting interface fracture energy.