Fabrication and Characterization of (111)-Oriented and Nanotwinned Cu by Dc Electrodeposition

We report an approach to fabricating (111)-oriented and nanotwinned Cu (nt-Cu) by dc electroplating. A 200 nm thick Cu with (111) preferred orientation is required as a seed layer. Highly oriented Cu films with densely packed nanotwins can be grown to exceed 20 μm thick at high current and high stirring speeds. X-ray diffraction indicates that the intensity ratio of (111) to (220) is as high as 506, which is the highest among the reported electroplated Cu films. The spacing of twins ranges from 10 to 100 nm, which reveals a high hardness value of 2.23 GPa. The (111)-oriented nt-Cu will have many potential applications in interconnects and 3D IC packaging.