Improved Adhesion of Direct Copper Seed Layer by Medium-Vacuum Sputtering Using Vacuum Ultraviolet Light

Abstract

A sputtering method is used to form the seed layer for copper electric plating. In general, copper sputtering has weak adhesion to resin, so titanium sputter is combined to increase the adhesion strength. However, etching in the lithography process requires two types of processes, titanium and copper metal. Adhesion strength was improved by performing vacuum ultraviolet (VUV) treatment as a pretreatment for medium-vacuum sputtering. We discovered the relationship between the hydroxyl groups on the resin surface and the adhesion strength by the chemical modification X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) method. Furthermore, by XPS analysis of the peeled copper interface, the adhesion mechanism between the resin and copper due to VUV irradiation was estimated. We evaluated the absorption properties in the vacuum ultraviolet region of a thinly-polished glass epoxy resin. We investigated the behavior of functional groups at the interface and considered the effect of vacuum ultraviolet light in the depth direction.

Comparison of vacuum ultraviolet irradiation and oxygen plasma treatment as pretreatment for copper seed layer on cycloolefin polymer

“…The chemical conditions of the interface between the copper plating layer and the COP film were examined. The copper plating layer was peeled off the COP film, and the surfaces of both the COP and copper sides were immediately analyzed 30,31) using XPS as mentioned above.…”