标题： 通过调节基底与金属的相互作用控制沉积的面心立方金属的生长形态 显示英文标题

标题： Control of growth morphology of deposited fcc metals through tuning substrate-metal interactions

摘要： 精确控制薄膜形貌对于优化各种技术应用中的材料性能至关重要，因为生长模式（无论是二维逐层还是三维岛状形成）决定了关键的功能特性，例如在CMOS互连应用中的电导率和催化活性，在这些情况下，岛的分布和尺寸决定了性能。 为了探索基底对沉积金属形貌的作用，我们对六种面心立方金属在(111)方向上的生长进行了广泛的蒙特卡罗动力学模拟：Ag、Au、Cu、Ni、Pd和Pt。 我们的模拟框架能够在同质外延生长情景下筛选和评估它们的生长模式，并通过改变基底-金属相互作用强度提出形貌控制策略，该强度通过修改向上和向下迁移的活化能来建模，并结合典型的后端工艺（BEOL）集成热预算内的热真空退火。 我们的模拟结果表明，调节基底相互作用强度可以有效地用于促进岛状形成或逐层生长模式，克服在实现大面积平坦表面方面的限制。 Au、Pd和Pt对基底相互作用强度的变化最敏感，其次是Ag，这表明强相互作用的基底会降低均方根（RMS）粗糙度、未覆盖基底暴露、岛的数量和岛的纵横比，同时适度增加平坦表面面积和原子配位数。 此外，通过热真空退火改善了互连相关指标，特别是当使用足够强的金属-基底相互作用时，可减少表面粗糙度，实现更大的平坦表面面积，合并和平滑岛，并减少缺陷密度。 显示英文摘要

摘要： Precise control over thin film morphology is critical for optimizing material properties across diverse technological applications, as the growth mode (whether 2D layer-by-layer or 3D island formation)determines key functional properties such as electrical conductivity in CMOS interconnect applications and catalytic activity, where island distribution and size dictate performance. To explore the role of the substrate on the morphology of deposited metals, we present extensive kinetic Monte Carlo simulations on six fcc metals growing in the (111) direction: Ag, Au, Cu, Ni, Pd and Pt. Our simulation framework enables screening and evaluation of their growth mode under homoepitaxial growth scenarios and proposes morphology control strategies by variation of substrate-metal interaction strengths, modeled by modifying the activation energies for upward and downward migration, combined with thermal vacuum annealing within typical back end of line (BEOL) integration thermal budget. Our simulation results demonstrate that modulation of the substrate interaction strength can be effectively employed to promote island formation or layer-by-layer growth modes overcoming limitations in achieving large flat surface areas. Au, Pd and Pt exhibit the highest sensitivity to substrate interaction strength variations, followed by Ag, showing that strongly interacting substrates decrease the root mean square (RMS) roughness, (uncovered) substrate exposure, island number and island aspect ratios, with moderate increases in flat surface areas and atomic coordination numbers. Additionally, interconnect relevant metrics are improved through thermal vacuum annealing particularly when sufficiently strong metal-substrate interactions are employed, reducing surface roughness, achieving larger flat surface areas, merging and smoothing islands, and decreasing defect density...