Research on alternative metal with lower resistivity than copper for sub-5nm regime

Abstract

Metal interconnect in semiconductor is a passage for electric current and the copper is widely used due to the low bulk resistivity. However, it becomes necessary to find an alternative metal to replace copper because the resistivity of copper rapidly increases as the feature size of semiconductor continues to shrink, which is known as the resistivity size effect. In this research, the aim of the work is to find a metal that has low scaling than copper, and specify the location of cross-over point. For this purpose, the Mayadas-Shatzkes model is used to quantify the resistivity size effect. As a result, it was computationally confirmed that the resistivity of rhodium is less than that of copper for sub-6.5nm regime.