Prof Greg Hughes Recieves SFI TIDA Award

Professor Greg Hughes of the School of Physical Sciences has been awarded a Science Foundation Ireland / Enterprise Ireland Technology Innovation Development Award (TIDA) to research the possibility of using copper to form a diffusion barrier on high dielectric constant materials for future CMOS processes.

The TIDA scheme is a joint SFI/EI initiative which aims to realise a greater economic impact from state investment in oriented basic research. TIDA awardees initiate commercially relevant applied research programmes, develop the commercial expertise within their laboratories and are primed at the end of their awards to apply for more significant levels of commercialisation funding.

About the Project

The use of copper as the metal of choice for interconnects between transistors in integrated circuit fabrication has required the development of complex barrier layers to prevent the interdiffusion of copper and silicon which would lead to significant degradation in performance. As the dimensions of the coppers lines decrease it is necessary to significantly reduce the width of the barrier layers which is difficult to achieve with current technology.

Prof. Hughes aims to use unique strategies designed to investigate the key chemical interactions involved in barrier formation, and to optimise self forming copper barrier layers on a range of technologically relevant dielectric materials to produce ultrathin layers, which maintain their structural integrity during device operation.