Chemical vapor deposition of nanocarbon on electroless NiB catalyst using ethanol precursor

Nanocarbon materials have been expected as post-Cu interconnect materials for large-scale integrated circuits (LSIs). In this paper, we present a nanocarbon deposition process using electroless plated NiB as the catalyst, which features conformal deposition on patterned dielectric surfaces. It was found that carbon nanotubes (CNTs) and graphitic films were deposited on the electroless NiB by atmospheric pressure chemical vapor deposition (CVD) using ethanol as the precursor. The graphitic quality estimated from the Raman spectra of the nanocarbon on the NiB catalyst was equivalent to that on a sputter-deposited pure Ni catalyst. The nanocarbon shape was dependent on NiB thickness, and CNTs were grown on 10-nm-thick NiB and graphitic films were grown on 30nm or thicker NiB. The deposition temperature can be lowered to 505°C, although the graphitic quality was degraded. It is considered that the electroless catalysts can be effective for nanocarbon deposition on patterned dielectric surfaces.