Novel Wet Chemical Copper Metallization for Glass Interposers

The focus of the chip and IC substrate manufacturing industry for interposers is currently shifting from organic substrates to inorganic materials. Interposers overcome the dimensional mismatch between a die and an organic PWB substrate and need to buffer the differences in thermal expansion between these two materials. While inorganics like silicon and glass, have a low CTE value compared to organic material, glass has some significant advantages over silicon. These are namely material cost, availability in panel size and a better electrical insulation. In order to further increase the cost advantage, metallization could be done by either electroless or electrolytic copper plating as an alternative route to sputter technology. Both wet chemical processes are well established in PWB manufacturing and need adaptation to glass substrates. Compared to sputtering, 3D-features can be covered with a wet chemical treatment in a comparatively economical process. Filling of TGVs (Through Glass Vias) by electrolytic copper plating requires the presence of a conductive film which is created by applying electroless copper deposition of typically 300–500nm thickness. The general issue is poor adhesion to the smooth glass surfaces. To improve adhesion between glass and metal, various treatments were assessed in this study: Mechanical anchoring was achieved by etching the substrate (subtractive) as well as by depositing nano-sized silica particles (additive). Both treatments are in solution and 3D-features are accessible in contrast to a purely mechanical approach. Surface treatments without inducing additional roughness included the adsorption of functional metal-affine polyelectrolytes and silanization for conditioning which enhanced the adhesion of the copper layer to various degrees. To study the impact of chemical formulation on strain/stress development and relaxation in the film as a key impact factor for blister (adhesion) performance, the electroless copper layer growth was monitored by in-situ XRD methods during and after deposition.