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Filling deep trenches and cavities is currently accomplished by copper electro-less plating technology utilizing super-conformal deposition methods. Unlike typical electrolyses processes, where an electric potential is applied between the anodes to activate the plating reaction, electro-less plating relies on chemical agents to activate deposition. To achieve super-conformal deposition, special electrolytic paths must be used. This poses a challenge to the fabrication of narrower trenches, and thus requires the development of other deposition schemes. This work proposes an alternative solution to the filling of deep trenches that avoids the difficulties outlined above, using a forced convection magneto-electroplating method. The technique operates as in typical electrolysis processes, however, with forcing the flow of the plating electrolyte, by hydro-dynamic means, in the presence of an externally applied magnetic field. This arrangement introduces a Lorentz type of force that enhances the transport of deposit species toward desired locations, such as deep regions in interconnect trenches. The proposed method is demonstrated by filling interconnect trenches with aspect ratio as high as 3:1. Quality of samples filled using the proposed magneto-electroplating method is compared with the quality of samples filled by typical electroplating method.
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