Interpretation of quantitative crystallographic texture in copper electrodeposits on amorphous substrates

Crystallographic texture and morphology in Cu electrodeposits was studied in relation to the current density and the content of the organic levelling additive 3-mercapto-1-propanesulfonate. The substrate onto which Cu was electrodeposited consisted of amorphous Ni-P in order to allow substrate-unbiased texture development in the electrodeposit. Comprehensive X-ray diffraction studies of the crystallographic texture, including calculations of the three-dimensional orientation distribution function, were performed and accompanied by investigations of the deposit morphology by means of light optical microscopy. Electrodeposits with totally different microstructures having the same main crystallographic orientation of grains were observed. For interpretation of the results, not only the original growth behavior in direct dependence on the applied process parameters, but also process dependent self-annealing effects (recrystallization) of the as-deposited layers were considered. (C) 2003 The Electrochemical Society.