Irreversible hydrogen effects on resistivity of sputtered copper films

Can hydrogen trapped within the lattice of copper film produce irreversible effects on the electrical resistivities of copper film at room temperature? In order to answer this question, copper films were sputtered in the presence of hydrogen and resistivities were measured in vacuum at room temperature. A series of sputtering depositions were carried out at different hydrogen partial pressures to confirm irreversible hydrogen effects. Films sputtered in argon only, were used as controls. The electrical resistivities of copper films were measured as a function of hydrogen partial pressure. Saturation is reached for the electrical resistivity in high hydrogen partial pressures. The saturation is at around 5.0% hydrogen partial pressure of total sputtering pressure. The electrical resistivities of copper films are lowered irreversibly by hydrogen, because the films were sputtered in the gas mixtures of argon and hydrogen and the electrical resistivities of films were measured in the air. The sputtering rate decreases as the hydrogen partial pressure increases. The sputtering rate is found to be proportional to the average mass of the incident ion.