Aqueous copper plating baths and a method for deposition of copper or copper alloy onto a substrate

1. An aqueous copper plating bath for electrolytic copper or copper alloy deposition comprising

at least one source of copper ions;

at least one acid; and

at least one bisurea derivative comprising a bisurea building block according to formula (I)

wherein A represents a unit derived from a diurea compound of the following formula (A1)

wherein

X 1 and X 2 are divalent residues independently from each other selected from the following group consisting of

wherein R 1 and R 2 are monovalent residues each selected independently from the group consisting of hydrogen, alkyl and polyoxyalkylene;

Y is selected from CH 2 , O and S;

c is an integer ranging from 1 to 6; c′ is an integer ranging from 1 to 6;

b is an integer ranging from 1 to 5;

b′ is an integer ranging from 1 to 5;

Z is a divalent bridging moiety which is selected from the group consisting of alkylene, arylene and alkylene oxide compound whereby said alkylene oxide compound is represented by the following formula

—(CH 2 ) d —[CH(R 3 )—CH 2 —O] e —(CH 2 ) f —(CH(CH 3 )) f′ —,

wherein d is an integer ranging from 0 to 3;

e is an integer ranging from 1 to 100; and

f is an integer ranging from 1 to 3;

f′ is 0 or 1;

each R 3 is independently from each other selected from the group consisting of alkyl, aryl and hydrogen;

a is an integer and ranges from 1 to 100; and

D is a divalent residue and is selected from the group consisting of

—CH 2 —CH(OH)—CH 2 —,

—CH 2 —CH(SH)—CH 2 —,—(CH 2 ) g —[CH(R 4 )—CH 2 —O] h —(CH 2 ) i — and

—CH 2 —CH(OH)—(CH 2 ) j —[CH(R 5 )—CH 2 —O] k —(CH 2 ) l —CH(OH)—CH 2 —

wherein g is an integer ranging from 0 to 4;

h is an integer ranging from 1 to 100;

i is an integer ranging from 1 to 4;

each R 4 is independently from each other selected from the group consisting of alkyl, aryl and hydrogen;

j is an integer ranging from 1 to 4;

k is an integer ranging from 1 to 100;

l is an integer ranging from 1 to 4;

each R 5 is independently from each other selected from the group consisting of alkyl, aryl and hydrogen

and if a is 2 or greater each A and each D are selected independently from each other

and wherein the aqueous copper plating bath is free of added zinc ions.

2. The aqueous copper plating bath according to claim 1 characterised in that the mass ratio of further reducible metal ions to copper ions ranges from 1/1 to 0/1.

3. The aqueous copper plating bath according to claim 2 characterised in that the further reducible metal ions are selected from the group consisting of gold ions, tin ions, silver ions, and palladium ions.

4. The aqueous copper plating bath according to claim 1 characterised in that the aqueous copper plating bath is free of further reducible metal ions.

5. The aqueous copper plating bath according to claim 1 characterised in that X 1 and X 2 are selected to be the same.

6. The aqueous copper plating bath according to claim 1 characterised in that b and b′ are the same and range from 1 to 2.

7. The aqueous copper plating bath according to claim 1 characterised in that D is selected from the group consisting of

—CH 2 —CH(OH)—CH 2 —,

—(CH 2 ) g —[CH(R 4 )—CH 2 —O] h —(CH 2 ) i — and

—CH 2 —CH(OH)—(CH 2 ) j —[CH(R 5 )—CH 2 —O] k —(CH 2 ) l —CH(OH)—CH 2 —.

8. The aqueous copper plating bath according to claim 7 characterised in that D is —(CH 2 ) g —[CH(R 4 )—CH 2 —O] h —(CH 2 ) i — and g is 0 and i is an integer ranging from 1 to 3.

9. The aqueous copper plating bath according to claim 1 characterised in that the alkylene, arylene or alkylene oxide compound forming Z are free of nitrogen atoms.

10. The aqueous copper plating bath according to claim 1 characterised in that each Z is selected to be an alkylene oxide compound represented by the formula

—(CH 2 ) d —[CH(R 3 )—CH 2 —O] e —(CH 2 ) f —(CH(CH 3 )) f′ — and

d is 0 and e is an integer ranging from 1 to 10 and f′ is 0.

11. The aqueous copper plating bath according to claim 1 characterised in that the at least one bisurea derivative contains one or two terminating groups and is represented by the following formulae (IIa) to (IIc)

wherein the first terminating group (TG1) bound to a unit derived from diurea compound in the bisurea building block according to formula (I) is selected from the group consisting of E-G 1 -, R 6 -G 2 -,

wherein G 1 , G 2 and G 3 are divalent residues represented by the following formula —(CH 2 ) m —[CH(R 7 )—CH 2 —O] n —(CH 2 ) o — wherein m is an integer ranging from 0 to 3; n is an integer ranging from 1 to 100; o is an integer ranging from 1 to 3;

each R 7 is independently from each other selected from the group consisting of alkyl, aryl and hydrogen;

E is a monovalent residue and is selected from triflate, nonaflate, alkylsulphonates, arylsulphonates and halogenides; and

R 6 is a monovalent residue selected from the group consisting of C 1 - to C 8 -alkyl, C 1 - to C 8 -alkenyl, aralkyl, aryl; and

the second terminating group (TG2) bound to divalent residue D in the bisurea building block according to formula (I) is selected from the group consisting of hydroxyl group (—OH), diurea compound A, monovalent residue E, C 1 - to C 8 -alkyl, aralkyl, aryl,

wherein G 4 is a divalent residue represented by the following formula —(CH 2 ) m —[CH(R 8 )—CH 2 —O] n —(CH 2 ) o — wherein m is an integer ranging from 0 to 3; n is an integer ranging from 1 to 100; o is an integer ranging from 1 to 3; each R 8 is independently from each other selected from the group consisting of alkyl, aryl and hydrogen;

E is a monovalent residue and is selected from triflate, nonaflate, alkylsulphonates, arylsulphonates and halogenides; and A is a diurea compound according to formula (A1).

12. The aqueous copper plating bath according to claim 1 characterised in that the at least one bisurea derivative has a weight average molecular mass M w of 500 to 50000 Da.

13. The aqueous copper plating bath according to claim 1 characterised in that the concentration of the at least one bisurea derivative in the aqueous copper plating bath ranges from 0.1 mg/l to 1000 mg/l.

14. A method for deposition of copper or copper alloy onto a substrate comprising the steps

(i) providing the substrate,

(ii) contacting the substrate with the aqueous copper plating bath according to claim 1 , and

(iii) applying an electrical current between the substrate and at least one anode,

and thereby depositing copper or copper alloy on at least a portion of a surface of the substrate.

15. The method of claim 14 characterised in that the substrate is selected from the group consisting of printed circuit boards, IC substrates, circuit carriers, interconnect devices, semiconducting wafers and glass substrates.

16. The method of claim 15 characterised in that the substrate has recessed structures selected from trenches, blind micro vias, through silicon vias and through glass vias.

17. The method of claim 14 characterised in that pure copper is deposited.

18. The aqueous copper plating bath according to claim 5 characterised in that D is selected from the group consisting of

—CH 2 —CH(OH)—CH 2 —,

—(CH 2 ) g —[CH(R 4 )—CH 2 —O] h —(CH 2 ) i — and

—CH 2 —CH(OH)—(CH 2 ) j —[CH(R 5 )—CH 2 —O] k —(CH 2 ) l —CH(OH)—CH 2 —.

19. The aqueous copper plating bath according to claim 6 characterised in that D is selected from the group consisting of

—CH 2 —CH(OH)—CH 2 —,

—(CH 2 ) g —[CH(R 4 )—CH 2 —O] h —(CH 2 ) i — and

—CH 2 —CH(OH)—(CH 2 ) j —[CH(R 5 )—CH 2 —O] k —(CH 2 ) l —CH(OH)—CH 2 —.