Adhesion-enhanced thick copper film deposition on aluminum oxide by an Ion-beam-mixed Al seed layer

We report a highly-adherent 30-A mu m Cu conductive-path coating on an aluminum-oxide layer anodized on an aluminum-alloy substrate for a metal-printed circuit-board application. A 50-nm Al layer was first coated with an e-beam evaporative deposition method on the anodized oxide, followed by ion bombardment to mix the interfacial region. Subsequently, a Cu coating was deposited onto the mixed seed layer to the designed thickness. Adhesions of the interface were tested by using tape adhesion test, and pull-off tests and showed commercially acceptable adhesions for such thick coating layers. The ion beam mixing (IBM) plays the role of fastening the thin seed coating layer to the substrate and enhancing the adhesion of the Cu conductive path on the anodized aluminum surface.