Developing low-resistance copper interconnects is critical to the future advanced technology node. The typical preparation method for graphene is the chemical vapor deposition method with a high temperature. In the work, graphene is constructed on the copper interconnect at 400 °C throughout the process. This graphene/copper hybrid interconnect has a higher conductivity than pure copper, which is essential to reduce the width and thickness of Cu interconnects for realizing high-density chips.

As chip and copper interconnects continue to shrink, the resistance of copper interconnects increases. To solve the problem, we developed a low-temperature and high-conductivity graphene growth technology. It is proved that the conductivity of the graphene/copper interconnects is higher than that of the pure copper, and the graphene grown by our technology has lower defects, which means that the graphene film has better quality and has more potential to use in the backend advanced CMOS process.

Graphene has the advantages of high conductivity, high mobility, high transmittance, high thermal conductivity, and flexibility. This low-temperature growth graphene technology can be applied to connect transistors for advanced technology nodes and used as electrodes for various electronics, optoelectronics, or biomedical devices. Additionally, graphene is flexible and can serve as electrodes or active layers of flexible devices or circuits.