Influence of suppressing additive malachite green on superconformal cobalt electrodeposition

• Adsorption-coordination mechanism was calculated by quantum chemistry to demonstrate the inhibition effect of MG. • Adsorption-transport mechanism was illustrated to explain the bottom-up growth of cobalt under the influence of MG. • The nucleation and growth of cobalt is 3D diffusion-controlled progressive nucleation process. A novel suppressor, malachite green, was used to achieve bottom-up growth of cobalt in this work. Electrostatic potential, HOMO/LUMO of malachite green was calculated to provide an insight into the interaction between malachite green and metal substrate, while charge distribution, AIM (atoms in molecules theory) analysis and IRI (interaction region indicator) analysis were coupled to analyze the interaction between malachite green and cobalt ions. Adsorption-coordination inhibition mechanism was illustrated to explain the inhibition effect of malachite green. Electrochemical analysis was applied to evaluate malachite green. Cyclic voltammetry was used to confirm the inhibition effect of malachite green, while EQCM analysis demonstrates that the current efficiency was lowered by MG. The nucleation and growth of cobalt is 3D diffusion-controlled progressive nucleation growth under the influence of hydrogen evolution reaction and the compact cobalt coatings could be obtained by surface analysis. The effective MG concentration gradient could be formed within blind vias according to current transient analysis so as to develop electroplating rate difference. The bottom-up growth of cobalt within blind vias was achieved by carrying out electroplating test and the adsorption-transport mechanism was proposed to explain the superconformal electrodeposition of cobalt under the influence of MG.