In this study, an effective seeding technology, plasma immersion ion implantation of palladium (PIII Pd), was proposed to achieve defect-free gap filling for copper electroplating (Cu-ECP). It was found that a threshold dosage (similar to 5.2 x 10(18) m(-2)) of PIII I'd was required to drive Cu-ECP and the dependence of Pd dosage on the implantation time was quasi-linear. The thickness of electroplated copper films increased as the Pd dosage increased. Too high a Pd dosage caused a rough copper film with high resistivity (> 10 mu Omega cm) while too low a I'd dosage resulted in an insufficient nucleation site for Cu-ECP, leading to poor film adhesion. In addition, a higher substrate bias of PIII was suggested to enhance the gap-filling capability of Cu-ECP and the Cu(111) formation of electroplated copper films. (c) 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.