Electroless Cu was investigated on refractory metal, W and TaNX, and Ir noble metal substrates with a plasma-assisted atomic layer deposited palladium layer for the potential back-end-of-the-line (BEOL) metallization of advanced integrated devices. The sodium and potassium-free Cu electroless bath consisted of: ethylenediamine tetraacetic acid (EDTA) as a chelating agent, glyoxylic acid as a reducing agent, and additional chemicals such as polyethylene glycol, 2,2'-dipyridine and RE-610 as surfactant, stabilizer and wetting agent respectively. The growth and chemical characterization of the Cu films was carried out with a field emission scanning electron microscope (FE-SEM), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), and Rutherford backscattering spectrometry (RBS). Group VIII metals such as Pt, Pd, etc., are stable in the electroless bath and catalytic towards the oxidation of glyoxylic acid and therefore work well for the electroless deposition of Cu. From RBS analysis, the amount of carbon and oxygen in Cu films were less than 1-3%. The Cu films were electroless deposited at 45-50 degrees C on patterned tantalum nitride with plasma-assisted atomic layer deposited (PA-ALD) Pd as a catalytic layer. Electroless Cu trench fill was successful with ultrasonic vibration, RE-610, and lowering the temperature to 45-50 degrees C on TaNX with the PA-ALD Pd catalytic layer. (c) 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.