A method of forming a semiconductor device includes providing a substrate having a patterned film including manganese; depositing a graphene layer over exposed surfaces of the patterned film; depositing a dielectric layer containing silicon and oxygen over the graphene layer; and heat-treating the substrate to form a manganese-containing diffusion barrier region between the graphene layer and the dielectric layer.

Implementations of low-resistance copper interconnects and manufacturing techniques for forming the low-resistance copper interconnects described herein may achieve low contact resistance and low sheet resistance by decreasing tantalum nitride (TaN) liner/film thickness (or eliminating the use of tantalum nitride as a copper diffusion barrier) and using ruthenium (Ru) and/or zinc silicon oxide (ZnSiO.sub.x) as a copper diffusion barrier, among other examples. The low contact resistance and low sheet resistance of the copper interconnects described herein may increase the electrical performance of an electronic device including such copper interconnects by decreasing the resistance/capacitance (RC) time constants of the electronic device and increasing signal propagation speeds across the electronic device, among other examples.