Full characterization of ultrathin 5-nm low-k dielectric bilayers: Influence of dopants and surfaces on the mechanical properties

Frazer, Travis D.; Knobloch, Joshua L.; Hernández-Charpak, Jorge N.; Hoogeboom-Pot, Kathleen M.; Nardi, Damiano; Yazdi, Sadegh; Chao, Weilun; Anderson, Erik H.; Tripp, Marie K.; King, Sean W.; Kapteyn, Henry C.; Murnane, Margaret M.; Abad, Begoña

doi:10.1103/physrevmaterials.4.073603

Full characterization of ultrathin 5-nm low-k dielectric bilayers: Influence of dopants and surfaces on the mechanical properties

Journal Article · Mon Jul 13 00:00:00 EDT 2020 · Physical Review Materials

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevmaterials.4.073603· OSTI ID:1782150

^[1]; ^[1]; Hernández-Charpak, Jorge N. ^[1]; ^[1]; Nardi, Damiano ^[1]; Yazdi, Sadegh ^[2]; Chao, Weilun ^[3]; Anderson, Erik H. ^[3]; Tripp, Marie K. ^[4]; ^[4]; Kapteyn, Henry C. ^[1]; Murnane, Margaret M. ^[1]; Abad, Begoña ^[1]

STROBE NSF Science & Technology Center, Berkeley, CA (United States); National Inst. of Standards and Technology (NIST), Boulder, CO (United States); Univ. of Colorado, Boulder, CO (United States)
Univ. of Colorado, Boulder, CO (United States). Renewable and Sustainable Energy Inst.
Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States). Center for X-ray Optics
Intel Corp., Hillsboro, OR (United States)

Ultrathin films and multilayers, with controlled thickness down to single atomic layers, are critical for advanced technologies ranging from nanoelectronics to spintronics to quantum devices. However, for thicknesses less than 10 nm, surfaces and dopants contribute significantly to the film properties, which can differ dramatically from that of bulk materials. Therefore, for amorphous films being developed as low dielectric constant interfaces for nanoelectronics, the presence of surfaces or dopants can soften films and degrade their mechanical performance. Here we use coherent short-wavelength light to fully and nondestructively characterize the mechanical properties of individual films as thin as 5 nm within a bilayer. In general, we find that the mechanical properties depend both on the amount of doping and the presence of surfaces. In very thin (5-nm) silicon carbide bilayers with low hydrogen doping, surface effects induce a substantial softening - by almost an order of magnitude - compared with the same doping in thicker (46-nm) bilayers. These findings are important for informed design of ultrathin films for a host of nano- and quantum technologies, and for improving the switching speed and efficiency of next-generation electronics.

View Accepted Manuscript (DOE)

Research Organization:: Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation; National Science Foundation (NSF); USDOE Office of Science (SC)

Grant/Contract Number:: AC02-05CH11231

OSTI ID:: 1782150

Journal Information:: Physical Review Materials, Journal Name: Physical Review Materials Journal Issue: 7 Vol. 4; ISSN 2475-9953

Publisher:: American Physical Society (APS)Copyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

References (44)

Interfacial Defect Vibrations Enhance Thermal Transport in Amorphous Multilayers with Ultrahigh Thermal Boundary Conductance Giri, Ashutosh; King, Sean W.; Lanford, William A. Advanced Materials, Vol. 30, Issue 44 https://doi.org/10.1002/adma.201804097	journal	September 2018
Acoustic Phonons and Mechanical Properties of Ultra-Thin Porous Low-k Films: A Surface Brillouin Scattering Study Zizka, J.; King, S.; Every, A. Journal of Electronic Materials, Vol. 47, Issue 7 https://doi.org/10.1007/s11664-018-6276-8	journal	April 2018
Constraint theory, vector percolation and glass formation Phillips, J. C.; Thorpe, M. F. Solid State Communications, Vol. 53, Issue 8 https://doi.org/10.1016/0038-1098(85)90381-3	journal	February 1985
Thin-film elastic-property measurements with laser-ultrasonic SAW spectrometry Hurley, D. C.; Tewary, V. K.; Richards, A. J. Thin Solid Films, Vol. 398-399 https://doi.org/10.1016/S0040-6090(01)01338-4	journal	November 2001
Low-k dielectric materials Shamiryan, D.; Abell, T.; Iacopi, F. Materials Today, Vol. 7, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1016/S1369-7021(04)00053-7	journal	January 2004
Stiffening of organosilicate glasses by organic cross-linking Li, Han; Knaup, Jan M.; Kaxiras, Efthimios Acta Materialia, Vol. 59, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.actamat.2010.08.015	journal	January 2011
Fracture properties of hydrogenated amorphous silicon carbide thin films Matsuda, Y.; King, S. W.; Bielefeld, J. Acta Materialia, Vol. 60, Issue 2 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.actamat.2011.10.014	journal	January 2012
Chemical–mechanical relationship of amorphous/porous low-dielectric film materials Yuan, C. A.; van der Sluis, O.; Zhang, G. Q. Computational Materials Science, Vol. 42, Issue 4 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.commatsci.2007.09.010	journal	June 2008
Effective geometric size and bond-loss effect in nanoelasticity of GaN nanowires Wang, R. J.; Wang, C. Y.; Feng, Y. T. International Journal of Mechanical Sciences, Vol. 130 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijmecsci.2017.06.026	journal	September 2017
Surface free energy and its effect on the elastic behavior of nano-sized particles, wires and films Dingreville, R.; Qu, J. Journal of the Mechanics and Physics of Solids, Vol. 53, Issue 8 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jmps.2005.02.012	journal	August 2005
Influence of network bond percolation on the thermal, mechanical, electrical and optical properties of high and low-k a-SiC:H thin films King, Sean W.; Bielefeld, Jeff; Xu, Guanghai Journal of Non-Crystalline Solids, Vol. 379 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jnoncrysol.2013.07.028	journal	November 2013
Molecular dynamics study on size-dependent elastic properties of silicon nanoplates Gong, Baoming; Chen, Qiang; Wang, Dongpo Materials Letters, Vol. 67, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.matlet.2011.09.056	journal	January 2012
Nanoindentation of submicron polymeric coating systems Geng, Kebin; Yang, Fuqian; Grulke, Eric A. Materials Science and Engineering: A, Vol. 479, Issue 1-2 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.msea.2007.06.042	journal	April 2008
Nuclear reaction analysis for H, Li, Be, B, C, N, O and F with an RBS check Lanford, W. A.; Parenti, M.; Nordell, B. J. Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research Section B: Beam Interactions with Materials and Atoms, Vol. 371 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nimb.2015.10.052	journal	March 2016
Size dependence of nanostructures: Impact of bond order deficiency Sun, Chang Q. Progress in Solid State Chemistry, Vol. 35, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.progsolidstchem.2006.03.001	journal	January 2007
Tailored amorphous silicon carbide barrier dielectrics by nitrogen and oxygen doping Matsuda, Yusuke; King, Sean W.; Dauskardt, Reinhold H. Thin Solid Films, Vol. 531 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tsf.2012.11.141	journal	March 2013
Nondestructive Measurements of the Mechanical and Structural Properties of Nanostructured Metalattices Abad, Begoña; Knobloch, Joshua L.; Frazer, Travis D. Nano Letters, Vol. 20, Issue 5 https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.nanolett.0c00167	journal	March 2020
Nondestructive Measurement of the Evolution of Layer-Specific Mechanical Properties in Sub-10 nm Bilayer Films Hoogeboom-Pot, Kathleen M.; Turgut, Emrah; Hernandez-Charpak, Jorge N. Nano Letters, Vol. 16, Issue 8 https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.nanolett.6b00606	journal	July 2016
Full Characterization of the Mechanical Properties of 11–50 nm Ultrathin Films: Influence of Network Connectivity on the Poisson’s Ratio Hernandez-Charpak, Jorge N.; Hoogeboom-Pot, Kathleen M.; Li, Qing Nano Letters, Vol. 17, Issue 4 https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.nanolett.6b04635	journal	March 2017
Elastic Moduli of Ultrathin Amorphous Polymer Films Stafford, Christopher M.; Vogt, Bryan D.; Harrison, Christopher Macromolecules, Vol. 39, Issue 15 https://doi.org/10.1021/ma060790i	journal	July 2006
Probing Thermomechanics at the Nanoscale: Impulsively Excited Pseudosurface Acoustic Waves in Hypersonic Phononic Crystals Nardi, Damiano; Travagliati, Marco; Siemens, Mark E. Nano Letters, Vol. 11, Issue 10 https://doi.org/10.1021/nl201863n	journal	October 2011
Measurement of the elastic constants of textured anisotropic thin films from x-ray diffraction data Renault, P. -O.; Le Bourhis, E.; Villain, P. Applied Physics Letters, Vol. 83, Issue 3 https://doi.org/10.1063/1.1594280	journal	July 2003
Ultrathin single-crystalline-silicon cantilever resonators: Fabrication technology and significant specimen size effect on Young’s modulus Li, Xinxin; Ono, Takahito; Wang, Yuelin Applied Physics Letters, Vol. 83, Issue 15, p. 3081-3083 https://doi.org/10.1063/1.1618369	journal	October 2003
Are surfaces elastically softer or stiffer? Zhou, L. G.; Huang, Hanchen Applied Physics Letters, Vol. 84, Issue 11 https://doi.org/10.1063/1.1682698	journal	March 2004
WSXM : A software for scanning probe microscopy and a tool for nanotechnology Horcas, I.; Fernández, R.; Gómez-Rodríguez, J. M. Review of Scientific Instruments, Vol. 78, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1063/1.2432410	journal	January 2007
Resonance acoustic-phonon spectroscopy for studying elasticity of ultrathin films Ogi, H.; Fujii, M.; Nakamura, N. Applied Physics Letters, Vol. 90, Issue 19 https://doi.org/10.1063/1.2737819	journal	May 2007
Optical pump-probe measurements of sound velocity and thermal conductivity of hydrogenated amorphous carbon films Arlein, J. L.; Palaich, S. E. M.; Daly, B. C. Journal of Applied Physics, Vol. 104, Issue 3 https://doi.org/10.1063/1.2963366	journal	August 2008
Thickness dependence of nanofilm elastic modulus Fedorchenko, Alexander I.; Wang, An-Bang; Cheng, Henry H. Applied Physics Letters, Vol. 94, Issue 15 https://doi.org/10.1063/1.3120763	journal	April 2009
The addition of strain in uniaxially strained transistors by both SiN contact etch stop layers and recessed SiGe sources and drains Denneulin, Thibaud; Cooper, David; Hartmann, Jean-Michel Journal of Applied Physics, Vol. 112, Issue 9 https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4764045	journal	November 2012
Progress in the development and understanding of advanced low k and ultralow k dielectrics for very large-scale integrated interconnects—State of the art Grill, Alfred; Gates, Stephen M.; Ryan, Todd E. Applied Physics Reviews, Vol. 1, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4861876	journal	March 2014
Valence and conduction band offsets at amorphous hexagonal boron nitride interfaces with silicon network dielectrics King, Sean W.; Paquette, Michelle M.; Otto, Joseph W. Applied Physics Letters, Vol. 104, Issue 10 https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4867890	journal	March 2014
Mechanical properties of low- and high- k dielectric thin films: A surface Brillouin light scattering study Zizka, J.; King, S.; Every, A. G. Journal of Applied Physics, Vol. 119, Issue 14 https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4945672	journal	April 2016
Size-dependent elastic properties of nanosized structural elements Miller, Ronald E.; Shenoy, Vijay B. Nanotechnology, Vol. 11, Issue 3 https://doi.org/10.1088/0957-4484/11/3/301	journal	July 2000
Time-resolved study of vibrations of a -Ge:H/ a -Si:H multilayers Grahn, H. T.; Maris, H. J.; Tauc, J. Physical Review B, Vol. 38, Issue 9 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.38.6066	journal	September 1988
Elastic properties of ultrathin permalloy/alumina multilayer films using picosecond ultrasonics and Brillouin light scattering Rossignol, Clément; Perrin, Bernard; Bonello, Bernard Physical Review B, Vol. 70, Issue 9 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.70.094102	journal	September 2004
Pseudosurface acoustic waves in hypersonic surface phononic crystals Nardi, D.; Banfi, F.; Giannetti, C. Physical Review B, Vol. 80, Issue 10 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.80.104119	journal	September 2009
Generation and control of ultrashort-wavelength two-dimensional surface acoustic waves at nanoscale interfaces Li, Qing; Hoogeboom-Pot, Kathleen; Nardi, Damiano Physical Review B, Vol. 85, Issue 19 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.85.195431	journal	May 2012
Stiffened Ultrathin Pt Films Confirmed by Acoustic-Phonon Resonances Ogi, H.; Fujii, M.; Nakamura, N. Physical Review Letters, Vol. 98, Issue 19 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.98.195503	journal	May 2007
Mechanism of Elastic Softening Behavior in a Superlattice Nakamura, Nobutomo; Ogi, Hirotsugu; Yasui, Takeshi Physical Review Letters, Vol. 99, Issue 3 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.99.035502	journal	July 2007
A linear filtering approach to the computation of discrete Fourier transform Bluestein, L. IEEE Transactions on Audio and Electroacoustics, Vol. 18, Issue 4 https://doi.org/10.1109/TAU.1970.1162132	journal	December 1970
Phase-Matched Generation of Coherent Soft X-rays Rundquist, A. Science, Vol. 280, Issue 5368 https://doi.org/10.1126/science.280.5368.1412	journal	May 1998
Detection and characterization of carbon contamination on EUV multilayer mirrors Chen, Juequan; Louis, Eric; Lee, Chris J. Optics Express, Vol. 17, Issue 19 https://doi.org/10.1364/OE.17.016969	journal	January 2009
Ultrafast extreme ultraviolet holography: dynamic monitoring of surface deformation Tobey, Ra'anan I.; Siemens, Mark E.; Cohen, Oren Optics Letters, Vol. 32, Issue 3 https://doi.org/10.1364/OL.32.000286	journal	January 2007
Measuring substrate-independent modulus of thin films Hay, Jennifer; Crawford, Bryan Journal of Materials Research, Vol. 26, Issue 6 https://doi.org/10.1557/jmr.2011.8	journal	March 2011

Similar Records

Spontaneous Polarization in an Ultrathin Improper-Ferroelectric/Dielectric Bilayer in a Capacitor Structure at Cryogenic Temperatures

Journal Article · Sun Sep 25 20:00:00 EDT 2022 · Physical Review Applied · OSTI ID:1982764

Nondestructive Measurement of the Evolution of Layer-Specific Mechanical Properties in Sub-10 nm Bilayer Films

Journal Article · Thu Jun 09 20:00:00 EDT 2016 · Nano Letters · OSTI ID:1682251

Thickness dependence of elastic modulus and hardness of on-wafer low-k ultrathin polytetrafluoroethylene films

Journal Article · Thu Mar 16 23:00:00 EST 2000 · Scripta Materialia · OSTI ID:20050496

Related Subjects

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE
bilayer films
dielectrics
elastic modulus
energy-dispersive x-ray spectroscopy
femtosecond laser irradiation
high-harmonic generation
poisson ratio
scanning transmission electron microscopy
surface acoustic wave
surfaces
ultrathin films

Full characterization of ultrathin 5-nm low-k dielectric bilayers: Influence of dopants and surfaces on the mechanical properties

Citation Formats

References (44)

Similar Records

Related Subjects