Hydrogen plasma effects on ultralow-k porous SiCOH dielectrics
- International Business Machines (IBM) Research Division, Thomas J. Watson Research Center, Yorktown Heights, New York 10598 (United States)
This study investigated the interactions of hydrogen plasmas with ultralow-k porous SiCOH (pSiCOH) films and their dependency on the values of the original dielectric constant, porogen used for the preparation of films, and substrate temperature during the plasma treatment. pSiCOH films of similar dielectric constants have been prepared by plasma-enhanced chemical-vapor deposition using an identical SiCOH skeleton precursor, but with two different organic porogens. The films exposed to the hydrogen plasmas have been characterized by optical techniques, shrinkage characterization, and electrical measurements. It was found that the hydrogen plasma modifies the structure of pSiCOH's oxide skeleton and reduces the concentration of the Si-(CH{sub 3}){sub 1} bonds, resulting in an increase of the dielectric constant. The degree of modification, for films prepared from the same precursors, is larger for films with lower dielectric constants (k) and is affected by the porogen used to prepare films with similar k values.
- OSTI ID:
- 20714133
- Journal Information:
- Journal of Applied Physics, Vol. 98, Issue 7; Other Information: DOI: 10.1063/1.2060935; (c) 2005 American Institute of Physics; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0021-8979
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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