Defect-induced bandgap narrowing in low-k dielectrics
- Plasma Processing & Technology Laboratory and Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, Wisconsin 53706 (United States)
- Logic Technology Development, Intel Corporation, Hillsboro, Oregon 97124 (United States)
- Department of Physics, University of Leuven, B-3001 Leuven (Belgium)
- IMEC, Kapeldreef 75, B-3001 Leuven (Belgium)
- Department of Electrical Engineering, Stanford University, Stanford, California 94305 (United States)
In this work, core-level X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy was utilized to determine the surface bandgap for various porous and non-porous low-k a-SiCOH dielectrics before and after ion sputtering. By examining the onset of inelastic energy loss in O 1s core-level spectra, the gap narrowing was universally found in Ar{sup +} ion sputtered low-k dielectrics. The reduction of the bandgap ranges from 1.3 to 2.2 eV depending on the film composition. We show that the bandgap narrowing in these low-k dielectrics is caused by development of the valence-band tail as evidenced by the presence of additional electronic states above the valence-band maximum. Electron-spin-resonance measurements were made on a-SiCOH films to gain atomic insight into the nature of the sputtering-induced defects and reveal formation of carbon-related defects as the most probable origin of the gap states.
- OSTI ID:
- 22489167
- Journal Information:
- Applied Physics Letters, Vol. 107, Issue 8; Other Information: (c) 2015 AIP Publishing LLC; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0003-6951
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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