Scott Jeffrey Weigel

DRIFTS and Raman Investigation of N2 and O2 Adsorption on Zeolites at Ambient Temperature

Diffuse reflectance infrared fourier transform spectroscopy (DRIFTS) and Raman spectroscopy were used to examine N2 and O2 adsorption on cation-exchanged (K, Na, Sr, Ca, and Li) low silica X (LSX) zeolites. IR and Raman absorption bands were observed for the molecular vibration of adsorbed N2 and O2 at room temperature and atmospheric pressure. The intensity (in Kubelka-Munk units) of the IR band increased with N2 pressure and mirrored the adsorption isotherm for N2. Both O2 and N2 displayed a similar dependence of the molecular vibrational frequency on cation charge density, which suggests that both gases are interacting directly with the cations. The vibrational frequencies for adsorbed N2 and O2 were more sensitive to the cation charge density than to framework Al content. Infrared studies of N2 and O2 on mixed cation forms of LSX show that N2 interaction was localized near individual cations within the sorption cavity of the zeolite. Thus, adsorbed N2 can be used to probe accessibility of specific cations within the zeolite framework. The spectroscopic data are consistent with the theory that the stronger interaction of N2 over O2 is caused by the stronger influence of the electric field with the larger quadrupole of N2.

Impact of Pore Size and Morphology of Porous Organosilicate Glasses on Integrated Circuit Manufacturing

Porous organosilicate materials produced by plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition are the leading candidates for back-end-of-line dielectric insulators for IC manufacturing at 45nm design features and beyond. The properties of porous organosilicate glass films of dielectric constant k=2.50 ± 0.05 formed using diethoxymethylsilane and five different porogen precursors with an ultraviolet post treatment are reported. By varying the porogen precursor type pore sizes of 1-2 nm (equivalent spherical diameter) and porosities in the range of 24-31% were measured. While there were no observable trends in pore size with the molecular volume or plasma reactivity of the porogen precursor, modulus values ranged from 6.6 to 10.8 GPa. Porous films with the highest mechanical properties were found to have the highest matrix dielectric constant, highest network connectivity (lowest methyl content), and highest density. Within this process space, maximizing the network connectivity of the film was found to be more important to mechanical properties than lowering the total porosity. In effect, the choice of porogen precursor dictates the film morphology through its impact on the organosilicate glass matrix and pore size.

Novel negative tone photodefinable low dielectric constant hybrid films

Multifunctional films have the potential to reduce the number of processing steps to prepare various complex electronic devices and thereby reduce the cost of manufacturing the device and increase the throughput of the process. By combining low dielectric thin film and photoresist technologies into one material, such an advantage could be provided to electronics device markets. Air Products and Chemicals has discovered negative tone photodefinable films having dielectric constant values less than 3.0 that are developable in water and/or aqueous TMAH solutions. The low dielectric films produced via a novel reaction pathway involving the use of photoacid generators (PAGs) provides a versatile link to various feature sizes depending on the choice of radiation source and PAG used. Specific examples of film properties and processing latitude will be presented for these developmental materials.