Wai-Fan Yau

Integration and Characterization of Low Carbon Content SiO x C y H z Low κ Materials for < 0.18μm[ Dual Damascene Application

A CVD-based low κ film was evaluated for inter-metal dielectric in x C y H z , where the carbon content was less than 5 atomic %. Blanket film integration study was conducted to find out the manufacturing compatibility. The largest increase in κ value occurred during etching and ashing steps. However, SIMS compositional analysis revealed that the damage from these steps were limited to within top 300 A, and the initial low κ value was recovered after the top damaged layer was removed by CMP. The final integrated dielectric constant was less than 3.0. The film density was measured as 1.4, compared to 2.3 g/cm 3 of conventional SiO 2 . The low density of the film resulted from the termination of SiO 2 network structures by Si-CH 3 and Si-H.