Moisture influence on porous low-k reliability

Author

Michelon, Julien ; Hoofman, Romano J O M

Author_Institution

Philips Res. Leuven

Volume

6

Issue

2

fYear

2006

fDate

6/1/2006 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

169

Lastpage

174

Abstract

In this paper, the impact of moisture on the reliability of porous low-k materials has been investigated. It was found that moisture uptake is higher for more porous SiOC low-k materials, and its presence inside the low-k has a strong impact on the dielectric reliability. It has been demonstrated that by eliminating moisture, the leakage current can be significantly decreased; in addition, higher breakdown electric fields and longer dielectric lifetimes can be achieved. Therefore, integration of porous low-k materials requires maximum attention to prevent moisture uptake at each step during integration; in addition, the passivation layers need to be perfectly hermetic in order to maintain good dielectric reliability

Keywords

dielectric materials; electric breakdown; moisture; porous materials; reliability; SiOC; breakdown electric fields; dielectric lifetimes; dielectric reliability; leakage current; moisture effect; passivation layers; porous low k materials; Capacitance; Copper; Current measurement; Degradation; Dielectric breakdown; Dielectric materials; Leakage current; Materials reliability; Moisture; Plasma materials processing; Moisture; porous low-; reliability;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Device and Materials Reliability, IEEE Transactions on

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

1530-4388

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/TDMR.2006.877365

Filename

1673705