Title :
Plasma damage mechanisms in via fabrication
Author :
Werking, James ; Brennan, William ; Bersuker, Gennadi
Author_Institution :
Sematech, Austin, TX, USA
Abstract :
Antenna-transistor test structures were used to study a high density plasma (HDP) via etch and an argon plasma sputter clean process. Topography dependent electron shading effects were found to be the dominant damage mechanism in the HDP etch tool, while HDP nonuniformity was found to have little impact on device degradation. Radiation from the HDP caused negative threshold voltage shifts in nonannealed devices. Statistical methods were used to determine the charging damage response surface in a via sputter clean tool, with bias and source RF power settings as input variables. Device damage can easily be minimized by reducing the source RF power
Keywords :
annealing; integrated circuit interconnections; integrated circuit metallisation; integrated circuit testing; plasma materials processing; sputter etching; statistical analysis; surface cleaning; surface topography; Ar; HDP etch tool; HDP nonuniformity; HDP radiation; antenna-transistor test structures; argon plasma sputter clean process; bias RF power setting; charging damage response surface; device damage minimization; device degradation; dominant damage mechanism; high density plasma via etch; negative threshold voltage shifts; nonannealed devices; plasma damage mechanisms; source RF power setting; statistical methods; topography dependent electron shading effects; via fabrication; via sputter clean tool; Argon; Electrons; Fabrication; Plasma applications; Plasma density; Plasma devices; Radio frequency; Sputter etching; Surfaces; Testing;
Conference_Titel :
Interconnect Technology Conference, 1998. Proceedings of the IEEE 1998 International
Conference_Location :
San Francisco, CA
Print_ISBN :
0-7803-4285-2
DOI :
10.1109/IITC.1998.704744
