Analysis of Plasma-Induced Modification of ULK and eULK Materials: Dual Damascene Processing Challenges for 45nm (K ⩽ 2.4) and Beyond BEOL Technologies

Author

Fuller, N.C.M. ; Worsley, M.A. ; Nitta, S. ; Dalton, T. ; Tai, T.L. ; Bent, S. ; Magbitang, T. ; Dubois, G. ; Miller, R. ; Volksen, W. ; Sankar, M. ; Purushothaman, S.

Author_Institution

Semicond. Res. & Dev. Center, IBM Res. Div.

fYear

2006

fDate

5-7 June 2006

Firstpage

24

Lastpage

26

Abstract

Plasma induced modification of porous SiCOH (OSG) ultra low-k (ULK) and extreme ultra low-k (eULK) dielectric materials during "resist" removal is investigated. Angular resolved X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (ARXPS) was applied to specially-designed 200mm test structures exposed to a variety of plasma ash processing conditions. Characterization of the plasma for each of these applied ash conditions was achieved via optical emission spectroscopy/actinometry and modeling. This data was used in conjunction with ARXPS analytical data to propose mechanisms for film modification as a function of critical plasma parameters such as reactive species densities and ion scattering. These trends/mechanisms were electrically tested on 200 and 300mm patterned wafers. These and other results are presented and discussed

Keywords

low-k dielectric thin films; nanotechnology; photoelectron spectroscopy; plasma materials processing; porous materials; 200 mm; 300 mm; 45 nm; BEOL technologies; SiCOH; ULK materials; actinometry; angular resolved X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy; dielectric materials; dual damascene processing; eULK materials; film modification; ion scattering; optical emission spectroscopy; plasma ash processing; porous materials; reactive species densities; resist removal; Ash; Dielectric materials; Optical films; Optical scattering; Plasma density; Plasma materials processing; Plasma x-ray sources; Spectroscopy; Testing; Ultraviolet sources;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Interconnect Technology Conference, 2006 International

Conference_Location

Burlingame, CA

Print_ISBN

1-4244-0104-6

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/IITC.2006.1648635

Filename

1648635