The plasma treatment and dry etching characteristics of organic low-k dielectrics

To achieve high speed and high performance, the feature size of future ULSI circuits must be continuing shrinking. RC delay becomes a major limitation for device performance. Various types of organic low-k polymers have been developed as promising candidates for next generation interconnection dielectrics. However, the electrical, chemical, mechanical, and thermal properties of these new materials are not fully satisfied, and the patterning of these materials was rarely discussed. In this study, we investigated the plasma treatment and dry etching characteristics of two organic low-k dielectrics, FLARE/sup TM/ 2.0 and fluorinated amorphous carbon (a-C:F).