The influence of the SIN cap-layer deposition process including different pre-clean treatments on the electromigration (EM) and stressvoiding (SV) behavior of copper dual damascene metalli:rations has been studied. A rcmarkable trade-off between the EM and SV performance was revealed depcnding primarily on the pre-treatment beforc cap-layer deposition rather than the deposition process itself On the one hand an "aggressive" pre-treatment yields improved CdSiN-interface properties with higher electromigration failure times and activation energies (1.22 ... 1.26eV). On the other hand these pre-cleans were found to provoke stressvoiding failures because of the recovery of crystal defects induced in the hulk copper during the plasma treatment. The degree of microstructural damage and hence thc SV susceptibility was found to increase with the preclean intensity. In contrast, no SV risk is related to "less aggressive" pre-clean treatments since they are influencing only the copper surface. The crystal structure of the bulk remains unaffected and hence -in absence of any crystal recovery -no vacancies will be generated. However, these pre-cleans result in significantly lower EM performance with smaller failure times and activation energies (1.03 ... 1.06eV).The results illustrate the need to adjust the SIN cap-layer process parameters with respect to both EM & SV performance to meet the overall reliability requirements for these wear-out mechanisms: at the same time.
Aluminum oxide (AlOx) is currently under intensive investigation for use in surface passivation schemes in solar cells. AlOx films contain negative charges and therefore generate an accumulation layer on p-type silicon surfaces, which is very favorable for the rear side of p-type silicon solar cells as well as the p+-emitter at the front side of n-type silicon solar cells. However, it has been reported that quality of an interfacial silicon sub-oxide layer (SiOx), which is usually observed during deposition of AlOx on Silicon, strongly impacts the silicon/AlOx interface passivation properties [1]. The present work demonstrates that a convenient way to control the interface is to form thin wet chemical oxides of high quality prior to the deposition of AlOx/a-SiNx:H stacks by the plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD).
In this work, the role of stress and shrinkage during the processing of the sub-70nm shallow-trench isolation (STI) structures filled with a spin-on glass (SOG) material containing perhydro-polysilazane is discussed. The stress behavior of this material on blanket and patterned structures are compared. The different parameters for adjusting the stress and their influences on wet-etching properties and uniformity over the wafer are discussed. Finally, the effect of stress on electrical parameters is presented.
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