Mechanics of silicon nitride thin-film stressors on a transistor-like geometry

Reboh, S.; Morin, P.; Hÿtch, Martin; Houdellier, Florent; Claverie, A.

doi:10.1063/1.4826545

Cited by 12 publications

(11 citation statements)

References 24 publications

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“…398 Specifically, strain in crystalline lattices is well known to influence the effective mass, scattering probability, and consequently the mobility of charge carriers. 399 This effect has been extensively utilized to enhance the performance of CMOS devices by introducing strain into the channel region. 399 Various methods have been employed to achieve this ranging from utilizing the strain created from epitaxially grown SixGe1-x alloy source/drain regions to the deposition of a highly stressed film over the entire transistor structure.…”

Section: Vi2 Film Stress Engineeringmentioning

confidence: 99%

Impact of VUV photons on SiO2 and organosilicate low-k dielectrics: General behavior, practical applications, and atomic models

Baklanov

Jousseaume

Рахимова

et al. 2019

Applied Physics Reviews

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This paper presents an in-depth overview of the application and impact of UV/VUV light in advanced interconnect technology. UV light application in BEOL historically was mainly motivated by the need to remove organic porogen and generate porosity in organosilicate (OSG) low-k films. Porosity lowered the film's dielectric constant, k, which enables one to reduce the interconnect wiring capacitance contribution to the RC signal delay in integrated circuits. The UV-based low-k film curing (λ > 200 nm) proved superior to thermal annealing and electron beam curing. UV and VUV light also play a significant role in plasma-induced damage to pSiCOH. VUV light with λ < 190–200 nm is able to break Si-CH3 bonds and to make low-k materials hydrophilic. The following moisture adsorption degrades the low-k properties and reliability. This fact motivated research into the mechanisms of UV/VUV photon interactions in pSiCOH films and in other materials used in BEOL nanofabrication. Today, the mechanisms of UV/VUV photon interactions with pSiCOH and other films used in interconnect fabrication are fairly well understood after nearly two decades of research. This understanding has allowed engineers to both control the damaging effects of photons and utilize the UV light for material engineering and nanofabrication processes. Some UV-based technological solutions, such as low-k curing and UV-induced stress engineering, have already been widely adopted for high volume manufacturing. Nevertheless, the challenges in nanoscaling technology may promote more widespread adoption of photon-assisted processing. We hope that fundamental insights and prospected applications described in this article will help the reader to find the optimal way in this wide and rapidly developing technology area.

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Section: Vi2 Film Stress Engineeringmentioning

confidence: 99%

Impact of VUV photons on SiO2 and organosilicate low-k dielectrics: General behavior, practical applications, and atomic models

Baklanov

Jousseaume

Рахимова

et al. 2019

Applied Physics Reviews

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“…26 The calculation of σ in the device structure uses two unknowns, being the initial stress, σ 0 in the Si 3 N 4 and ESi 3 N 4 , and different combinations of these can provide good fitting simulations. 27 As the values of ESi 3 N 4 vary in the literature from between 100 and 400 MPa, we are able to calculate an approximate upper limit of σ using ESi 3 N 4 = 350 MPa leading to a value of 2.40 GPa. For a more precise value of σ in the deposited films, values of σ 0 in the Si 3 N 4 film could be obtained on a full sheet silicon wafer using Stoney's method.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Combining 2 nm Spatial Resolution and 0.02% Precision for Deformation Mapping of Semiconductor Specimens in a Transmission Electron Microscope by Precession Electron Diffraction

2015

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Precession electron diffraction has been used to provide accurate deformation maps of a device structure showing that this technique can provide a spatial resolution of better than 2 nm and a precision of better than 0.02%. The deformation maps have been fitted to simulations that account for thin specimen relaxation. By combining the experimental deformation maps and simulations, we have been able to separate the effects of the stressor and recessed sources and drains and show that the Si3N4 stressor increases the in-plane deformation in the silicon channel from 0.92 to 1.52 ± 0.02%. In addition, the stress in the deposited Si3N4 film has been calculated from the simulations, which is an important parameter for device design.

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“…Finite element simulations 59 have been used to generate strain maps which have been compared with experimental results. A three-dimensional FEM model was employed in COMSOL Multiphysics, taking into account the anisotropy of the Ge elasticity tensor and using the geometry of the 4 μm micro-disk measured by STEM (shown in Figure 1).…”

Section: Finite Element Simulationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Strain analysis of a Ge micro disk using precession electron diffraction

Bashir

Millar

Gallacher

et al. 2019

Journal of Applied Physics

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The recently developed precession electron diffraction (PED) technique in scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM) has been used to elucidate the local strain distribution and crystalline misorientation in CMOS fabricated strained Ge micro disk structure grown on Si substrate. Such structures are considered to be a compact optical source for the future photonics due to the specific undercut for direct bandgap behaviour under strain. In this study, the strain maps are interpreted and compared with a finite element model (FEM) of the strain in the investigated structure. Results demonstrate that the SiN used as a stressor on top of the Ge disk induces an in-plane strain εxx of a maximum value of almost 2 % which is also confirmed by FEM simulations. This tensile strain can reduce the difference between the direct and indirect bandgaps leading to direct bandgap radiative transitions, with the potential for applications in strained Ge lasers.

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Mechanics of silicon nitride thin-film stressors on a transistor-like geometry

Cited by 12 publications

References 24 publications

Impact of VUV photons on SiO2 and organosilicate low-k dielectrics: General behavior, practical applications, and atomic models

Impact of VUV photons on SiO2 and organosilicate low-k dielectrics: General behavior, practical applications, and atomic models

Combining 2 nm Spatial Resolution and 0.02% Precision for Deformation Mapping of Semiconductor Specimens in a Transmission Electron Microscope by Precession Electron Diffraction

Strain analysis of a Ge micro disk using precession electron diffraction

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