New measurement technique of pore size distribution of porous low-k film

Kawamura, Shigeru; Maekawa, Koichi; Ohta, Toshiyuki; Omote, Kazuhiko; Suzuki, Ryoichi; Ohdaira, Toshiyuki; Tachibana, Masaru; Suzuki, Kazuhiko

doi:10.1109/iitc.2001.930058

Cited by 3 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 3 publications

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“…Several techniques have demonstrated promise in measuring low-k porosity and even pore population distribution. [2,3,4,5,6] Ongoing work in spectroscopic ellipsometry suggests there is promise that density can be discerned from the optical analysis of OSG films. The refractive index, n, is an indirect measure of the electron density of the films.…”

Section: Hardness (Gpa)mentioning

confidence: 98%

Mechanical Properties and Porosity of Organo-Silicate Glass (OSG) Low-k Dielectric Films

et al. 2001

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Low-k material integration issues that plague the microelectronics industry include the compromise in mechanical properties that one incurs in abandoning fully dense silica dieletrics. Typical elastic moduli of OSG low-k dieletric films are 2-10 GPa with corresponding hardnesses of 0.5 to 1.5 GPa. In the present study, the hardness and elastic modulus properties measured by nanoindentation of porous silica based low-k films are correlated with in initial estimates of density using a novel technique of spectroscopic ellispsometry. Transmission electron microscopy and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy show the structural and chemical similarity of the films. Nanoindentation and spectroscopic ellipsometry results reflect significant deviations in material behavior from that expected from a simple model of silica (SiO 2 ) with included voids or porosity, suggesting that the methyl groups are actively participating in the mechanical and optical properties of the material.

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Section: Hardness (Gpa)mentioning

confidence: 98%

Mechanical Properties and Porosity of Organo-Silicate Glass (OSG) Low-k Dielectric Films

et al. 2001

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“…As these films are being introduced in integrated circuits, new characterization techniques are needed to assess their properties. Several techniques have been recently developed to address this challenge such as Positron Annihilation Lifetime Spectroscopy (PALS) [2,3], Small Angle X-Ray Scattering (SAXS) [4] or Ellipsometric Porosimetry (EP) [5,6]. Based on spectroscopic ellipsometry measurements, EP consists in the calculation of the optical index of the porous material while an adsorptive is filling the pores.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Evaluation of ellipsometric porosimetry for in‐line characterization of ultra low‐κ dielectrics

Licitra

Bertin

Darnon

et al. 2008

Phys. Status Solidi (c)

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Ellipsometric porosimetry (EP) has recently appeared to be a suitable non‐destructive technique for the characterization of porous ultra low‐κ (ULK) dielectrics. The analysis of ellipsometric spectra of a film during adsorption and desorption cycles of an adsorptive, allows the determination of its open pore fraction, pore size distribution, refractive index and thickness. Several issues are encountered when integrating low‐κ materials as inter‐metal dielectrics (IMD) in the CMOS architecture such as the deposition monitoring, the pore sealing efficiency and the process induced damages. In this study we focus on the capabilities of EP to characterize ULK materials and their integration processes. (© 2008 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)

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“…Grazing-incidence small-angle X-ray scattering (GISAXS) is a technique of choice since it can determine patterns, pore sizes, spatial distribution of pores and eventual anisotropy. There are few published data (Hsu et al, 2000;Kawamura et al, 2001;Huang et al, 2002) and the most complete correlation between chemistry and structure by GISAXS known to the authors has been given by Lee et al (2005).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Grazing-incidence small-angle X-ray scattering study of porous dielectrics used in advanced microelectronic interconnections

2006

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The increase of the integration density and of the operation speed in ultra‐large‐scale integrated microelectronics requires a reduction in the dielectric constant for high‐frequency insulation between the copper connections of some tenth‐of‐micrometre thickness. Recently, the quality of the dielectric has been defined by its dielectric constant k (>1) relative to the unpolarized vacuum (k = 1). Bulk low k will never reach k lower than 3 and the only way to achieve a further decrease in k is to introduce nanoporous dielectric films compatible with the required mechanical behaviour. We compare the merits and the structure determined by grazing‐incidence small‐angle X‐ray scattering (GISAXS) of four different growth processes: plasma‐enhanced chemical vapour deposition or spin coating with three variants: dual‐phase blend, self‐assembled approach, nanoclustering precursor. All of them are baked in order to cure the amorphous SiwOxCyHz `skeleton' (SiOCH). Depending on the process used, the pore morphologies are very different. They range from well defined pores of 4–5 nm diameter to sub‐nanometric ill‐defined pores which may be described as density fluctuations. Finally, it appears that the curing process is a key problem, which up to now has been difficult to characterize by GISAXS.

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New measurement technique of pore size distribution of porous low-k film

Cited by 3 publications

References 3 publications

Mechanical Properties and Porosity of Organo-Silicate Glass (OSG) Low-k Dielectric Films

Mechanical Properties and Porosity of Organo-Silicate Glass (OSG) Low-k Dielectric Films

Evaluation of ellipsometric porosimetry for in‐line characterization of ultra low‐κ dielectrics

Grazing-incidence small-angle X-ray scattering study of porous dielectrics used in advanced microelectronic interconnections

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