Effects of He/H2 Plasma Treatment on Properties of SiCOH Films Deposited with the 1,1,1,3,5,7,7,7- Octamethyl-3,5-Bis(Trimethylsiloxy) Tetrasiloxane Precursor.

Low-dielectric-constant SiCOH films fabricated using plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) are widely used as inter-metallic dielectric (IMD) layers in interconnects of semiconductor chips. In this work, SiCOH films were deposited with 1,1,1,3,5,7,7,7-octamethyl-3,5-bis(trimethylsiloxy)tetrasiloxane (OMBTSTS), and plasma treatment was performed by an inductively coupled plasma (ICP) system with mixture of He and H2. The values of relative dielectric constant (k) of the as-deposited SiCOH films ranged from 2.64 to 4.19. The He/H2 plasma treatment led to a reduction of the k values of the SiCOH films from 2.64-4.19 to 2.07-3.94. To investigate the impacts of the He/H2 plasma treatment on the SiCOH films, the chemical compositions and structures of the as-deposited and treated the SiCOH films were compared by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. The experimental results indicate that the k value of the SiCOH films was decreased, there was a proportional increase in pore-related Si-O-Si structure, which is commonly called the cage structure with lager angle than 144°, after He/H2 plasma treatment. The He/H2 plasma treatment was considered to have reduced the k value by forming pores that could be represented by the cage structure. On the other hand, the leakage current density of the SiCOH films was slightly degraded by He/H2 plasma treatment, however, this was tolerable for IMD application. Concludingly the He/H2 plasma treated SiCOH film has the lowest relative dielectric constant (k~2.08) when the most highly hydrocarbon removal and cage structure formation increased.

Low-k SiCOH Films Deposited with a Single Precursor 1,1,1,3,5,7,7,7 Octamethyl-3,5-Bis(trimethylsiloxy) Tetrasiloxane by Plasma Enhanced Chemical Vapor Deposition.

Low-dielectric-constant SiCOH films were deposited by plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition using 1,1,1,3,5,7,7,7-octamethyl-3,5-bis(trimethylsiloxy)tetrasiloxane (OMBTSTS) as a single precursor, and the characteristics were investigated. The relative dielectric constant (k) of the SiCOH films declined gradually from 3.57 to 1.90 with decreasing plasma power. The film with the lowest k, deposited at the lowest power of 10 W, showed the lowest leakage current density, with adequate mechanical strength (hardness: 0.98 GPa and elastic modulus: 8.56 GPa) for application in multilevel semiconductor interconnects. The chemistry of the OMBTSTS films was characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy to study the relation between the chemical and dielectric properties. The dielectric properties, such as the k value and leakage current density, could be explained by a quantitative relation between the Si-O stretching bond and hydrocarbon-related bonds, such as CH3 and Si-CH3 bonds, with lower polarizability in the SiCOH film. The refractive index, which is directly linked to the density of the film, was also investigated by ellipsometry. We consider OMBTSTS a promising candidate as a single precursor for fabricating low-k SiCOH films in the plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition system.

Relation of Dielectric Constants and Chemical Structures of Low Dielectric Constant SiCOH Films Deposited by Using Octamethylcyclotetrasiloxane and Tetraethylorthosilicate Precursors.

In case of the conventional SiCOH films, a post-deposition process was used to make pores by vaporization of porogen (e.g., hydrocarbon) for decreasing the dielectric constant. However, the authors intended the deposition of the SiCOH films, which does not need the post-deposition process to form the pores by using the dual precursors having different structures. The octamethylcy-clotetrasiloxane (OMCTS) and tetraethylorthosilicate (TEOS) have different structures which were of the ring shape and the linear shape, respectively. The OMCTS and TEOS were used to fabricate the plasma polymerized low dielectric constant SiCOH film by using the plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition system in this work. A ratio of OMCTS and TEOS was adjusted by controlling flow rates of precursor carrier gases into the process chamber. The SiCOH films, which were deposited with dual precursors, showed the very low dielectric constants (relative dielectric constant k 2.06 and 2.09) at plasma power of 10 W. All the fabricated SiCOH films showed the proper leakage current densities below 10-6 A/cm-2 at 1 MV/cm as the intermetallic dielectric material. The SiCOH films were investigated to study the relations between dielectric constants and chemical structures by using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. The formation of pores inside the SiCOH films was studied through the relation between Si-O-Si peaks, including network, suboxide and cage peaks, and the dielectric constant.