Porogen residues detection in optical properties of low-k dielectrics cured by ultraviolet radiation

ABSTRACTPorous low-k dielectrics were studied to determine the changes of optical properties after various plasma treatments for development of scatterometry technique for evaluation of the trench/via sidewall plasma damage. The SiCOH porogen based low-k films were prepared by PE-CVD. The deposited and UV-cured low-k films have been damaged by striping O2Cl2, O2, NH3 and H2N2 based plasmas and CF4/CH2F2/Ar etching plasma. Blanket wafers were studied in this work for the simplicity of thin film optical model. The optical properties of the damaged low-k dielectrics are evaluated the using various angle spectroscopic ellipsometry in range from 2 to 9 eV. Multilayer optical model is applied to fit the measured quantities and the validity is supported by other techniques. The atomic concentration profiles of Si, C, O and H were stated by TOF-SIMS and changes in overall chemical composition were derived from FTIR. Toluene and water based ellipsometric porosimetry is involved to examine the porosity, pore interconnectivity and internal hydrophilicity.

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Spectroscopic Ellipsometry as a Potential In-Line Optical Metrology Tool For Relative Porosity Measurements of Low- K Dielectric Films

MRS Proceedings ◽

10.1557/proc-697-p4.7 ◽

2001 ◽

Vol 697 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

N.V. Edwards ◽

J. Vella ◽

Q. Xie ◽

S. Zollner ◽

D. Werho ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Optical Properties ◽

Spectral Range ◽

Spectroscopic Ellipsometry ◽

Optical Metrology ◽

Dielectric Films ◽

Electron Densities ◽

Organosilicate Glass ◽

Relative Porosity ◽

Low K ◽

Porosity Measurements

AbstractThe optical properties of organosilicate glass (OSG) samples were investigated with spectroscopic ellipsometry. We found that samples with dramatically higher hardness had higher indices of refraction (RI) and thus higher electron densities and lower relative porosities than films with lower hardnesses. The reverse was true for films with low hardnesses. As well, these films did not have the same optical properties as porous SiO2 across the spectral range measured, which we show has significant implications for the in-line optical metrology of these materials.

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Study of the thermal properties of polymeric dielectric materials by photothermal technique

MRS Proceedings ◽

10.1557/proc-511-151 ◽

1998 ◽

Vol 511 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Chuan Hu ◽

Ennis T. Ogawa ◽

Michael F. Hay ◽

Paul S. Ho

Keyword(s):

Optical Properties ◽

Thermal Properties ◽

Thermal Diffusivity ◽

Dielectric Materials ◽

Dielectric Medium ◽

Photothermal Technique ◽

Thermal Anisotropy ◽

Integrated Devices ◽

Out Of Plane ◽

Low K

ABSTRACTIn this paper, we present some results of the newly developed on-wafer photothermal measurement. To study thermal anisotropy, the out-of-plane thermal diffusivity measured from this technique is compared with the in-plane thermal diffusivity by measured by ISTS [1]. In addition to the thermal properties, the agreement with mechanical [2] and optical properties are also shown. The significance of different thermal performance between low K dielectric medium materials and SiO2 suggests that greater attention should be paid to thermal properties for integrated devices with low K materials.

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