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.
Analysis of Thin Film Specimens Using ToF-SIMS Wedge Protocol, A Comparison with Depth Profiling