Effect of O2 plasma treatment on physical, electrical, and reliability characteristics of low dielectric constant materials

• DOI: 10.1016/j.tsf.2014.07.069
• Publication Date: 2014-08-27T06:32:16Z
• Authors: Yi-Lung Cheng; Bing-Hong Lin; Syuan-Wei Huang
• Keywords: 02 engineering and technology; 0210 nano-technology

Abstract The degradation induced by oxygen (O 2 ) plasma irradiation to the various low dielectric constant materials (low- k ; k = 3.0–2.5) has been investigated in this study. The dielectric constant was observed to increase upon O 2 plasma treatment due to carbon atom depletion and Si OH bond formation, which is strongly influenced by the bonding structure or strength of the low- k materials, and less related to the porosity. Moreover, the O 2 damage can be suppressed by densifying the low- k film's surface induced by He/H 2 remote plasma treatment. Additionally, the role of ions, photons, and radicals in the plasma in inducing the low- k material degradation was clarified by using a special designed structure. The experimental results showed that all components in the plasma have contributions in degrading the electrical and reliability performance of low- k film. Moreover, the synergy between the radicals, the photons, and the ions enhanced the damage.