Marcus A. Worsley, Stacey F. Bent, et al.
Journal of Vacuum Science and Technology B: Microelectronics and Nanometer Structures
As of today, plasma damage remains as one of the main challenges to the reliable integration of porous low-k materials into microelectronic devices at the most aggressive node. One promising strategy to limit damage of porous low-k materials during plasma processing is an approach we refer to as post porosity plasma protection (P4). In this approach, the pores of the low-k material are filled with a sacrificial agent prior to any plasma treatment, greatly minimizing the total damage by limiting the physical interactions between plasma species and the low-k material. Interestingly, the contribution of the individual plasma species to the total plasma damage is not fully understood. In this study, we investigated the specific damaging effect of vacuum-ultraviolet (v-UV) photons on a highly porous, k = 2.0 low-k material and we assessed the P4 protective effect against them. It was found that the impact of the v-UV radiation varied depending upon the v-UV emission lines of the plasma. More importantly, we successfully demonstrated that the P4 process provides excellent protection against v-UV damage.
Marcus A. Worsley, Stacey F. Bent, et al.
Journal of Vacuum Science and Technology B: Microelectronics and Nanometer Structures
Dennis R. McKean, Gregory M. Waliraff, et al.
Microlithography 1993
Zouheir Sekkat, Jonathan Wood, et al.
American Chemical Society, Polymer Preprints, Division of Polymer Chemistry
Dubois Geraud, Teddie Magbitang, et al.
VMIC 2005