Robert L. Rhoades, Entrepix, Inc., Arizona, USA, & Gautam Banerjee, Air Products and Chemicals, Inc., Arizona, USA

ABSTRACT

Advanced semiconductor devices have evolved over recent years through a series of steps that included the introduction of both copper metal and low-k dielectric materials for the interconnect module. As designs continue to push toward faster speeds and smaller linewidths (65, 45, 32 and 22nm), the dielectric constant (k) required at each successive technology node is projected to continue dropping toward effective k-values of 2.5 or below. The new materials required to reach these values are generally referred to as ultra low-k, or ULK, dielectrics. Developing such ULK materials is an incredible challenge, but several candidate materials are now available. However, integrating them successfully into a reliable CMOS device manufacturing flow is proving to be extremely difficult, especially with regard to the CMP process module.