Zsolt Tökei, Mikhail Baklanov, Ivan Ciofi, Yunlong Li & Adam Urbanowicz, IMEC, Leuven, Belgium

ABSTRACT

Porous low-k materials are required as interlayer dielectrics in future technology nodes in order to compensate for the RC-delay and power consumption increase associated with continuing device shrinkage. Porous low-k films are typically composed of silica and silsesquioxanes containing organic hydrophobic groups. The exposure of such films to a plasma ambient leads to an unwanted increase of the leakage current and of the dielectric constant of the film. The fundamentals of plasma damage, including low-k material modification and moisture adsorption, are explained and potential ways of reducing plasma damage are discussed.