Jpn. J. Appl. Phys. 50 (2011) 05EB05 (5 pages)  |Previous Article| |Next Article|  |Table of Contents|
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Influence of the UV Cure on Advanced Plasma Enhanced Chemical Vapour Deposition Low-k Materials

Patrick Verdonck, Els Van Besien, Kris Vanstreels, Christos Trompoukis, Adam Urbanowicz, David De Roest¹, and Mikhail R. Baklanov

(Received November 12, 2010; accepted December 22, 2010; published online May 20, 2011)

In a recent study, low-k thin films with low dielectric constant (≤2.1) and high Young's modulus (>5 GPa) were obtained by introducing a remote plasma step between the traditional plasma enhanced chemical vapour deposition and UV curing. This study shows that the UV curing step with a narrow band lamp with wavelength of 172 nm induced more network Si–O and Si–H bonds and more densification than the curing step with a broadband lamp with wavelengths higher than 200 nm. As a consequence, the dielectric constant of the narrow band cured film was slightly higher, but Young's modulus and hardness were much improved. Electrical characterization showed good breakdown voltages and a more than sufficient time dependent dielectric breakdown reliability. The broadband lamp was then used to form thicker films which retained very well the characteristics of the thin films.

URL: http://jjap.jsap.jp/link?JJAP/50/05EB05/
DOI: 10.1143/JJAP.50.05EB05
PACS: 85.40.Ls, 77.55.Bh, 81.40.Jj, 61.80.Ba, 81.15.Gh

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