Comparative study of physical and electrical characteristics of F- and C-doped low-K CVD oxides

Abstract

This work makes a comparative study of physical and electrical properties between two species of inorganic low-K CVD oxides, namely F-doped FSG (fluorinated silicate glass, K=3.5) and C-doped OSG (organosilicate glass, K=2.9). It is found that FSG has a higher thermal stability (>600degreesC) than OSG (500degreesC) based on the results of 30 min thermal anneal in N-2 ambient. The degradation of the low-K property in OSG is predominately due to the thermal decomposition of methyl (CH3) groups at temperatures above 500degreesC, which are incorporated to reduce the density and polarizability of OSG. For the Cu-gated oxide-sandwiched low-K dielectric MIS capacitors, Cu permeation was observed in both FSG and OSG after the MIS capacitors were subjected to bias-temperature stressing (BTS) at 250 and 150degreesC, respectively, with an effective applied field of 0.8 MV/cm. It appeared that Cu drifted more readily in OSG than in FSG presumably because OSG has a more porous and less dense structure than FSG. The Cu penetration can be efficiently mitigated by a thin nitride dielectric barrier layer.