CMP of low-k methylsilsesquiazane with oxygen plasma treatment for multilevel interconnect applications

Abstract

The effect of oxygen plasma treatment on methylsilsesquiazane (MSZ) dielectric was investigated for chemical mechanical planarization (CMP) process. Oxygen plasma treatment was implemented before CMP. Experimental results have shown that the polishing rate of MSZ film with O-2 plasma pretreatment is increased as much as two order of magnitude more than that of MSZ without O-2 plasma pretreatment. Moreover, the electrical properties of post-CMP MSZ are close to those of an as-cured MSZ. These results indicate that the modified surfaces resulting from O-2 plasma treatment increase the polishing rate of MSZ. After polishing, the MSZ film still maintains a low-k quality. (C) 2004 The Electrochemical Society.