Impact of plasma treatment on structure and electrical properties of porous low dielectric constant SiCOH material

Abstract

Low dielectric constant (low-k) porous films are needed for advanced technologies to improve signal propagation. The integration of porous low-k films faces more severe challenges due to the presence of porosity. Plasma treatments have been considered to be critical steps to impact the low-k films' properties. In this study, the effect of various H-2/He plasma treatments on the porous low-k dielectrics deposited by plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition was investigated. All the plasma treatments resulted in the formation of a thin and dense layer on the surface of the porous low-k films. Additionally, the properties of this top dense layer are modified and changed for the standard H-2/He plasma treatment, leading to a degraded electrical and reliability performance. However, H-2/He plasma-treated low-k dielectric by the remote plasma method shows a better electrical and reliability performance. As a result, the remote plasma treatment on the porous low-k dielectrics appears to be a promising method in the future interlayer dielectrics application. (C) 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.