The ever increasing requirements for electrical performance of on-chip wiring has driven three major technological advances in recent years. First, copper has replaced Aluminum as the new interconnect metal of choice, forcing also the introduction of damascene processing. Second, alternatives for SiO2 with a lower dielectric constant are being developed and introduced in main stream processing. The many new resulting materials needs to be classified in terms of their materials characteristics, evaluated in terms of their properties, and tested for process compatibility. Third, in an attempt to lower the dielectric constant even more, porosity is being introduced into these new materials. The study of processes such as plasma interactions and swelling in liquid media now becomes critical. Furthermore, pore sealing and the deposition of a thin continuous copper diffusion barrier on a porous dielectric are of prime importance. This review is an attempt to give an overview of the classification, the character...

Low dielectric constant materials for microelectronics

As technology continues towards smaller, thinner and lighter devices, more stringent demands are placed on thin polymer films as diffusion barriers, dielectric coatings, electronic packaging and so on. Therefore, there is a growing need for testing platforms to rapidly determine the mechanical properties of thin polymer films and coatings. We introduce here an elegant, efficient measurement method that yields the elastic moduli of nanoscale polymer films in a rapid and quantitative manner without the need for expensive equipment or material-specific modelling. The technique exploits a buckling instability that occurs in bilayers consisting of a stiff, thin film coated onto a relatively soft, thick substrate. Using the spacing of these highly periodic wrinkles, we calculate the film's elastic modulus by applying well-established buckling mechanics. We successfully apply this new measurement platform to several systems displaying a wide range of thicknessess (nanometre to micrometre) and moduli (MPa to GPa).

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A buckling-based metrology for measuring the elastic moduli of polymeric thin films

The progressively decreasing feature size of the circuit components has tremendously increased the need for the global surface planarization of the various thin film layers that constitute the integrated circuit (IC). Global planarization, being one of the major solutions to meet the demands of the industry, needs to be achieved following the most efficient polishing procedure. Chemical mechanical polishing (CMP) is the planarization method that has been selected by the semiconductor industry today. CMP, an ancient process used for glass polishing, was adopted first as a microelectronic fabrication process by IBM in the 80 s for SiO2 polishing. To achieve efficient planarization at miniaturized device dimensions, there is a need for a better understanding of the physics, chemistry and the complex interplay of tribo-mechanical phenomena occurring at the interface of the pad and wafer in presence of the fluid slurry medium. In spite of the fact that CMP research has grown by leaps and bounds, there are some teething problems associated with CMP process such as delamination, microscratches, dishing, erosion, corrosion, inefficient post-CMP clean, etc.; research on which is still developing. The fundamental understanding of the CMP is highly necessary to characterize, optimize and model the process. The CMP process is ready to make a positive impact on 30% of the US$ 135 billion global semiconductor market. This paper presents an overview of CMP process in general, the science and mechanism of polishing, different metal and dielectric CMP processes. The impact of consumables on the CMP process, post-CMP cleaning, modeling of different CMP processes as well as the future trends are also discussed.

Chemical mechanical planarization for microelectronics applications

Mechanical integrity of transparent conductive oxide films for flexible polymer-based displays

¯ are indirect band gap semiconductors, while the other phase of space group Ia3 is having direct band gap. The calculated carrier effective masses for all these three phases are compared with available experimental and theoretical values. From charge-density and electron localization function analysis, it is found that these phases have dominant ionic bonding with noticeable covalent interaction between indium and oxygen. The magnitudes of the absorption and reflection coefficients for In2O3 with space groups Ia3 and R3 are small in the energy range 0 – 5 eV, indicating that these phases can be regarded and classified as transparent.

/pdf/phase-stability-electronic-structure-and-optical-properties-4pvjo8fwjn.pdf

Phase stability, electronic structure, and optical properties of indium oxide polytypes

Thin porous films with nanometer pore sizes are the subject of intense interest, primarily because of their reduced dielectric constant k. The lack of useful characterization tools and the reduction in film mechanical properties with increasing porosity have severely hindered their development and application. We show that both Brillouin light scattering and surface acoustic wave spectroscopy allow one to measure density, porosity and stiffness properties of nanoporous methylsilsesquioxane films of low-k value. Excellent correlations are observed among independent measurements of density, porosity and the Young’s modulus which show that the results obtained are reliable and reveal properties of the films which are difficult or impossible to obtain using other techniques.

Critical properties of nanoporous low dielectric constant films revealed by Brillouin light scattering and surface acoustic wave spectroscopy

https://kluedo.ub.uni-kl.de/files/909/no_series_64.pdf

Elastic properties of thin h-BN films investigated by Brillouin light scattering

Elastic properties of indium tin oxide films

https://kluedo.ub.uni-kl.de/files/932/no_series_83.pdf

Brillouin light scattering from surface phonons in hexagonal and cubic boron nitride films

The Brillouin light scattering technique is used to observe thermally excited acoustic phonons in backscattering geometry in a transparent, 1.8 μm thick diode sputtered c-BN film. The Rayleigh mode at the film surface and the quasilongitudinal bulk mode were detected under various angles of light incidence. The angular dependent phase velocity of the bulk wave provides evidence for an elastic anisotropy of the film material. Complete descriptions of the elastic properties are presented, assuming either isotropic or hexagonal film symmetry. The reduction of the film stiffness in comparison to the single crystal and the origin of the elastic anisotropy of c11/c33≈4/5, where c11 and c33 are the respective extensional stiffness constants parallel and perpendicular to the film, is discussed. Both effects are predominantly caused by sp2-bonded material and a structured film growth.

T. Wittkowski

Papers

Critical properties of nanoporous low dielectric constant films revealed by Brillouin light scattering and surface acoustic wave spectroscopy

Elastic properties of thin h-BN films investigated by Brillouin light scattering

Elastic properties of indium tin oxide films

Brillouin light scattering from surface phonons in hexagonal and cubic boron nitride films

Brillouin light scattering study on the elastic properties of thick sputtered c-BN films