Influence of the UV Cure on Advanced Plasma Enhanced Chemical Vapour Deposition Low-k Materials

In a recent study, low-k thin films with low dielectric constant ( 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. (C) 2011 The Japan Society of Applied Physics ispartof: Japanese Journal of Applied Physics 1, Regular Papers, Short Notes & Review Papers vol:50 issue:5 ispartof: 20th Asian Session on the Advanced Metallization Conference (ADMETA) location:JAPAN, Univ Tokyo, Tokyo date:19 Oct - 22 Oct 2010 status: published