Effect of vacuum ultraviolet and ultraviolet Irradiation on capacitance-voltage characteristics of low-k-porous organosilicate dielectrics

High frequency capacitance-voltage (C-V) measurements are used to determine the effects of vacuum ultraviolet (VUV) and ultraviolet (UV) irradiation on defect states in porous low-k organosilicate (SiCOH) dielectrics. The characteristics show that VUV photons depopulate trapped electrons from defect states within the dielectric creating trapped positive charge. This is evidenced by a negative shift in the flat-band voltage of the C-V characteristic. UV irradiation reverses this effect by repopulating the defect states with electrons photoinjected from the silicon substrate. Thus, UV reduces the number of trapped positive charges in the dielectric and can effectively repair processing-induced damage.