Preparation and structure of porous dielectrics by plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition

The preparation of ultralow dielectric constant porous silicon, carbon, oxygen, hydrogen alloy dielectrics, called 'pSiCOH', using a production 200 mm plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition tool and a thermal treatment is reported here. The effect of deposition temperature on the pSiCOH film is examined using Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, dielectric constant (k), and film shrinkage measurements. For all deposition temperatures, carbon in the final porous film is shown to be predominantly Si-CH3 species, and lower k is shown to correlate with increased concentration of Si-CH3. NMR and FTIR spectroscopies clearly detect the loss of a removable, unstable, hydrocarbon (CHx) phase during the thermal treatment. Also detected are increased cross-linking of the Si-O skeleton, and concentration changes for three distinct structures of carbon. In the as deposited films, deposition temperature also affects the hydrocarbon (CHx) content and the presence of C=O and C=C functional groups