Estimation of detrimental impact of new metal candidates in advanced microelectronics

摘要

The increasing complexity and miniaturization of integrated circuits (IC) requires the introduction of a large number of new materials which represent possible risks of contamination. Indeed many integration steps use "exotic metals" to achieve the targeted device performances: - The transistors include high-k dielectrics to replace SiO_2, silicides to replace the polycrystalline Si gate, metals for electrodes, substrates with high mobility. - Interconnects need new barriers for copper. - Non-volatile memories and Above IC components such as RF features or imagers introduce new materials to reach specific electrical, magnetic or optical properties. Thus, considering also the "conventional" contaminants related to equipments, fluids and human activity, the periodic table of elements in table 1 gives an overview of metallic elements that will be used in advanced microelectronics and applications in which they could appear.