CHEMICAL MECHANICAL POLISHING (CMP) OF UNDOPED AND DOPED CERAMIC AND POLYMERIC INTERLAYER DIELECTRIC (ILD) MATERIALS FOR MICROELECTRONIC APPLICATIONS

摘要

The constant push for increase in integrated circuit (IC) device speed by reduction of Resistance-Capacitance (RC) delay has lead to the implementation of Cu as the interconnect wiring material and low κ materials ILD. There is increasing implementation of the CMP process in semiconductor fabrication due to: 1) stringent local and global planarization requirements and 2) damascene process for interconnects fabrication. In this research, we have performed a comparative study of certain candidate low κ materials: 1) undoped SiO_2, 2) Fluorine doped SiO_2 (SiOF), 3) Polyimide and 4) Benzocyclobutene (BCB). We have studied the impact of reduction in dielectric constant with the mechanical and tribological properties and the CMP performance of these ILD materials. The adverse effect of shear and mechanical abrasion due to decreased mechanical properties of the low κ materials induced numerous defects during CMP.