Using optical metrology to monitor low-k dielectric thin films

摘要

As device features of ULSI circuits continue to shrink, the capacitance of the interlevel dielectric (ILD) material becomes an increasingly limiting factor on the overall performance of these chips. An industrywide effort is under way to search for a next-generation low-k ILD material to replace traditional silicon dioxide. Many potential low-k materials belong either to the inorganic polymer family (e.g., organo-silicates) or the organic polymer family.