Removing Barriers to Low-k Dielectric Adoption

摘要

At first, it was the multitude of candidates, none of them ideal, that slowed low-k dielectric progress. Then it was the shifted focus from low-k to implementing copper first in manufacturing. Next, companies tackled the extensive integration issues for low-k dielectrics, including the development of cleaning, CMP, stripping and packaging processes to be compatible with low-k materials. During the past year, the industry became torn between two very different materials: an organic spin-on dielectric and CVD silicon oxycarbide (SiOC:H), also called carbon-doped oxides (CDOs), with manufactura-bility and extendibility to lower k values being of paramount concern. Finally, a combination of the industry downturn and moves to copper and 300 mm led to a conservative approach to low-k material changes, resulting in almost exclusive use of FSG (fluorinated silicate glass) at the 130 nm device node.