Ultralow-k silicon containing fluorocarbon films prepared by plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition

Low dielectric constant materials as interlayer dielectrics (ILDs) offer a way to reduce the RC time delay in high-performance ultra-large-scale integration (ULSI) circuits. Fluorocarbon films containing silicon have been developed for interlayer applications below 50-nm linewidth technology. The preparation of the films was carried out by plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) using gas precursors of tetrafluorocarbon as the source of active species and disilane (5 vol.% in helium) as a reducing agent to control the ratio of F/C in the films. The basic properties of the low dielectric constant (low-k) interlayer dielectric films are studied as a function of the fabrication process parameters. The electrical, mechanical, chemical, and thermal properties were evaluated including dielectric constant, surface planarity, hardness, residual stress, chemical bond structure, and shrinkage upon heat treatments. The deposition process conditions were optimized for film thermal stability while maintaining a relative dielectric value as low as 2.0. The average breakdown field strength was 4.74 MV/cm. The optical energy gap was in the range 2.2–2.4 eV. The hardness and residual stress in the optimized processed SiCF films were, respectively, measured to be in the range 1.4–1.78 GPa and in the range 11.6–23.2 MPa of compressive stress.