Chapter 1 - Low Dielectric Constant Materials for Interlayer Dielectrics

Abstract

The progress in silicon technology with regard to the decreasing feature sizes connected with a simultaneously increasing integration density has created a vital interest in low dielectric constant materials. Based on structure–property relationships, the choice of polymers as potential in-mold decorating (IMD) materials can be made. High quality films can be obtained by either chemical vapor deposition (CVD) or spin-on techniques. Back end-of-the-line (BEOL) process temperatures up to 450°C dictate the thermal stability requirements of inter-metal dielectrics. This largely eliminates the majority of organic polymers from consideration. An opportunity exists to develop the next generation of dielectrics by joining the combined expertise of equipment manufacturers' business units with experts in the fields of multilevel interconnects and polymer chemistry. This opportunity has additional attributes that make it truly unique. This chapter presents some examples of new approaches for overcoming drawbacks and for improving performance of low dielectric constant materials. It emphasizes that the development will have to take place in a working fabrication facility so that integration and reliability issues can be investigated and ironed out before going to market.