Positronium diffusion in porous methylsilsesquioxane thin films

Abstract

Depth profiled positronium (Ps) annihilation lifetime spectroscopy (PALS) is an extremely useful probe of the pore characteristics in nanoporous low-dielectric (low-k) constant thin films. PALS has also been considered as a potential probe to investigate diffusion barrier integrity and the structural changes of porous low-k films during their integration with Cu. Hence, it is essential to understand the diffusion behaviour of positronium/Cu atoms in the films. In this work, based on the fact that porous materials possess characteristics of statistical self-similarity, a fractal model, the Menger sponge model, has been applied to simulate the structure of a promising dielectric, porous methylsilsesquioxane (MSQ) films. The diffusion behaviour of Ps out of the fractal model and into the surrounding vacuum is studied by means of the diffusion equation and traditional advective–diffusive theory. Predictive results from our model show good agreement with measurement data.