Prediction of Young's Moduli of Low Dielectric Constant Materials by Atomistic Molecular Dynamics Simulation

Abstract

ABSTRACTThe interests of low-k dielectric materials to reduce capacitance in multilevel metal interconnects of integrated circuits are well known in the semiconductor industry. Mechanical properties of low-k film are currently the main issues. Improved hardness and modulus are desirable because, when building a multilayered stack and doing sequential processing, films go through chemical mechanical planarization. In this proceeding, we reports the Young's moduli of the typical low k materials, and the effects of various factors for Young's moduli of materials, such as, structures of precursors, density, and porosity. Using atomistic molecular dynamics simulation with experimental measurements, the Young's moduli of films of amorphous silicon oxide in which 25% of Si-O-Si chains were replaced by Si-(CH3 H3C)-Si, Si-CH2-Si, Si-(CH2)2-Si, Si-(CH2)3-Si, Si-(CH2)4-Si, Si-(CH2)6-Si, were measured and analyzed. The predicted trends of Young's moduli of films formed by above precursors are in good consistent with those observed from experiments. The Young's moduli of materials are largely dependent on the densities of materials. Young's modulus of material increases as the density of the material increases. The chemical properties, chain length, and connectivity of material take effects on the Young's modulus of material. Given the same densities of material the smaller number of cavities per unit volume the material has, the lower Young's modulus it shows. Based on the results, the method of predict mechanical properties of materials by the conjunction of basic experimental measurements and atomistic simulation will be discussed.