Reaction mechanisms of oxygen plasma interaction with organosilicate low-k materials containing organic crosslinking groups

Abstract

Integration of low dielectric constant (k) materials such as organosilicate glasses (OSG) into microelectronic processing demands a better of understanding the plasma/OSG interactions during plasma etching and ashing of these materials, based on which low-k materials with higher radiation resistance and better mechanical behaviors can be developed and optimized plasma processing conditions can be introduced to ensure continued miniaturization of semiconductor devices. Introducing organic crosslinking (e.g., –CH2–) in OSG has been shown to be an effective measure to improve the mechanical properties but their effect on plasma interaction is still not fully understood. In this paper, ab initio based molecular dynamics simulations have been employed to investigate the effect of the oxygen plasma on the carbon-bridged silicate networks in the OSG material. The results show that organic crosslinking in the Si–O–Si network leads to lower energy reaction pathways with atomic oxygen radicals that result in breakage of Si–CH2–Si linkages instead of Si–CH3 bonds and, consequently, a decrease in carbon removal. The incorporation of organic crosslinking groups can thus improve the resistance to oxygen plasma damage of OSG and, together with better mechanical properties, can lead to the design of stronger low-k dielectric films.