Reactive pathways of hydrogen and carbon removal from organosilicate glass low-κ films by F atoms

Abstract

Direct molecular dynamic simulation on the base of the density functional theory (DFT) method is used to study some critical reactions of F atoms with organosilicate glass (OSG) low-κ films. Here static and dynamic DFT-based approaches are applied for a variety of reactive pathways of hydrogen and carbon removal in the form of volatile products (HF, CF2 and CF3 molecules) from initial SiCH3 surface groups. These reactions constitute an important part of the proposed multi-step mechanism of OSG films damage and etching by thermal F atoms. Two models (POSS and TMCTS macromolecules and their modifications) are used to illustrate the peculiarities and dynamics of the successive reactions of F atoms with the initial SiCH3 and appeared SiCH x F y (x + y ≤ 3) surface groups.