Fracture toughness, adhesion and mechanical properties of low-K dielectric thin films measured by nanoindentation

Volinsky, Alex A.; Vella, Joseph; Gerberich, William W

doi:10.1016/s0040-6090(03)00406-1

Cited by 267 publications

(147 citation statements)

References 32 publications

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“…The addition of N 2 to the Ar working gas lead to the incorporation of significantly more N (20-45%) and the formation of predominantly sp 2 /h-BCN structured films. The higher nitrogen content films exhibited reduced mass densities (2.0-2.1 g/cm 3 ), low dielectric constants (3.9-4.6) and reduced values of Young's modulus (100-150 GPa) and hardness (6-13 GPa). Based on additional experiments varying the DC and RF biases, it was concluded that ∼ 20% nitrogen is a possible threshold for achieving BCN films with either high mechanical properties or electrically insulating properties with a low dielectric constant.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Variations in BCN chemical composition and chemical bonding produced by sputtering with different N 2 /Ar ratios and DC/RF bias were investigated using XPS and FTIR and correlated to other physical, dielectric and mechanical properties such as mass density, dielectric constant, Young's modulus and hardness. Depending on the specific targets utilized, sputtering in pure Ar was observed to produce either carbon rich (C/BN targets) or boron rich (B 4 C/BN targets) BCN films with mass densities of 2.4-2.5 g/cm 3 that approached the theoretical mass density for B 4 C (2.5 g/cm 3 ). In nano-indentation measurements, these same films exhibited high values of Young's modulus and hardness of ∼285 GPa and 30-40 GPa, respectively.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Tables I and II are the XRR mass densities (ρ) for the two sets of BCN films deposited with C/BN and B 4 C/BN targets. For both sets of films, sputtering with pure Ar produced the densest films with densities of 2.4-2.5 g/cm 3 . These values are close to the theoretical density for B 4 C of 2.52 g/cm 3 (interestingly, the B/(C+O+N) ratio for the B 4 C/BN sputter deposited film is 3.7 and also close to that for B 4 C).…”

Section: Bcn Ftir and Xps Analysis-mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Investigation of the Dielectric and Mechanical Properties for Magnetron Sputtered BCN Thin Films

Prakash

Todi

Sundaram

et al. 2014

ECS J. Solid State Sci. Technol.

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Boron carbon nitride (BCN) thin films were deposited by a dual target DC and RF sputtering technique. The films were deposited using various combinations of nitrogen and argon working gases and B 4 C, BN, and C targets. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and Fourier-transform infra-red spectroscopy were utilized, respectively, to investigate the changes in chemical composition and bonding that occurred for films deposited under various N 2 /Ar gas flow ratios and DC/RF target powers. The composition and bonding were correlated to separate measurements of the BCN mass density, dielectric constant, Young's modulus, and hardness. All BCN films were observed to have relatively low mass densities ranging from 2.0-2.5 g/cm 3 . BN rich BCN films were observed to be insulating with relatively low dielectric constants of 3.9-4.6 and Young's modulus and hardness values of 110-150 GPa and 5-13 GPa, respectively. BC rich BCN films were observed to be comparatively leaky dielectrics but did exhibit extreme mechanical properties with Young's modulus and hardness values exceeding in some cases 300 GPa and 30 GPa, respectively. Nanoelectronic metal interconnects have many unique nanoscale electrical, thermal, and mechanical challenges.1-3 While dimensional scaling has produced tremendous improvements in transistor performance, 4 it has produced an opposite effect on the associated metal interconnect leading to increased critical path signal delays and possible degradation of the overall integrated circuit performance.5 As the interconnect signal delays are proportional both to the resistance of the interconnect metal and the capacitance of the insulating interlayer dielectric (ILD), new materials with reduced values of resistivity and dielectric permittivity have been sought to mitigate the negative effects of dimensional scaling.5 Since relatively few materials exhibit a lower resistivity compared to the currently utilized interconnect metal copper (Cu), most materials based interconnect delay reduction efforts have focused on implementing new ILD materials with increasingly lower values of dielectric constant (i.e. low-k).6 Unfortunately, the hybrid inorganic-organic silicate (a-SiOC:H) materials currently utilized as low-k ILDs exhibit reduced electrical, thermal and mechanical properties in addition to reduced values of dielectric permittivity.5-7 These overall reduced properties have severely aggravated a variety of interconnect related reliability issues such as time dependent dielectric breakdown and die cracking during packaging. 2,3Compounds in the boron-carbon-nitrogen phase diagram (such as diamond (C), cubic boron nitride (c-BN), and boron carbide (B 4 C)) are potentially attractive as alternative low-k dielectric materials due to their covalent bonding, short bond lengths, and low atomic mass that leads to a unique combination of low dielectric constant but high thermal and mechanical strength. [8][9][10][11][12] Some of the already prominently reported properties for these materials include good wear resistance, hig...

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Bcn Ftir and Xps Analysis-mentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Investigation of the Dielectric and Mechanical Properties for Magnetron Sputtered BCN Thin Films

Prakash

Todi

Sundaram

et al. 2014

ECS J. Solid State Sci. Technol.

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“…The Berkovich indenter is often favoured as its three-face pyramid geometry is much easier to grind to a sharp point compared to the four-face pyramid geometry of Vickers and Knoop. The cube-corner indenter is now used widely for initiating cracks and therefore facilitates fracture toughness measurements (Fischer-Cripps, 2002;Volinsky et al, 2003). Stresses beneath pointed indenter tips are very high and in theory are infinite at the point of contact with an elastic body.…”

Section: Pointed Indentersmentioning

confidence: 99%

Indentation and Fracture of Hybrid Sol-Gel Silica Films

Latella¹,

Swain²,

Ignat³

2012

Nanoindentation in Materials Science

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“…This technique has provided insights into a broad range of material properties; as examples we mention the indentation cracking of brittle thin films on brittle substrates [3]; the fracture toughness, adhesion and mechanical properties of dielectric thin films [4]; the strain hardening and recovery in a bulk metallic glass [5]; the phase transformation of titanium dioxide thin films produced by filtered arc deposition [6]; superhard materials [7]; and even the investigation of biomaterials, such as the mechanical properties of human enamel [8]. Nanoindentation testing has become of wide-spread use when modern modern experimental testing methods were combined with the Oliver-Pharr [9] analysis.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Atomistic Studies of Nanoindentation—A Review of Recent Advances

2017

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This review covers areas where our understanding of the mechanisms underlying nanoindentation has been increased by atomistic studies of the nanoindentation process. While such studies have been performed now for more than 20 years, recent investigations have demonstrated that the peculiar features of nanoplasticity generated during indentation can be analyzed in considerable detail by this technique. Topics covered include: nucleation of dislocations in ideal crystals, effect of surface orientation, effect of crystallography (fcc, bcc, hcp), effect of surface and bulk damage on plasticity, nanocrystalline samples, and multiple (sequential) indentation. In addition we discuss related features, such as the influence of tip geometry on the indentation and the role of adhesive forces, and how pre-existing plasticity affects nanoindentation.

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Fracture toughness, adhesion and mechanical properties of low-K dielectric thin films measured by nanoindentation

Cited by 267 publications

References 32 publications

Investigation of the Dielectric and Mechanical Properties for Magnetron Sputtered BCN Thin Films

Investigation of the Dielectric and Mechanical Properties for Magnetron Sputtered BCN Thin Films

Indentation and Fracture of Hybrid Sol-Gel Silica Films

Atomistic Studies of Nanoindentation—A Review of Recent Advances

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