Interlevel Dielectric Failures in Copper/Low-k Structures

Time-dependent dielectric breakdown of plasma-exposed porous organosilicate glass

“…5 During plasma processing, both ion bombardment and vacuum ultraviolet (VUV) irradiation can occur. [6][7][8][9] Defect states (and subsequent trapped charge) generated by both VUV irradiation and charged-particle bombardment of low-k dielectrics have been shown to adversely affect the capacitance, 10-12 breakdown voltage, 13 and leakage currents 14,15 in addition to causing chemical and structural changes 16 in organosilicate dielectrics. In this letter, it is shown that both photons and charged particles emitted during plasma processing have a deleterious effect on the time to dielectric breakdown, i.e., the dielectric lifetime.…”

The Analysis of Dielectric Breakdown in Cu/Low-k Interconnect System

“…7 (b). Most of the failure modes for IMD reported suggest that Cu diffuses along the weak chemical-mechanical polishing (CMP) interfaces to cause leakage and eventually cracks in the cap layer and/or diffusion barrier [10]. Since the interface between SiOC and capping layer is vulnerable to being damaged during the dielectric etching, CMP, and plasma pretreatment, it is quite common to have the dielectric breakdown failure to be observed at the interface such as IMD and the capping layer [11].…”

The effects of plasma exposure on low- k dielectric materials

“…3 Charge accumulation can lead to increased leakage currents and shortened lifetimes of microelectronic devices. 4,5 Photon bombardment, as mentioned above, can cause charge accumulation through several processes. It is seen that electrons can be photoemitted into the vacuum region, photoinjected from the silicon substrate, or become sufficiently energetic to move within the dielectric due to photoabsorption and/or photoconduction.…”