Use of x-ray reflectivity techniques to determine structural parameters of some silicide structures for microelectronics applications

Santucci, S.; Cecilia, A.; Phani, A.R.; Alfonsetti, R.; Moccia, G.; Biase, M. De

doi:10.1063/1.125653

Cited by 13 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 8 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…For a self-affine (9) To fit the curve of g(r), shown as Fig. 4, the rms roughness, height-height correlation length, and fractal dimension can be obtained.…”

Section: X-ray Diffuse Scatteringmentioning

confidence: 99%

Comparison between the atomic force microscopy and x-ray reflectivity on the characterization of the roughness of a surface

Lin

Huang

et al. 2004

SPIE Proceedings

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

X-ray reflectivity and atomic force microscopy are two common tools in characterizing the surface roughness. However, the measurement results reported by these two methods were usually not consistent between each other. In this work, polished sapphire wafers with different surface roughness were prepared and measured by both methods. To understand the disagreement, a possible interpretation for X-ray reflectivity and atomic force microscopy on the characterization of the surface roughness is described. The difference in the X-ray reflectivity measurement, the X-ray beam covers a larger area of few mm 2 on the sample, while the atomic force microscopy probes only a local area (around µm 2 ). In general, the surface roughness measured by atomic force microscopy should be smoother than that obtained by X-ray reflectivity due to the convolution of tip shape of atomic force microscopy and the short wavelength of probing X-rays. However, the surface contamination of the sample and the atomic force microscopy environment complicate the measurements for both methods, especially, for these samples with root-mean-square roughness less than 1 nm.

show abstract

“…For a self-affine (9) To fit the curve of g(r), shown as Fig. 4, the rms roughness, height-height correlation length, and fractal dimension can be obtained.…”

Section: X-ray Diffuse Scatteringmentioning

confidence: 99%

Comparison between the atomic force microscopy and x-ray reflectivity on the characterization of the roughness of a surface

Lin

Huang

et al. 2004

SPIE Proceedings

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Also, the data from films with lower dielectric constants and films with higher Si−H fractions have oscillations with smaller amplitudes and more rapidly decreasing reflectivities. These features are characteristic of increasing film roughness because the specular reflectance at angles beyond the critical angle decreases faster than those values calculated for an ideal smooth interface using the Fresnel equations. , Parts a and b of Figure show the mass density depth profiles corresponding to the best fits to the data in Figure . The mass density is directly calculated from the electron density and elemental composition.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 88%

Structural Comparison of Hydrogen Silsesquioxane Based Porous Low-k Thin Films Prepared with Varying Process Conditions

et al. 2002

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The structures of hydrogen silsesquioxane based porous low dielectric constant (low-k) films (XLK) prepared with varying process conditions are characterized using a combination of high-energy ion scattering, X-ray reflectivity, and small-angle neutron scattering. We measure the film thickness, average mass density, density depth profile, wall density, porosity, average pore size, pore spacing, pore connectivity, and atomic composition. We compare samples with varying dielectric constants and degrees of cure or Si-H bonding fraction. The structural parameters are correlated with the chemical bond structure as measured by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. The density profiles of the porous films were uniform, with a slight densification observed at the film surface. Films with similar k values but varying degrees of cure have almost identical structural characteristics. Lower dielectric constant films have larger porosities and average pore sizes but lower wall densities. The process conditions used to alter the dielectric constant affect not only the porosity but also many other structural parameters such as the wall density.

show abstract

“…When the roughness of the film increases, the specular reflectance at angles beyond the critical angle decreases faster than those values calculated for an ideal smooth interface using the Fresnel equations. [9][10][11] Additionally, when the plasma power and plasma exposure time increase, a longer wavelength oscillation appears in each SXR curve and the critical angle of the HSQ film moves to higher values indicating that a thinner denser layer has formed within the film. Fits to the SXR data are shown in Fig.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

X-Ray Reflectivity and FTIR Measurements of N[sub 2] Plasma Effects on the Density Profile of Hydrogen Silsesquioxane Thin Films

Lee

Lin

et al. 2001

J. Electrochem. Soc.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The density depth profile and chemical bond structure of hydrogen silsesquioxane ͑HSQ͒ thin films treated with an N 2 plasma with varying power and exposure time were measured using specular X-ray reflectivity ͑SXR͒ and Fourier transform infrared ͑FTIR͒ spectroscopy. The SXR data indicated that the density profile of an untreated HSQ film is not uniform. At least four layers with different electron densities were required to fit the SXR data. For HSQ films treated with either increasing plasma power or plasma exposure time, the film roughness increased and a densified layer was observed at the film/air interface. The thickness of the densified layer increased with both plasma power and plasma exposure time. In the FTIR spectra of the plasma-treated films, the intensities of the Si-O peaks due to the network structure and the Si-OH peak due to water absorption increased and the intensities of the Si-H peaks decreased. The FTIR data show that the plasma converts the HSQ structure into a SiO 2 -like structure and are consistent with the densification observed in the SXR measurements. In general, the HSQ film is more sensitive to increasing plasma power than to increasing plasma exposure time.

show abstract

Use of x-ray reflectivity techniques to determine structural parameters of some silicide structures for microelectronics applications

Cited by 13 publications

References 8 publications

Comparison between the atomic force microscopy and x-ray reflectivity on the characterization of the roughness of a surface

Comparison between the atomic force microscopy and x-ray reflectivity on the characterization of the roughness of a surface

Structural Comparison of Hydrogen Silsesquioxane Based Porous Low-k Thin Films Prepared with Varying Process Conditions

X-Ray Reflectivity and FTIR Measurements of N[sub 2] Plasma Effects on the Density Profile of Hydrogen Silsesquioxane Thin Films

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About