Patent Application
20080009141
In one embodiment of the present invention, a porous dielectric material that comprises a matrix of a hydrogenated oxidized silicon carbon material (SiCOH) comprising elements of Si, C, O and H in a covalently bonded tri-dimensional network and having a dielectric constant of about 3.2 or less is provided. The term “tri-dimensional network” is used throughout the present application to denote a SiCOH dielectric material which includes silicon, carbon, oxygen and hydrogen that are interconnected and interrelated in the x, y, and z directions.
In particular, the present invention provides SiCOH dielectrics that have a covalently bonded tri-dimensional network structure which includes C bonded as S1—CH3 and also C bonded as Si—R—Si, wherein R is —[CH2]n— where n is greater than or equal to 1, preferably n is 1-3. In some embodiments of the present invention, the inventive dielectric material has a fraction of the total carbon atoms that is bonded as Si—R—Si between 0.01 and 0.99.
The SiCOH dielectric material of the present invention comprises between about 5 and about 40, more preferably from about 10 to about 20, atomic percent of Si; between about 5 and about 50, more preferably from about 15 to about 40, atomic percent of C; between 0 and about 50, more preferably from about 10 to about 30, atomic percent of O; and between about 10 and about 55, more preferably from about 20 to about 45, atomic percent of H.
In some embodiments, the SiCOH dielectric material of the present invention may further comprise F and/or N. In yet another embodiment of the present invention, the SiCOH dielectric material may optionally have the Si atoms partially substituted by Ge atoms. The amount of these optional elements that may be present in the inventive dielectric material of the present invention is dependent on the amount of precursor that contains the optional elements that is used during deposition.
The SiCOH dielectric material of the present invention contains molecular scale voids (i.e., nanometer-sized pores) between about 0.3 to about 10 nanometers in diameter, and most preferably between about 0.4 and about 5 nanometers in diameter, which reduce the dielectric constant of the SiCOH dielectric material. The nanometer-sized pores occupy a volume between about 0.5% and about 50% of a volume of the material.
The inventive SiCOH dielectric of the present invention has more carbon bonded in organic groups bridging between two Si atoms compared to the Si—CH3 bonding characteristic of prior art SiCOH and pSiCOH dielectrics.
In addition, the SiCOH dielectric materials of the present invention are hydrophobic with a water contact angle of greater than 70°, more preferably greater than 80° and exhibit a relatively high cohesive strength. This property of the present SiCOH dielectric material is shown schematically in the shaded regions of
The inventive SiCOH dielectric materials are typically deposited using plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD). In addition to PECVD, the present invention also contemplates that the SiCOH dielectric materials can be formed utilizing chemical vapor deposition (CVD), high-density plasma (HDP), pulsed PECVD, spin-on application, or other related methods.
In the deposition process, the inventive SiCOH dielectric material is formed by providing at least a cyclic carbosilane or oxycarbosilane precursor (liquid, gas or vapor) comprising atoms of Si, C, O, and H, and optionally an inert carrier such as He or Ar, into a reactor, preferably the reactor is a PECVD reactor, and then depositing a film derived from said cyclic carbosilane or oxycarbosilane precursor onto a suitable substrate utilizing conditions that are effective in forming the SiCOH dielectric material of the present invention.
In selected embodiments of this invention, the as-deposited film comprises two phases. One of the phases of the as-deposited film is the sacrificial hydrocarbon phase comprised of C and H, while the other phase (i.e., the stable skeleton phase) is comprised of Si, O, C and H. The present invention yet further provides for optionally an oxidizing agent such as O2, O3, N2O, CO2 or a combination thereof to the gas mixture, thereby stabilizing the reactants in the reactor and improving the properties and uniformity of the dielectric film deposited on the substrate.
Within the present invention, the cyclic carbosilane precursor or oxycarbosilane comprises at least one of the following compounds: 1,1-dimethyl-1-silacyclopentane, 1,3-disilylcyclobutane, methyl-1-silacyclopentane, silacyclopentane, silacyclobutane, methylsilacyclobutanes, silacyclohexane, methylsilacyclohexanes, tetramethyl-disila-furan, disila-furan, derivatives of disila-furan containing 1, 2, 3 or 4 methyl or other alkyl groups, methoxy derivatives of the aforementioned cyclic precursors, and related Si—C containing molecules.
Alternatively, the cyclic carbosilane may contain an unsaturated ring to make this precursor more reactive in the deposition plasma (for example, a low power plasma) such as, for example, 1,1-diethoxy-1-silacyclopentene, 1,1-dimethyl-3-silacyclopentene, 1,1-dimethyl-1-silacyclopent-3-ene, 1-sila-3-cyclopentene, vinylmethylsilacyclopentene, methoxy derivatives of silacyclopentene, other derivatives of silacyclopentene, and related other cyclic carbosilane precursors.
The structures of some preferred cyclic carbosilanes are shown below to illustrate the types of cyclic compounds contemplated by the present invention (the illustrated structures thus do not limit the present invention in any way):
The cyclic compounds mentioned above are preferred in the present invention because these precursors have a relatively low boiling point, and they include the Si—[CH2]n—Si bonding group.
A second precursor that is used in the present invention is a hydrocarbon (i.e., a compound containing C and H atoms, and optionally N and/or F) molecule, as described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,147,009, 6,312,793, 6,441,491, 6,437,443, 6,541,398, 6,479,110 B2, and 6,497,963, the contents of which are incorporated herein by reference. The hydrocarbon molecules are used as porogens in the present invention. The hydrogen precursor may be a liquid or a gas.
Optionally, a SiCOH skeleton precursor (e.g., third precursor) comprising an alkoxysilane or cyclic siloxane precursor may be added to the reactor. Examples of such SiCOH skeleton precursors include, for example, diethoxymethylsilane, octamethyltetrasiloxane, tetramethyltetrasiloxane, trimethylsilane, or any other common alkylsilane or alkoxysilane (cyclic or linear) molecule.
Optionally, a precursor (gas, liquid or gas) comprising Ge may also be used.
Other functional groups, as described in the examples below, can be used to form a bridging group between two Si atoms.
The cyclic carbosilane precursors mentioned above with nitrogen can also be used to deposit a SiCHN cap film with the addition of gases containing nitrogen (e.g., NH3, N2 or N2H2). With the presence of the N bridging between two Si atoms, the SiCHN film will be more stable thermally and towards plasmas and other kinds of integration damage.
The method of the present invention may further comprise the step of providing a parallel plate reactor, which has a conductive area of a substrate chuck between about 85 cm2 and about 750 cm2, and a gap between the substrate and a top electrode between about 1 cm and about 12 cm. A high frequency RF power is applied to one of the electrodes at a frequency between about 0.45 MHz and about 200 MHz. Optionally, an additional RF power of lower frequency than the first RF power can be applied to one of the electrodes.
The conditions used for the deposition step may vary depending on the desired final dielectric constant of the SiCOH dielectric material of the present invention. Broadly, the conditions used for providing a stable dielectric material comprising elements of Si, C, O, H that has a dielectric constant of about 3.2 or less, a tensile stress of less than 45 MPa, an elastic modulus from about 2 to about 15 GPa, and a hardness from about 0.2 to about 2 GPa include: setting the substrate temperature at between about 100° C. and about 425° C.; setting the high frequency RF power density at between about 0.1 W/cm2 and about 2.0 W/cm2; setting the first liquid precursor flow rate at between about 10 mg/min and about 5000 mg/min, optionally setting the second liquid precursor flow rate at between about 10 mg/min to about 5,000 mg/min; optionally setting the third liquid precursor flow rate at between about 10 mg/min to about 5000 mg/min; optionally setting the inert carrier gases such as helium (or/and argon) flow rate at between about 10 sccm to about 5000 sccm; setting the reactor pressure at a pressure between about 1000 mTorr and about 10,000 mTorr; and setting the high frequency RF power between about 50 W and about 1000 W. Optionally, an ultra low frequency power may be added to the plasma between about 20 W and about 400 W.
When an oxidizing agent is employed in the present invention, it is provided into the PECVD reactor at a flow rate between about 10 sccm to about 1000 sccm.
While liquid precursors are used in the above example, it is known in the art that gas phase precursors can also be used for the deposition.
The film resulting from the above processes is called herein the “as-deposited film”.
According to the present invention, the fabrication of the stable SiCOH dielectric materials of the present invention may require a combination of several steps:
In a preferred treatment, the substrate (containing the film deposited according to the above process) is placed in a ultraviolet (UV) treatment tool, with a controlled environment (vacuum or ultra pure inert gas with a low O2 and H2O concentration). A pulsed or continuous UV source may be used.
Within the invention, the UV treatment tool may be connected to the deposition tool (“clustered”), or may be a separate tool.
As is known in the art, the two process steps will be conducted within the invention in two separate process chambers that may be clustered on a single process tool, or the two chambers may be in separate process tools (“declustered”). For some embodiments of the present porous SiCOH films, the cure step may involve removal of a sacrificial hydrocarbon fraction. The hydrocarbon fraction may be deposited from the carbosilane precursors or may be deposited from an additional porogen precursor added to the deposition chamber. Suitable sacrificial hydrocarbon precursors that can be employed in the present invention include, but are not limited to the second precursors that are mentioned in U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,147,009, 6,312,793, 6,441,491, 6,437,443, 6,541,398, 6,479,110 B2, and 6,497,963, the contents of which are incorporated herein by reference. Preferred hydrocarbon precursors comprise one of bicycloheptadiene, hexadiene, and bifunctional diene hydrocarbon molecules.
In other embodiments of the present porous SiCOH films, the cure step may cause rearrangement of the film structure to create more open volume, and hence to lower the dielectric constant, without removal of a sacrificial fraction or phase.
In another embodiment of the present invention, a dielectric film of the general composition SiCNH is provided. In this embodiment of the present invention, a dense or porous dielectric material comprising elements of Si, C, N and H in a covalently bonded tri-dimensional network and having a dielectric constant of about 6 or less is provided. The term “tri-dimensional network” is used throughout the present application to denote a SiCNH dielectric material which includes silicon, carbon, nitrogen and hydrogen that are interconnected and interrelated in the x, y, and z directions.
The SiCNH dielectric film of the present invention can be formed utilizing basically the same processing conditions as mentioned above. In the deposition step, a single cyclic precursor containing Si, C and N in a ring structure is used. Examples include, but are not limited to: 2,2,5,5-tetramethyl-2,5-disila-1-azacyclopentane, or a related azacyclopentane.
In a typical deposition process, a substrate is placed in a PECVD deposition chamber, and a flow of the cyclic precursor containing Si, C and N in a ring structure is stabilized. The conditions used in the deposition step may include a precursor flow of 100-3000 mg/m for all precursors, a He gas flow of 10-3000 sccm, and the optional use of N2 with a flow from 10-1000 sccm said flows are stabilized to reach a reactor pressure of 1-10 Torr. The wafer chuck temperature is typically set between 100°-400° C., with 300°-400° C. range preferred. The high frequency RF power which is typically in the range from 50-1,000 W is applied to a showerhead, and the low frequency RF (LRF) power may be used in the range 10-500 W, according to the density desired for the film.
As is known in the art, each of the above process parameters may be adjusted within the invention. For example, the wafer chuck temperature may be between 100°-450° C. As is known in the art, gases such as CO2 may be added, and He may be replaced by gases such as, for example, Ar, O3 or N2O, or another noble gas. C2H4 may also be used in forming the inventive SiCNH dielectric material. Again, other functional groups, as described in the examples below, can be used to form a bridging group between two Si atoms.
The SiCNH dielectric material of the present invention comprises between about 5 and about 40, more preferably from about 10 to about 20, atomic percent of Si; between about 5 and about 50, more preferably from about 15 to about 40, atomic percent of C; between 0 and about 50, more preferably from about 10 to about 30, atomic percent of N; and between about 10 and about 55, more preferably from about 20 to about 45, atomic percent of H.
In some embodiments, the SiCNH dielectric material of the present invention may further comprise F. In yet another embodiment of the present invention, the SiCNH dielectric material may optionally have the Si atoms partially substituted by Ge atoms. The amount of these optional elements that may be present in the inventive dielectric material of the present invention is dependent on the amount of precursor that contains the optional elements that is used during deposition.
The SiCNH dielectric material of the present invention may contain molecular scale voids (i.e., nanometer-sized pores) between about 0.3 to about 10 nanometers in diameter, and most preferably between about 0.4 and about 5 nanometers in diameter, which reduce the dielectric constant of the SiCNH dielectric material. The nanometer-sized pores occupy a volume between about 0.5% and about 50% of a volume of the material. The voids are created by including one of the above mentioned porogens within the deposition process.
The SiCNH dielectric material of the present invention described above may be used, for example, to form layer 62 shown in
The following are examples illustrating material and processing embodiments of the present invention.
In this example, a porous SiCOH material with a dielectric constant k=2.4 was made in a two step process. In the deposition step, one cyclic carbosilane or oxycarbosilane precursor was selected to have a low boiling point, low cost, and to provide bonding of the form Si—[CH2]n—Si. Specifically, 1,1-dimethyl-1-silacyclopentane was used. The conditions used in the deposition step included a precursor flow of 8 sccm for the carbosilane 1,1-dimethyl-1-silacyclopentane, and 0.5 sccm for oxygen (O2). The substrate was placed in the reactor and the precursor's flows were stabilized to reach a reactor pressure of 0.5 Torr. The wafer chuck temperature was set to about 180° C. RF power at 13.6 MHz frequency was applied at a power of 30 W. After deposition, the film was annealed at 4300 for 4 hours, and a dielectric constant of 2.4 was measured at 150° C. Generally, other energetic post treatments may be used at this step, within the invention. In this embodiment, the energetic post treatment (or cure) step may cause rearrangement of the film structure to create more open volume, and hence to lower the dielectric constant, without removal of a sacrificial phase.
As is known in the art, each of the above process parameters may be adjusted within the invention. For example, the wafer chuck temperature may be between 100°-400° C. As is known in the art, gases such as He or CO2 may be added, and these may be replaced by gases such as Ar, or N2O or another noble gas.
The FTIR spectrum of this SiCOH dielectric material is shown, for example, in
In
Generally a number of cyclic carbosilane precursors may be used, including for example 1,1-dimethyl-1-silacyclopentane, methyl-1-silacyclopentane, silacyclopentane, silacyclobutane, methylsilacyclobutanes, silacyclohexane, methylsilacyclohexanes, tetramethyl-disila-furan, disila-furan, methoxy derivatives of the aforementioned cyclic precursors, or derivatives of disila-furan containing 1, 2, 3 or 4 R groups, where R is selected from methyl, ethyl, vinyl, propyl, allyl, butyl.
In this example, a porous SiCOH material with k=2.4 was made in a two step process. In the deposition step, two precursors were used. The cyclic precursor was selected to have a low boiling point, low cost, and to provide bonding of the form Si—[CH2]n—Si. The cyclic carbosilane precursor employed was 1,1-dimethyl-1-silacyclopentane. Bicycloheptadiene (BCHD) was used as a second precursor and serves as a porogen in this method. The conditions used in the deposition step included a precursor flow of 5 sccm for 1,1-dimethyl-1-silacyclopentane, and 2 sccm for the BCHD, and 0.5 sccm for oxygen (O2). The substrate was placed in the reactor and the precursor's flows were stabilized to reach a reactor pressure of 0.5 Torr. The wafer chuck temperature was set to about 180° C. RF power at 13.6 MHz frequency was applied at a power of 50 W. After deposition, the film was annealed at 430° C. for 4 hours, and the FTIR data of
As is known in the art, each of the above process parameters may be adjusted within the invention. For example, the wafer chuck temperature may be between 100°-400° C. As is known in the art, gases such as He or CO2 may be added, and these may be replaced by gases such as Ar, O2 or N2O, or another noble gas. Generally, an energetic post treatment step may be used after deposition, and all the cyclic carbosilanes or oxycarbosilane named above in the first embodiment may be used.
In this example, a porous SiCOH material, with k greater than or equal to 1.8, and having enhanced Si—R—Si bridging carbon or other organic functions bridging between two Si atoms was made using three precursors in a two step process. Here, R is used to represent bridging organic groups such as CH2, CH2—CH2, CH2—CH2—CH2 and more generally [CH2]n. In the deposition step, three precursors are used with one of these being a hydrocarbon porogen (used according to methods known in the art). The porogen may be bicycloheptadiene (BCHD), hexadiene (HXD), or other molecules described, for example, in U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,147,009, 6,312,793, 6,441,491, 6,437,443, 6,441,491, 6,541,398, 6,479,110 B2, and 6,497,963. Another one of the precursors used in this example was a SiCOH skeleton precursor DEMS (diethoxymethylsilane). The third precursor, which was selected to provide a desired amount of bonding of the form Si—[CH2]n—Si, was 1,1-dimethyl-1-silacyclopentane, although other cyclic carbosilanes may be used, including methyl-1-silacyclopentane, 1,3-disilylcyclobutane, silacyclopentane, silacyclobutane, methylsilacyclobutanes, silacyclohexane, methylsilacyclohexanes, tetramethyl-disila-furan, disila-furan, methoxy derivatives of the aforementioned cyclic precursors, or derivatives of disila-furan containing 1, 2, 3 or 4 R groups, where R is selected from methyl, ethyl, vinyl, propyl, allyl, butyl.
Within the inventive method, the ratio R1 is the ratio of carbosilane precursor to SiCOH skeleton precursor in the reactor, and the ratio R2 is the ratio of porogen precursor to SiCOH skeleton precursor in the reactor. R1 determines the concentration of Si—R—Si bridging carbon in the final porous SiCOH film. R1 may be in the range 0.01 to 100, but commonly is in the range 0.05-1. R2 determines the volume % porosity and hence the dielectric constant in the final porous SiCOH film. R2 may be in the range 0.1 to 10, but commonly is in the range 0.5-2.
The conditions used in the deposition step included a precursor flow of 100-3000 mg/m for all precursors, a He gas flow of 10-3000 sccm, and a porogen flow of about 50-3000 mg/m, and optionally the oxygen flow from 10-1000 sccm said flows were stabilized to reach a reactor pressure of 0.1-20 Torr, and preferably 1-10 Torr. The wafer chuck temperature was set between 100°-400° C., with 200°-300° C. range preferred. The high frequency RF power was in the range 50-1,000 W applied to the showerhead, and the low frequency RF (LRF) power was 0 W so that no LRF was applied to the substrate. The film deposition rate was in the range 200 to 10,000 Angstrom/min.
As is known in the art, each of the above process parameters may be adjusted within the invention. For example, the wafer chuck temperature may be between 100°-350° C. As is known in the art, gases such as CO2 may be added, and He may be replaced by gases such as Ar, O3 or N2O or another noble gas.
After deposition, the film was treated in an energetic post treatment step that includes at least one of thermal, ultraviolet light, electron beam, or other energy source. This step creates a porous film.
In a fourth embodiment, a process similar to the first embodiment (carbosilane 1,1-dimethyl-1-silacyclopentane and oxygen O2 process) was used, but the cyclic carbosilane precursor was selected from: 1,1-dimethyl-1-silacyclopentane, methyl-1-silacyclopentane, silacyclopentane, silacyclobutane and methylsilacyclobutanes, silacyclohexane and methylsilacyclohexanes, tetramethyl-disila-furan, disila-furan, derivatives of disila-furan containing 1, 2, 3 or 4 methyl groups, methoxy derivatives of the aforementioned cyclic carbosilanes, and related Si—C containing molecules. Alternatively, the carbosilane may contain an unsaturated ring to make this precursor more reactive in the deposition plasma (for example a low power plasma) such as 1,1-diethoxy-1-silacyclopentene, 1,1-dimethyl-3-silacyclopentene, 1-sila-3-cyclopentene, vinylmethylsilacyclopentene, methoxy derivatives of these unsaturated cyclic carbosilanes and related other cyclic carbosilane precursors.
The conditions used in the deposition step included a precursor flow of 100-3000 mg/m for all precursors, a He gas flow of 10-3000 sccm, and a porogen flow of about 50-3000 mg/m, and optionally the oxygen flow from 10-1000 sccm said flows were stabilized to reach a reactor pressure of 1-10 Torr. The wafer chuck temperature was set between 100°-350° C., with 250°-300° C. range preferred. The high frequency RF power was in the range 50-1,000 W applied to the showerhead, and the low frequency RF (LRF) power was 0 W so that no LRF was applied to the substrate. The film deposition rate was in the range 200 to 10,000 Angstrom/min. After deposition, an energetic post treatment step may be used to produce the final porous dielectric film.
As is known in the art, each of the above process parameters may be adjusted within the invention. For example, the wafer chuck temperature may be between 100°-400° C. As is known in the art, gases such as CO2 may be added, and He may be replaced by gases such as Ar, O3 or N2O, or another noble gas. The film of this embodiment was generally SiCH in composition, with an optional small O content.
In a fifth embodiment, a process was used to deposit a film of SiCNH composition using cyclic precursor including nitrogen, such as 2,2,5,5-tetramethyl-2,5-disila-1-azacyclopentane, or a related azacyclopentane.
The conditions used in the deposition step included a precursor flow of 100-3000 mg/m for all precursors, a He gas flow of 10-3000 sccm, and a porogen flow of about 50-3000 mg/m. For this film of SiCNH composition optionally NH3 (ammonia) is added at a flow from 10-1000 sccm. Said flows were stabilized to reach a reactor pressure of 1-10 Torr. The wafer chuck temperature was set between 100°-400° C., with 350° C. preferred. The high frequency RF power was in the range 50-1,000 W applied to the showerhead, and the low frequency RF (LRF) power was 0 W so that no LRF was applied to the substrate. The film deposition rate was in the range 200 to 10,000 Angstrom/min. After deposition, an energetic post treatment step may be used to produce the final dielectric film, but is not required.
As is known in the art, each of the above process parameters may be adjusted within the invention. For example, the wafer chuck temperature may be between 100°-400° C. As is known in the art, gases such as N2 may be added, and He may be replaced by gases such as Ar, or another noble gas. The film of this embodiment was generally SiCNH in composition.
Electronic Devices
The electronic devices which can include the inventive SiCOH or SiCNH dielectric are shown in
In
A second region of conductor 50 is then formed after a photolithographic process on the SiCOH dielectric film 44 is conducted followed by etching and then a deposition process for the second conductor material. The second region of conductor 50 may also be deposited of either a metallic material or a nonmetallic material, similar to that used in depositing the first conductor layer 40. The second region of conductor 50 is in electrical communication with the first region of conductor 40 and is embedded in the second layer of the SiCOH dielectric film 44. The second layer of the SiCOH dielectric film is in intimate contact with the first layer of SiCOH dielectric material 38. In this example, the first layer of the SiCOH dielectric film 38 is an intralevel dielectric material, while the second layer of the SiCOH dielectric film 44 is both an intralevel and an interlevel dielectric. Based on the low dielectric constant of the inventive SiCOH dielectric film, superior insulating property can be achieved by the first insulating layer 38 and the second insulating layer 44.
Another alternate embodiment of the present invention electronic device 70 is shown in
Still another alternate embodiment of the present invention electronic device 80 is shown in
Still other alternate embodiments may include an electronic structure which has layers of insulating material as intralevel or interlevel dielectrics in a wiring structure that includes a pre-processed semiconducting substrate which has a first region of metal embedded in a first layer of insulating material, a first region of conductor embedded in a second layer of the insulating material wherein the second layer of insulating material is in intimate contact with the first layer of insulating material, and the first region of conductor is in electrical communication with the first region of metal, a second region of conductor in electrical communication with the first region of conductor and is embedded in a third layer of insulating material, wherein the third layer of insulating material is in intimate contact with the second layer of insulating material, a first dielectric cap layer between the second layer of insulating material and the third layer of insulating material and a second dielectric cap layer on top of the third layer of insulating material, wherein the first and the second dielectric cap layers are formed of a SiCOH dielectric film of the present invention.
Still other alternate embodiments of the present invention include an electronic structure which has layers of insulating material as intralevel or interlevel dielectrics in a wiring structure that includes a pre-processed semiconducting substrate that has a first region of metal embedded in a first layer of insulating material, a first region of conductor embedded in a second layer of insulating material which is in intimate contact with the first layer of insulating material, the first region of conductor is in electrical communication with the first region of metal, a second region of conductor that is in electrical communication with the first region of conductor and is embedded in a third layer of insulating material, the third layer of insulating material is in intimate contact with the second layer of insulating material, and a diffusion barrier layer formed of the dielectric film of the present invention deposited on at least one of the second and third layers of insulating material.
Still other alternate embodiments include an electronic structure which has layers of insulating material as intralevel or interlevel dielectrics in a wiring structure that includes a pre-processed semiconducting substrate that has a first region of metal embedded in a first layer of insulating material, a first region of conductor embedded in a second layer of insulating material which is in intimate contact with the first layer of insulating material, the first region of conductor is in electrical communication with the first region of metal, a second region of conductor in electrical communication with the first region of conductor and is embedded in a third layer of insulating material, the third layer of insulating material is in intimate contact with the second layer of insulating material, a reactive ion etching (RIE) hard mask/polish stop layer on top of the second layer of insulating material, and a diffusion barrier layer on top of the RIE hard mask/polish stop layer, wherein the RIE hard mask/polish stop layer and the diffusion barrier layer are formed of the SiCOH or SiCNH dielectric film of the present invention.
Still other alternate embodiments include an electronic structure which has layers of insulating materials as intralevel or interlevel dielectrics in a wiring structure that includes a pre-processed semiconducting substrate that has a first region of metal embedded in a first layer of insulating material, a first region of conductor embedded in a second layer of insulating material which is in intimate contact with the first layer of insulating material, the first region of conductor is in electrical communication with the first region of metal, a second region of conductor in electrical communication with the first region of conductor and is embedded in a third layer of insulating material, the third layer of insulating material is in intimate contact with the second layer of insulating material, a first RIE hard mask, polish stop layer on top of the second layer of insulating material, a first diffusion barrier layer on top of the first RIE hard mask/polish stop layer, a second RIE hard mask/polish stop layer on top of the third layer of insulating material, and a second diffusion barrier layer on top of the second RIE hard mask/polish stop layer, wherein the RIE hard mask/polish stop layers and the diffusion barrier layers are formed of the SiCOH or SiCNH dielectric film of the present invention.
Still other alternate embodiments of the present invention includes an electronic structure that has layers of insulating material as intralevel or interlevel dielectrics in a wiring structure similar to that described immediately above but further includes a dielectric cap layer which is formed of the SiCOH or SiCNH dielectric material of the present invention situated between an interlevel dielectric layer and an intralevel dielectric layer.
In some embodiments as shown, for example in
The at least two metal conductor elements are patterned in a shape required for a function of a passive or active circuit element including, for example, an inductor, a resistor, a capacitor, or a resonator.
Additionally, the inventive SiCOH or SiCNH can be used in an electronic sensing structure wherein the optoelectronic sensing element (detector) shown in
A second optical sensing structure is shown in
While the present invention has been described in an illustrative manner, it should be understood that the terminology used is intended to be in a nature of words of description rather than of limitation. Furthermore, while the present invention has been described in terms of a preferred and several alternate embodiments, it is to be appreciated that those skilled in the art will readily apply these teachings to other possible variations of the invention.
The present application is related to U.S. Ser. No. 11/132,108, filed May 18, 2005, as well as U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,147,009, 6,312,793, 6,441,491, 6,437,443, 6,541,398, 6,479,110 B2, 6,497,963, 6,768,200, 6,770,573, and U.S. Patent Application Publication Nos. 20050194619 and 20050276930 the contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.
