Effect of Helium Plasma on Low-k damage during Dry Resist Strip

Effect of He plasma dechuck step in a dry resist strip process is analyzed. It is demonstrated that UV radiation from He plasma during the dechuck step dissociates the adsorbed water molecules, which are formed during the preceding oxygen-plasma-based strip. A product of the water photolysis - oxygen radicals are detected as a source of light emission at 777 nm. The intensity the emission of electronically excited O* radicals correlates with degree of damage occurred during strip.status: publishe

Oxygen chemiluminescence in He plasma as a method for plasma damage evaluation

We propose a method for evaluating the hydrophilisation degree of low-k films upon plasma damage. The evaluation is based on optical emission spectroscopy analysis of O* emission during He plasma exposure of sample in question. The O* is presumably desorbed from damaged low-k film by vacuum-ultraviolet radiation from He plasma. The new method correlates well with other methods for plasma damage characterization such as Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy and Water-Vapor Ellipsometric Porosimetry. The presented method gives a unique opportunity to assess the degree of hydrophilisation of low-k films immediately after processing. (C) 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.status: publishe

EP2034046A2: Improved cleaning of plasma chamber walls by adding of noble gas cleaning step

An improved reaction chamber and chamber cleaning process are disclosed able to remove water residues by making use of noble-gas plasma reactions. The chamber is easy to operate and the method is easily applicable and may be combined with standard cleaning procedure. A noble-gas plasma (e.g. He) that emits high energy EUV photons (E>20 eV) which is able to destruct water molecules forming electronically excited oxygen atoms is used to remove the adsorbed water.European patent application - EP2034046A2status: publishe

EP2272996A1:Fabrication of porogen residue free and mechanically robust low-k materials

A method is disclosed to produce a porogenresidue-free ultra low-k film with porosity higher than 50% and a high elastic modulus above 5 GPa. The method starts with depositing a SiCOH film using Plasma Enhanced Chemical Vapour Deposition (PE-CVD) or Chemical Vapour Deposition (CVD) onto a substrate and then first Performing an atomic hydrogen treatment at elevated wafer temperature in the range of 200 °C up to 350 °C to remove all the porogens and then performing a UV assisted thermal curing step.status: publishe

Effect of Porogen Residue on Chemical, Optical, and Mechanical Properties of CVD SiCOH Low-k Materials

The effect of He/H-2 downstream plasma on chemical vapor deposition (CVD) low-k films with different porosities was studied. The results show that this plasma does not reduce the concentration of Si-CH3 bonds in the low-k matrix and that the films remain hydrophobic. However, mass loss and reduction in bulk C concentration were observed. The latter phenomena are related to the removal of porogen residue formed during the UV curing of the low-k films. It is demonstrated that the porogen residue removal changes the films' porosity and mechanical properties. The depth of the modification is limited by the penetration of H radicals into the porous low-k films.status: publishe

Influence of crystallographic orientation on etch properties of TiN

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Using ellipsometry for assessment of TiN surface roughness after plasma etch

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