Plasma induced damage mitigation in spin-on self-assembly based ultra low-k dielectrics using template residues

© 2017 Author(s). This paper describes an approach for the reduction of plasma-induced damage in self-assembly based porous ultra low-k organosilica dielectrics. The concept is based on retention of the partially decomposed sacrificial organic phase (template) into the pores of the low-k film during plasma exposure. The amount of the template residues can be controlled by varying the hard-bake process time. It is shown that those residues are uniformly distributed throughout the film in the form of pore wall coatings. After plasma processing, the remaining residues are removed by means of a UV cure. Plasma damage to the underlying organosilica matrix was assessed by exposure of the differently hard-baked low-k films to fluorine-rich Ar/SF6 plasma. The thickest coating, estimated to be around 0.4 nm, enables a nearly damage-free etch process without any carbon depletion or k-value degradation along with limited shrinkage induced by post-etch UV-curing (<4.5%). These results highlight the efficiency of a simple and scalable route for damage-free integration of highly porous self-assembly based low-k dielectrics.status: publishe

The small-gap technique: understanding an ion shading method for plasma-surface interactions study

Link to presentation: https://imec-events.be/UserFiles/76/File/Presentations/S3/S3_PESM2010_JFdM.pdfstatus: publishe

Developing linguistic theories using annotated corpora

This paper aims to carve out a place for corpus research within theoretical linguistics and psycholinguistics. We argue that annotated corpora naturally complement native speaker intuitions and controlled psycholinguistic methods and thus can be powerful tools for developing and evaluating linguistic theories. We also review basic methods and best practices for moving from corpus annotations to hypothesis formation and testing, offering practical advice and technical guidance to researchers wishing to incorporate corpus methods into their work