Sunday, 15 October 2006
Salon E - H (Doubletree Hotel at Reid Park)
6

Repair and capping of porous MSQ films using chlorosilanes and supercritical carbon dioxide

Lieschen N. Hatch, Anthony J. Muscat, and Bo Xie. The University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ

Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), spectroscopic ellipsometry, goniometry and electrical measurements were used to investigate repair and capping of porous methylsilsesquioxane (JSR LKD 5109) low-k films using a series of chlorosilanes in the form of R4-nSiXn, where R is a methyl group and X is chlorine (Trimethylchlorosilane-TMCS, dimethyldichlorosilane-DMDCS, and methyltrichlorosilane-MTCS), dissolved in supercritical CO2 (scCO2). All three chemicals deposited methylsilyl (O-Si-CH3) moieties on the surface by reaction with lone and H-bonded silanol (SiO-H) groups on the surface of oxygen ashed porous methylsilsesquioxane (p-MSQ) films. Spectroscopic ellipsometry and goniometry showed that the total film thickness and contact angle are increased in the order TMCS < MTCS < DMDCS. Electrical measurements of the dielectric constant k of capacitors increased in the order TMCS 2.59 +/- 0.05, DMDCS 2.88 +/- 0.13, and MTCS 3.23 +/- 0.11. The bi- or tri-functionality of the molecules with more reactive head groups produced intermolecular linking, but not all of the silanol SiO-H groups in these layers could condense, which mitigated the effect of packing density on k. Ti CVD shows that the mesopores of MSQ were capped after DMDCS and MTCS processes.

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