Title :
A study of SiN cap NH3 plasma pre-treatment process on the PID, EM, GOI performance and BEOL defectivity in Cu dual damascene technology
Author :
Ang, C.H. ; Lu, W.H. ; Yap, Andrew K L ; Goh, L.C. ; Goh, Luona N L ; Lim, Y.K. ; Chua, C.S. ; Ko, L.H. ; Tan, Tracy H S ; Toh, S.L. ; Hsia, L.C.
Author_Institution :
Chartered Semicond. Manuf. Ltd., Singapore, Singapore
Abstract :
The influence of the SiN cap-layer NH3 pre-treatment process on the electromigration (EM), plasma-induced damage (PID), gate oxide integrity (GOI) and BEOL defectivity has been studied. A noteworthy trade-off between EM, PID, GOI performance, and BEOL defectivity is revealed. On one hand, aggressive NH3 pre-treatment process yields improved EM lifetime and PID. On the other hand, the process may provoke Cu hillock and IMD blister defects, as well as GOI yield failure if the treatment is over-aggressive. These disparate observations have been satisfactorily explained using RF plasma-induced heating mechanism in the underlying Cu and IMD. This paper also shows the need to adjust the NH3 pretreatment process to meet the overall yield, reliability and manufacturability requirements.
Keywords :
CMOS integrated circuits; copper; electromigration; integrated circuit interconnections; integrated circuit metallisation; plasma materials processing; silicon compounds; BEOL defectivity; Cu; GOI performance; RF plasma-induced heating; SiN; aggressive pretreatment; ammonia plasma pretreatment process; blister defects; dual damascene technology; dual-gate CMOS technology; electromigration; hillock defects; manufacturability; nitride cap-layer; plasma-induced damage; Adhesives; Breakdown voltage; CMOS technology; Leakage current; Manufacturing industries; Manufacturing processes; Plasma materials processing; Pulp manufacturing; Silicon compounds; Testing;
Conference_Titel :
Integrated Circuit Design and Technology, 2004. ICICDT '04. International Conference on
Print_ISBN :
0-7803-8528-4
DOI :
10.1109/ICICDT.2004.1309924
