Scatterometric Porosimetry for porous low-k patterns characterization

Porous low-k dielectrics integration in interconnects is required to keep improving Integrated Circuits performance. However, these materials are highly sensitive to plasma processes and may be damaged during the patterning steps. Characterizing the plasma induced modification is required on patterned structures to develop less damaging plasma processes. Scatterometric Porosimetry (SP) has recently been introduced to characterize the plasma-induced porous low-k modification on patterned structures. By discussing the sensitivity and correlations of the different optimization parameters on a simple dielectric stack, we will show in which manner the SP method is applicable to fundamental studies and to process optimization.