3-Dimentional TEM stereo observation technology for characterization of pores in low-k film

Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM) has been applied to characterize pores in low-k films 3-dimentionally for the first time. To obtain the 3-dimentional shape of pores, TEM observations were operated in a stereo mode. The 3-dimentional TEM observations results showed that pores are not spherical but random in the shape and that pores do not exist uniformly but unevenly distribute in the low-k films and they tend to concentrate at the interface areas in examined SiC/low-k films stacks after commercially adequate cure treatments. The pores migrate in the low-k films during anneal at process temperatures such as 400 degrees C.