Impacts of UV cure for reliable porous PECVD SiOC integration [IC interconnect applications]

An ultra violet (UV) cure was investigated to improve the mechanical and electrical properties of porous carbon-doped PECVD (plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition) oxide film (k<2.4) for the 45 nm node technology and beyond. Drastic improvement in the film modulus and leakage current between Cu interconnects was observed. The formation of Si-O chemical bonds by breaking Si-CH/sub 3/ bonds after UV irradiation is thought to be an origin for the results of Si-O-C-H networks in p-SIOC films.