A manufacturable and reliable low-k inter-metal dielectric using fluorinated oxide (FSG)

A manufacturable and reliable low-k intermetal dielectric (IMD) using FSG is demonstrated. Film properties such as thickness, refractive index, stress and fluorine content and their thermal stability have been characterized. Dependency of line-to-line capacitance, via contact resistance (R/sub c/), and hot carrier reliability on FSG based IMD schemes are compared. We conclude that a simple, full FSG IMD with lower F content (4.7%) without undoped oxide (USG) as under- or cap-layer is feasible to achieve best interconnect performance with excellent thermal stability. Various product reliability tests demonstrate that the FSG IMD is highly reliable.