Application of high pressure process into Cu/low-k technologies

High-pressure processing in the range of 16-120 MPa has been introduced to Cu/low-k interconnect technologies as a new generation. Hot isostatic pressing (HIP) was applied to the formation of Cu plugs with a high aspect ratio. A new finding related to a combination with electroplated Cu is also discussed. A supercritical CO/sub 2/ fluid was applied to a formation of low-k porous silica films as a means of capillary-force-free drying. A low dielectric constant, as low as 1.1, was achieved by using this technique. It is demonstrated that high-pressure processing has several attractive advantages for semiconductor processing.