CHARACTERISTICS OF SILICON OXYCARBIDE THIN FILMS DEPOSITED BY ATOMIC LAYER DEPOSITION FOR LOW-K GATE SPACER

Abstract

SiOC thin film deposition was studied with using remote plasma atomic layer deposition (RPALD). The investigation for low-k materials has been highly demanded due to higher speed and performance in the smaller chip size. This thin film is the promising low-k gate spacer candidate due to the lowest dielectric constant among them. Bis-TriMethyl Silyl Methane(BTMSM) as a precursor and O2 plasma as a reactance were used for the study. The deposition temperature was from 30 to 150 °C and the plasma power ranges from 30 and 100 W. 50 deposition cycle was used. Plasma and deposition temperatures had a significant effect on the physical and electrical characteristics of the films. Low dielectric constants resulted in low film densities and the high presence of carbon within the films. It has been found that as plasma power increased, the deposition rate got faster and the carbon content decreased. It was more likely that lower plasma power could make SiOC deposition rather than SiO2. As deposition temperature got higher, deposition rate got slower. AES(Auger Electron Spectroscopy) supported the analysis for the atomic concentration. I-V and C-V measurements were also tested for the leakage current and the capacitance, respectively.