Interlayer dielectric layer
AssigneeTaiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, Ltd.
InventorsJoung-Wei Liou, Yi-Wei Chiu, Bo-Jhih Shen
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Abstract
The present disclosure describes a method for forming a silicon-based, carbon-rich, low-k ILD layer with a carbon concentration between about 15 atomic % and about 20 atomic %. For example, the method includes depositing a dielectric layer, over a substrate, with a dielectric material having a dielectric constant below 3.9 and a carbon atomic concentration between about 15% and about 20%; exposing the dielectric layer to a thermal process configured to outgas the dielectric material; etching the dielectric layer to form openings; and filling the openings with a conductive material to form conductive structures.
Claims21
A method, comprising:
- depositing a dielectric layer, over a substrate, with a dielectric material having a dielectric constant below 3.9 and a carbon atomic concentration between about 15% and about 20%;
- exposing the dielectric layer to a thermal process configured to outgas the dielectric material;
- etching the dielectric layer to form openings;
- and
- filling the openings with a conductive material to form conductive structures.
10-14. (canceled)
A method, comprising:
- depositing, over a substrate, a dielectric material with a thermal deposition method or an electron beam (e-beam) deposition method, wherein the dielectric material has a dielectric constant below 3.9;
- forming a treated dielectric material with a carbon atomic concentration between about 15% and about 20% and a density between about 1.2 gr/cm3 and about 1.4 gr/cm3;
- etching the treated dielectric material to form openings;
- and
- filling the openings with a conductive material.
A method, comprising:
- providing a substrate with a contact layer comprising first conductive structures;
- depositing, on the contact layer, a dielectric with a first k-value, a first carbon atomic concentration, and a first volumetric density;
- treating the deposited dielectric with a thermal process, a plasma process, an ultra violet (UV) process, an electron beam (e-beam) process, or combinations thereof to convert the deposited dielectric to a treated dielectric with a second k-value lower than the first k-value, a second carbon atomic concentration substantially equal to the first carbon atomic concentration, and a second volumetric density greater than the first volumetric density;
- etching openings in the treated dielectric to expose one or more conductive structures from the contact layer;
- filling the openings with conductive materials to form second conductive structures on the first conductive structures.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.