Environmental Effects on Subcritical Delamination of Dielectric and Metal Films from Organosilicate Glass (OSG) Thin Films

2003 ◽  
Vol 766 ◽  
Author(s):  
Y. Lin ◽  
J.J. Vlassak ◽  
T.Y. Tsui ◽  
A.J. McKerrow

AbstractSubcritical delamination of dielectric and metal films from organosilicate glass (OSG) thin films was studied in controlled ambient with different levels of relative humidity and in aqueous environments of varying pH. The material systems studied include OSG/SiO2, OSG/TaN and OSG/SiNx. For both sets of experiments, subcritical crack growth in OSG is found to be described by a model originally developed for soda-lime silicate glass. The threshold energy release rate for water molecule-assisted cracking varies linearly with the natural logarithm of water partial pressure. In aqueous environments, the threshold value decreases linearly with increasing pH in accordance with a simple model. The slope of crack growth rate curve also decreases with increasing pH.

2002 ◽  
Vol 85 (9) ◽  
pp. 2287-2292 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sheldon M. Wiederhorn ◽  
Achim Dretzke ◽  
Jürgen Rödel

2020 ◽  
Vol 7 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tina Waurischk ◽  
Ralf Müller ◽  
Stefan Reinsch ◽  
Philipe Kiefer ◽  
Joachim Deubener ◽  
...  

2005 ◽  
Vol 863 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeannette M. Jacques ◽  
Ting Y. Tsui ◽  
Andrew J. McKerrow ◽  
Robert Kraft

AbstractFor 90 nm node devices, the group of materials known as organosilicate glass (OSG) has emerged as the predominant choice for intermetal dielectrics. A potential failure mechanism for this class of low-k dielectric films during the manufacturing process is catastrophic fracture due to channel cracking. The use of an electron beam curing process is being investigated for improvement in the mechanical strength of these silicon-based materials. Within this work, the effects of curing dose (micro-C/cm2) upon the mechanical properties of OSG thin films were characterized. For a set process voltage and current, linear relationships exist between the dose and several mechanical film properties. Channel crack growth velocities were also measured for these cured materials. As the cure dose is increased, the crack growth rate decreases according to a power law relationship. The structural film changes induced by the electron beam cure process are addressed, focusing on their impact upon the mechanical strength of OSG thin films.


Author(s):  
Klaus-Ruediger Peters ◽  
Samuel A. Green

High magnification imaging of macromolecules on metal coated biological specimens is limited only by wet preparation procedures since recently obtained instrumental resolution allows visualization of topographic structures as smal l as 1-2 nm. Details of such dimensions may be visualized if continuous metal films with a thickness of 2 nm or less are applied. Such thin films give sufficient contrast in TEM as well as in SEM (SE-I image mode). The requisite increase in electrical conductivity for SEM of biological specimens is achieved through the use of ligand mediated wet osmiuum impregnation of the specimen before critical point (CP) drying. A commonly used ligand is thiocarbohvdrazide (TCH), first introduced to TEM for en block staining of lipids and glvcomacromolecules with osmium black. Now TCH is also used for SEM. However, after ligand mediated osinification nonspecific osmium black precipitates were often found obscuring surface details with large diffuse aggregates or with dense particular deposits, 2-20 nm in size. Thus, only low magnification work was considered possible after TCH appl ication.


2002 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 45-52
Author(s):  
L. Jakučionis ◽  
V. Kleiza

Electrical properties of conductive thin films, that are produced by vacuum evaporation on the dielectric substrates, and which properties depend on their thickness, usually are anisotropic i.e. they have uniaxial anisotropy. If the condensate grow on dielectric substrates on which plane electrical field E is created the transverse voltage U⊥ appears on the boundary of the film in the direction perpendicular to E. Transverse voltage U⊥ depends on the angle γ between the applied magnetic field H and axis of light magnetisation. When electric field E is applied to continuous or grid layers, U⊥ and resistance R of layers are changed by changing γ. It means that value of U⊥ is the measure of anisotropy magnitude. Increasing voltage U0 , which is created by E, U⊥ increases to certain magnitude and later decreases. The anisotropy of continuous thin layers is excited by inequality of conductivity tensor components σ0 ≠ σ⊥. The reason of anisotropy is explained by the model which shows that properties of grain boundaries are defined by unequal probability of transient of charge carrier.


1997 ◽  
Vol 473 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Lane ◽  
Robert Ware ◽  
Steven Voss ◽  
Qing Ma ◽  
Harry Fujimoto ◽  
...  

ABSTRACTProgressive (or time dependent) debonding of interfaces poses serious problems in interconnect structures involving multilayer thin films stacks. The existence of such subcriticai debonding associated with environmentally assisted crack-growth processes is examined for a TiN/SiO2 interface commonly encountered in interconnect structures. The rate of debond extension is found to be sensitive to the mechanical driving force as well as the interface morphology, chemistry, and yielding of adjacent ductile layers. In order to investigate the effect of interconnect structure, particularly the effect of an adjacent ductile Al-Cu layer, on subcriticai debonding along the TiN/SiO2 interface, a set of samples was prepared with Al-Cu layer thicknesses varying from 0.2–4.0 μm. All other processing conditions remained the same over the entire sample run. Results showed that for a given crack growth velocity, the debond driving force scaled with Al-Cu layer thickness. Normalizing the data by the critical adhesion energy allowed a universal subcriticai debond rate curve to be derived.


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