Dow Corning Corp., Midland, Mich., recently opened a dedicated PECVD dielectrics application lab in a Class-1 certified clean room for process-integration work.
The facility houses an Applied Materials DxZ PECVD system and advanced thin-film analysis equipment. The facility supports Dow's work in integrated circuit, fabrication-quality CVD dielectric films on wafers of 200-mm diameter. Dow says it will track process repeatability at the site to ensure optimal film performance consistent with published specs for its Z3MS low- and barrier film.
Dow will prepare customer samples and fill customized application development requests around subtractive aluminum and copper damascene interconnect integration. Processes supported at the site will include SiC:H copper low- barrier/etch stop film, traditional and high-efficiency SiC:O:H low- ILD, N2O-based, SiC:O:H low- ILD, O2-based, and sequential deposition of dual damascene dielectric stack with or without an embedded hard mask.
Dow says its Z3MS CVD Dielectric is compatible with copper damascene and aluminum applications and works with existing equipment and processes, as well as with new PECVD tool sets.
Z3MS offers a dielectric constant of 2.7 and the same single-chamber processing technology developed for silane-based dielectric film deposition. Dow says it provides benefits for film applications including copper diffusion barrier, gap fill, damascene ILD and etch-stop, and improved passivation. Z3MS also is a noncorrosive, nonpyrophoric, organosilicon gas that meets the safety and purity requirements of the semiconductor industry.
