Remote plasma enhanced cyclic etching of a cyclosiloxane polymer thin film  

作　　者：Xianglin Wang Xinyu Luo Weiwei Du Yuanhao Shen Xiaocheng Huang Zheng Yang Junjie Zhao 

机构地区：[1]State Key Laboratory of Chemical Engineering,College of Chemical and Biological Engineering,Zhejiang University,866 Yuhangtang Rd,Hangzhou 310058,People’s Republic of China [2]Institute of Zhejiang University-Quzhou,99 Zheda Rd,Quzhou,Zhejiang 324000,People’s Republic of China

出　　处：《International Journal of Extreme Manufacturing》2024年第5期239-248,共10页极端制造（英文）

基　　金：the funding from the National Natural Science Foundation of China(22178301 and 21938011);the grant from the Science&Technology Department of Zhejiang Province(2023C01182);the funding from the Natural Science Foundation of Zhejiang Province(LR21B060003);supported by the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities(226-2024-00023);Shanxi Institute of Zhejiang University for New Materials and Chemical Industry(2022SZ-TD005);Quzhou Science and Technology Program(2021NC02).

摘　　要：The continuous evolution of chip manufacturing demands the development of materials with ultra-low dielectric constants.With advantageous dielectric and mechanical properties,initiated chemical vapor deposited(iCVD)poly(1,3,5-trimethyl-1,3,5-trivinyl cyclotrisiloxane)(pV3D3)emerges as a promising candidate.However,previous works have not explored etching for this cyclosiloxane polymer thin film,which is indispensable for potential applications to the back-end-of-line fabrication.Here,we developed an etching process utilizing O2/Ar remote plasma for cyclic removal of iCVD pV3D3 thin film at sub-nanometer scale.We employed in-situ quartz crystal microbalance to investigate the process parameters including the plasma power,plasma duration and O2 flow rate.X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and cross-sectional microscopy reveal the formation of an oxidized skin layer during the etching process.This skin layer further substantiates an etching mechanism driven by surface oxidation and sputtering.Additionally,this oxidized skin layer leads to improved elastic modulus and hardness and acts as a barrier layer for protecting the bottom cyclosiloxane polymer from further oxidation.

关 键 词：remote plasma cyclic etching cyclosiloxane polymer initiated chemical vapor deposition in-situ characterization 

分 类 号：TN405[电子电信—微电子学与固体电子学]