Abstract
Five organic precursors, 2,5-dimethyl-2,4-hexadiene, 2,5-norbornadiene, α-terpinine, limonene, and styrene have been studied as precursors for plasma deposition of low-k films. The films have been produced under particle-forming conditions in the plasma. Accordingly, films have a granular structure with grain sizes in the range 40–400 nm, as determined by AFM. Annealing at 400 °C preserves the granular structure of the films while the grain size decreases. Of the five precursors examined, 2,5-dimethyl-2,4-hexadiene and 2,5-norbornadiene produce films with the lowest dielectric constant, with a value of 3.3. While the dielectric constant varies with deposition conditions (pressure, flow rate, concentration of precursor), we find that the grain size of the films correlates most closely with the dielectric constant and conclude that the lowest value of the dielectric constant are obtained under conditions that promote the formation of particles larger than about 200 nm.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Cao J, Matsoukas T (2001) Nanoparticles and nanocomposites in rf plasma. Mater Res Soc Symp 635:c.4.12.1–c.4.12.6. http://www.mrs.org/publications/epubs/proceedings/fall2000/c/
Cao J, Matsoukas T (2002) Deposition kinetics on particles in a dusty plasma reactor. J Appl Phys 92(5):2916–2922. doi:10.1063/1.1499529. http://link.aip.org/link/?JAP/92/2916/1.
Cao J, Matsoukas T (2003) Particle coating in seeded dusty plasma reactor: Distribution of deposition rates. J Vac Sci Technol B 21(5):2011–2017. doi:10.1116/1.1603283. http://link.aip.org/link/?JVB/21/2011/1
Cao J, Matsoukas T (2004) Synthesis of hollow nanoparticles by plasma polymerization. J Nanoparticle Res 6(5):447–455. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11051-004-2716-x
Cao J, Matsoukas J (2005) Nanowire coating by plasma processing. IEEE Trans Plasma Sci 33(2):829–833. doi:10.1109/TPS.2005.844505
d’Agostino R, Cramarossa F, Fracassi F (1990) Plasma deposition, treatment and etching of polymers. Academic Press Inc, New York, p 95
Grill A (1999a) Electrical and optical properties of diamond-like carbon. Thin Solid Films 355–356:189–193. http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/B6TW0-3Y3PV4P-16/2/0da5b670ce77247f9b9faa4354aa1bd8
Grill A (1999b) Diamond-like carbon: state of the art. Diam Relat Mater 8(2–5):428–434. http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/B6TWV-3W9DJ04-27/2/21375a356149fe4b38ef376513ea24fc
Grill A (2001a) Amorphous carbon based materials as the interconnect dielectric in ULSI chips. Diam Relat Mater 10(2):234–239. http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/B6TWV-42FS2BN-M/2/dff6fe68248e0202e0ec4b3518615d79
Grill A (2001b) From tribological coatings to low-k dielectrics for ULSI interconnects. Thin Solid Films 398–399:527–532. http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/B6TW0-44JDBYS-39/2/7136f0a176199e4e7c1b6a727dcbd789.
Grill A, Patel V (2000) Novel low-k dual-phase materials prepared by pecvd. Mater Res Soc Symp Proc 612:D2.9.1–D2.9.7. http://sst.pennnet.com/Articles/Article_Display.cfm?Section=Archives&Subsection=Display&ARTICLE_ID=119584
Guerino M, Massi M, Maciel HS, Otani C, Mansano RD, Verdonck P Libardi J (2004) The influence of nitrogen on the dielectric constant and surface hardness in diamond-like carbon (dlc) films. Diam Relat Mater 13(2):316–319. http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/B6TWV-4BRRV6M-P/2/e965cedd49bb610dbf21a01179df635f
Kim TH, Im YH, Hahn YB (2003) Plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition of low dielectric constant SiCFO thin films. Chem Phys Lett 368(1–2):36–40. http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/B6TFN-47C8YRG-6/2/f6832e1c2c02c514ee0dc660e402f09f
Kim H, Shin J-K, Kwon, D-H, Seo, H-Il, Lee GS (2005) Plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition growth of fluorinated amorphous carbon thin films using C4F8 and Si2H6/He for low-dielectric-constant intermetallic-layer dielectrics. Jpn J Appl Phys 144:4886–4890. http://jjap.ipap.jp/link?JJAP/44/4886/
Lettington AH (1998) Applications of diamond-like carbon thin films. Carbon 36(5–6):555–560. http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/B6TWD-3TGSDXP-2W/2/5bc7eb5fa271389ddbff27b1e50acdbf
Liniger EG, Simonyi EE (2004) Moisture-driven crack growth in blanket low dielectric constant and ultralow dielectric constant films. J Appl Phys 96(6):3482–3485. doi:10.1063/1.1774269. http://link.aip.org/link/?JAP/96/3482/1
Maex K, Baklanov MR, Shamiryan D, lacopi F, Brongersma SH, Yanovitskaya ZS (2003) Low dielectric constant materials for microelectronics. J Appl Phys 93(11):8793–8841. doi:10.1063/1.1567460. http://link.aip.org/link/?JAP/93/8793/1
Matsoukas T, Cao J (2004) Film deposition on particles trapped in the sheath of reactive dusty plasma: effect of size distribution. IEEE Trans Plasma Sci 32(2):699–703. doi:10.1109/TPS.2004.828447
Milella A, Palumbo F, Favia P, Cicala G, d’Agostino R (2004) Continuous and modulated deposition of fluorocarbon films from c-C4F8 plasmass. Plasma Process Polym 1(2):164–170. doi:10.1002/ppap.200400021
Mountsier TW, Samuels JA (1998) Precursor selection for plasma deposited fluorinated amorphous carbon films. Thin Solid Films 332(1–2):362–368. http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/B6TW0-3XFTXV9-2C/2/7e4bd5767bedba9896535ee960e65fc3
Oh T, Choi CK, Lee K-M (2005) Investigation of a-c:f films as hydrogenated diamond-like carbon and low-k materials. Thin Solid Films 475(1–2):109–112. http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/B6TW0-4D637HV-2/2/340c5183d940f655ac6122621ea480cf
Ree M, Yoon J, Heo K (2006) Imprinting well-controlled closed-nanopores in spin-on polymeric dielectric thin films. J Mater Chem 16:685–697. http://www.rsc.org/Publishing/Journals/JM/article.asp?doi=b511301f
Robertson J (2002) Diamond-like amorphous carbon. Mater Sci Eng R 37(4–6):129–281. http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/B6TXH-45CW54H-2/2/3727e1cddfdd6b3c117f364cac0b0bec
Romanko LA, Gontar AG, Kutsay AM, Khandozko SI, Gorokhov V Yu (2000) Dielectric properties of RF plasma-deposited a-C:H and a-C:H:N films. Diam Relat Mater 9(3–6):801–804. http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/B6TWV-409VPFN-42/2/3da2d0c6c567a97d8808498e314d40a1
Tedder LL, Lu G, Crowell JE (1991) Mechanistic studies of dielectric thin film growth by low pressure chemical vapor deposition: the reaction of tetraethoxysilane with SiO2 surfaces. J Appl Phys 69(10):7037–7049. doi:10.1063/1.348932. http://link.aip.org/link/?JAP/69/7037/1
Yamada N, Takahashi T (2000) Methylsiloxane spin-on-glass films for low dielectric constant interlayer dielectrics. J Electrochem Soc 147(4):1477–1480. doi:10.1149/1.1393381. http://link.aip.org/link/?JES/147/1477/1
Yang H, Tweet DJ, Ma Y, Nguyen T (1998) Deposition of highly crosslinked fluorinated amorphous carbon film and structural evolution during thermal annealing. Appl Phys Lett 73(11):1514–1516. doi:10.1063/1.122190. http://link.aip.org/link/?APL/73/1514/1
Yasuda H (1985) Plasma polymerization. Academic Press, Orlando
Yi JW, Lee YH, Farouk B (2000) Low dielectric fluorinated amorphous carbon thin films grown from c6f6 and ar plasma. Thin Solid Films 374(1):103–108. http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/B6TW0-41DHYB9-H/2/0820510b6d6857f079a7c0737c3a7c81
Zhang J-Y, Boyd IW (2001) Photo-induced growth of low dielectric constant porous silica film at room temperature. Mater Res Soc Symp Proc 1–6
Acknowledgments
This study was supported in part by Grants CTS-0422900 and CBET-0651283 from the U.S. National Science Foundation and by a Grant from Air Products & Chemicals Inc.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Li, D., Vrtis, R., Shahravan, A. et al. Plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition of organic particle thin films. J Nanopart Res 13, 985–996 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11051-010-0103-3
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11051-010-0103-3