Low-k/copper integration scheme suitable for ULSI manufacturing from 90nm to 45nm nodes

This paper discusses low-k/copper integration schemes which has been in production in the 90 nm node, have been developed in the 65 nm node, and should be taken in the 45 nm node. While our baseline 65 nm BEOL process has been developed by extension and simple shrinkage of our PECVD SiCOH integration which has been in production in the 90 nm node with our SiCOH film having k=3.0, the 65 nm SiCOH integration has two other options to go to extend to lower capacitance. One is to add porosity to become ultra low-k (ULK). The other is to stay with low-k SiCOH, which is modified to have a "lower-k". The effective k- value attained with the lower-k (k=2.8) SiCOH processed in the "Direct CMP" scheme is very close to that with an ULK (k=2.5) SiCOH film built with the "Hard Mask Retention" scheme. This paper first describes consideration of these two damascene schemes, whose comparison leads to the conclusion that the lower-k SiCOH integration can have more advantages in terms of process simplicity and extendibility of our 90 nm scheme under certain assumptions. Then describing the k=2.8 SiCOH film development and its successful integration, damascene schemes for 45nm nodes are discussed based on our learning from development of the lower-k 65nm scheme. Capability of modern dry etchers to define the finer patterns, non-uniformity of CMP, and susceptibility to plasma and mechanical strength and adhesion of ULK are discussed as factors to hamper the applicability of ULK.