Thermal stabilityof fluorine doped silicon oxide films

The reliability of fluorine doped silicon oxide (SiOF) films for intermetal dielectrics in multilevel interconnections of ultra-large scale integrated circuits (ULSIs) is investigated. SiOF films were deposited by electron cyclotron resonance plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition (ECRPECVD) using H-free source gases, i.e., SiF4 and O2. The effect of post plasma treatment on the moisture absorption and dielectric properties of SiOF films was carried out I terms of air exposure time, The reliability test of Cu/TiN/SiOF/Fi specimen was carried out in terms of temperature by rapid thermal annealing (RTA) in N2 ambient. After O2 plasma treatment,, no appreciable peak directly related to moisture absorption was detected. The capacitance-voltage (C-V) characteristics of the O2 plasma treated SiOF film showed that the film remained to hold the sound dielectric properties even after boiling treatment. The Cu/TiN/SiOF/Si system was found to be reliable up to $600^{\circ}C$.