• Clean Technology
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• v.16 no.3
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• pp.191-197
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• 2010

Repair reaction of plasma damaged porous methyl doped SiOCH films was carried out with silylation agents dissolved in supercritical carbon dioxide ($scCO_2$) at various reaction time, pressure, and temperature. While a decrease in the characteristic bands at $3150{\sim}3560cm^{-1}$ was detectable, the difference of methyl peaks was not identified apparently in the FT-IR spectra. The surface hydrophobicity was rapidly recovered by the silylation. In order to induce effective repair in bulk phase, the wafer was heat treated before reaction under vacuum or ambient condition. The contact angle was slightly increased after the treatment and completely recovered after the subsequent silylation. Methyl groups were decreased after the plasma damage, but their recovery was not identified apparently from the FT-IR, spectroscopic ellipsometry, and secondary ion mass spectroscopy analyses. Furthermore, Ti evaporator was performed in a vacuum chamber to evaluate the pore sealing effect. The GDS analysis revealed that the open pores in the plasma damaged films were efficiently sealed with the silylation in $scCO_2$.