AVS 59th Annual International Symposium and Exhibition
    Electronic Materials and Processing Tuesday Sessions
       Session EM-TuA

Paper EM-TuA9
Reflection Electron Energy Loss Spectroscopy Investigation of Band Gap and Defect States in Low-k and High-k Dielectrics

Tuesday, October 30, 2012, 4:40 pm, Room 009

Session: Materials and Processes for Advanced Interconnects
Presenter: B. French, Intel Corporation
Authors: B. French, Intel Corporation
S. King, Intel Corporation
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Electrical leakage in high-k metal gate transistors and low-k/Cu interconnect structures is a growing, vital concern as the nano-electronics industry moves to sub-16 nm technology nodes and continues to implement new materials. In order to understand the various possible leakage mechanisms in low-k/Cu interconnects, knowledge of the band gap and defects states in low-k and high-k dielectrics is needed but has gone largely unreported in many cases. In this regard, we have utilized Reflection Electron Energy Loss Spectroscopy (REELS) to determine the band gap of numerous single crystalline and amorphous low-k and high-k dielectric materials. We demonstrate that for standard single crystalline materials such as Quartz, 6H-SiC, and GaN, REELS band gap measurements agree with known values. For amorphous low-k and high-k thin film materials, we further demonstrate that REELS band gap measurements in most cases agree with optical measurements of the same materials. However in some cases, we have observed that the REELS analysis can be complicated by the existence of defect states within the band gap of these materials. While troublesome for band gap measurements, we demonstrate that this sensitivity can be utilized to determine the energy level of various defects in pristine and sputter damaged low-k SiOC:H dielectrics and in some cases identify the chemical identity of the defect.