Photo-patternable Low-k Dielectric for Integrated Contacts
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional semiconductor integration schemes for forming electrical contacts and interconnects are inefficient, requiring complex plasma etching processes and multiple sacrificial film stacks, which can cause dielectric damage and complicate pattern profile control.
Innovation Solution
The use of a photo-patternable low-k (PPLK) material that acts as both a photoresist and a dielectric, allowing for lithographic patterning without a separate photoresist and subsequent conversion into a low-k dielectric insulator, reducing the need for plasma etching and complex sacrificial film stacks, while enabling the formation of conductive contact structures and functional components in the same metallization layer.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If conventional plasma etching processes and multiple sacrificial film stacks are used for contact formation, then electrical contacts and interconnects can be formed, but dielectric damage occurs and pattern profile control becomes complicated
Solution Approach 1:
The patent removes the separate photoresist layer from the conventional process, using only the sacrificial dielectric material to define contact openings. This extraction eliminates the need for photoresist removal steps and reduces the number of layers that require plasma etching, thereby reducing dielectric damage while maintaining reliable contact formation
Solution Approach 2:
The patent combines the functions of the photoresist and sacrificial dielectric into a single sacrificial dielectric layer. This layer serves both as the pattern definition medium and as the temporary structure to be removed, merging multiple process steps into one and simplifying pattern profile control while reducing cumulative dielectric damage
2Manufacturing precision
If conventional multiple sacrificial film stacks are used, then contact patterns can be formed, but the fabrication process becomes complex
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts and eliminates the separate photoresist layer from the fabrication process, relying solely on the sacrificial dielectric material for pattern definition. This reduces the number of deposition and removal steps, simplifying the overall fabrication process while maintaining precise contact patterning through the sacrificial dielectric's inherent properties
Solution Approach 2:
The sacrificial dielectric material performs multiple functions: it defines the contact pattern during lithography, serves as a temporary structure during subsequent processing, and is finally removed to create the contact opening. This multi-functionality consolidates the roles of photoresist and sacrificial layer into one material, reducing fabrication complexity
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
This approach minimizes dielectric damage, simplifies the fabrication process, and provides superior pattern profile control, enabling the formation of efficient conductive contact structures and functional components, such as transistors and memory elements, in a single metallization layer.
Implementation Method 1
lithographic patterning without a separate photoresist
Implementation Method 2
subsequent conversion into a low-k dielectric insulator
Data Source
AI summary
An electronic device includes an interlevel dielectric layer formed over a substrate and has a first set of openings and a second set of openings formed through the interlevel dielectric layer. The substrate includes conductive areas. A conductive contact structure is formed in the first set of openings in the interlevel dielectric layer to make electrical contact with the conductive areas of the substrate. A functional component is formed in the second set of openings in the interlevel dielectric layer and occupies a same level as the conductive contact structure.