Plasma treatment and dry etch characteristics of organic low-k dielectrics

In this study, the effect of plasma treatment on the low-k material FLARE 2 .0 (FLARE is a trademark of Honeywell) was investigated. It was found that the leakage current of FLARE 2.0 was drastically reduced after brief plasma treatments. The moisture-absorption ability was reduced by CF4 plasma trea tment, whereas following H-2 and N-2 plasma treatments, the moisture-absorp tion ability was increased. The increased moisture uptake did not affect th e dielectric property of FLARE 2.0 The dry etch characteristics of FLARE 2. 0 in helicon-wave high-density oxygen plasmas were also studied. The etch l ate and selectivity to oxide can be controlled by bias power and the additi on of CHF3 or N-2 .