This Small Business Innovation Research Phase I project will develop a new in-situ thin-film probe for monitoring the chemistry of reacting films in real-time. This probe will provide valuable information on many of the new chemistry-intensive materials that are being developed to replace the current generation of materials used in mainstream IC manufacturing. It will employ a breakthrough in infrared-reflectometry that greatly expands the scope of application to modern IC materials. The probe's improved spectral data will be analyzed with physical and chemometric models to extract the complex optical constants of materials from the reflectance, and to relate the optical constants to the composition and transport properties of the layers. The sensor will be prototyped in Phase I to study 1) the curing process of advanced spin-on low-k dielectric thin films, where preliminary low-k and resist studies have shown the ability to monitor the reactions of various chemical functional groups during cure processes 2) the kinetics of advanced silicide formation during rapid thermal processing, where a preliminary study showed the ability to monitor a two step formation of titanium silicide In Phase II, the sensor will be integrated onto a production fabrication tool for advanced spin-on dielectric formation.
This technology will fill needs both for better chemical monitoring of complex thin film materials and for better integrated in-line metrology, for process development and control. With better metrology for R&D, new low-k dielectrics, photoresists, silicides and other complex advanced electronic materials can be developed and integrated more rapidly and at lower cost into mainstream IC manufacturing. With better production process monitoring and control, the cost of production of devices will be significantly reduced.
