Abstract
A gradual change in thermal oxide surface state from hydrophilic to hydrophobic was observed with time-delay in a clean room environment. Surface quality and reflectivity for the Al/Ti metal layers showed a strong dependency on the oxide surface state. From the hydrophilic oxide substrate, a lower (002) Ti preferred orientation was obtained than from hydrophobic ones. This resulted in a degraded (111) Al preferred orientation and rough metal surface. The RF-etch process increased the smoothness and hydrophobic surface property for the inter-metal dielectric (IMD) oxides, and therefore greatly improved Al/Ti surface quality. When conventional CMOS double layer metal interconnection process is performed, metal inter-line bridge yield was strongly affected by the surface state of substrate oxides.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 439-444 |
| Number of pages | 6 |
| Journal | Materials Research Society Symposium Proceedings |
| Volume | 477 |
| State | Published - 1997 |
| Event | Proceedings of the 1997 MRS Spring Meeting - San Francisco, CA, USA Duration: 31 Mar 1997 → 3 Apr 1997 |