Gas Phase Pore Stuffing (GPPS)

Porous low-k dielectrics play an important role in lowering the circuit capacitance in nano-interconnects. However, these materials are damaged during plasma etching process and subsequent steps, leading to a degradation of their dielectric properties. Many methods have been suggested to solve this issue. The post porosity plasma protection (P4) from IBM [1] is a possible solution which protects the pores of low-k dielectrics by filling them with sacrificial polymers before the plasma process, which are removed later in the flow. In this paper, we suggest a new method to protect the pores, so-called Gas Phase Pore Stuffing (GPPS).