Microelectronics
The main research area Development of ULSI metallization technologies is for investigation and development of contact and interconnect systems for microelectronics. Since 1993 the ZfM has been working on copper technology development including Cu-MOCVD, Cu-RIE and barriers against copper diffusion within several German and European research projects. Based on this work the ZfM has developed into a center of expertise for severe copper metallization technology processes. State of the art process developments were carried out for Cu-MOCVD using a liquid delivery system for the copper precursor and for chlorine based RIE of PVD and CVD copper with barriers using low frequency plasma and/or high density plasma at elevated temperatures. Both developments were realized in commercially available tools with industrial relevance.
Research on low-k materials for application as interlevel/intermetal dielectrics has been focused on inorganic porous spin on materials (silica aerogel/xerogel: k=1.8...2.2) and organic CVD-materials (CF-polymers: k=2.0...2.4) for the last 5 years.
Please find some details under the following links:
