Sol–gel deposited SiO2 and hybrid low dielectric constant thin films

The paper presents the comparative analysis of effect of hydrochloric (HCl), hydrofluoric (HF) acid catalyst and organic material methylmethacrylate (MMA) on dielectric constant of thin films. The dielectric constant of thin film obtained by using HCl catalyst is 3.63 which have been successfully reduced to 2.97 for hybrid thin films via incorporation of carbon. The deposited low k dielectric thin films observed to have good adhesion with p-silicon substrate and hence pertinent for interlayer dielectric (ILD) in ultra-large scale integrated (ULSI) circuits applications. The deposited films have been characterized by ellipsometer for refractive index, further material compositions have been studied by using Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy and energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDAX).