Integrated diffusion–recombination model for describing the logarithmic time dependence of plasma damage in porous low-k materials

This work proposes an extended model that describes the propagation of damage in porous low-k material exposed to a plasma. Recent work has indicated that recombination and diffusion play a more dominant role than VUV light [1], [2], [3], [4] and [5] in oxygen plasma induced damage. Especially at low depths, the radical concentration is determined by the number of radicals that disappear back into the plasma while the final depth of damage is defined by recombination of oxygen atoms. A logarithmic equation has been proposed to describe the behavior as a function of time. In this work this equation is extended to take diffusion into account, next to recombination. The results are in agreement with experimental data and one-dimensional random walk theory calculations.