Enhancing the resistance of low-k hydrogen silsesquioxane (HSQ) to wet stripper damage

The interaction between low-k hydrogen silsesquioxane (HSQ) film and wet stripper was investigated. The wet stripper has been commonly used to remove photoresister in IC integration processing. However, the high content of alkalinity in the stripper solution often leads to the hydrolysis of HSQ film, forming dangling bonds in the HSQ. The dangling bonds in the HSQ film can easily react with hydroxide ion (OH-) in wet stripper solution and form Si-OH bonds. The resultant HSQ film will tend to uptake water and consequently increase both the leakage current and dielectric constant. In this study, H-plasma pre-treatment was applied to the HSQ film. The hydrogen plasma treatment passivates the HSQ surface and prevent HSQ from water uptake during photoresist stripping. Therefore, dielectric degradation can be avoided with the H-2-plasma pre-treatment. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.