Method for forming low dielectric constant spin-on-polymer (SOP) dielectric layer

Claim 1

A method for forming a dielectric layer upon a substrate employed within a microelectronics fabrication comprising: providing a substrate; forming over the substrate a dielectric layer formed of a spin-on-polymer (SOP) dielectric material, the spin-on-polymer (SOP) dielectric material being susceptible to greater shrinkage when thermally processed at sub-atmospheric pressure than when thermally processed at atmospheric pressure; the SOP dielectric material comprised of a material selected from the group comprising poly (arylene ether) and fluorinated poly (arylene ether); thermally processing the dielectric layer at atmospheric pressure to form an atmospheric pressure thermally processed dielectric layer with attenuated shrinkage in comparison with a sub-atmospheric pressure thermally processed dielectric layer; the thermal processing being conducted at a temperature from about 350 to 450° C. for from about 10 to 120 minutes; and thermally processing the atmospheric pressure thermally processed dielectric layer at a sub-atmospheric pressure to form a sub-atmospheric pressure thermally processed atmospheric pressure thermally processed dielectric layer with attenuated shrinkage in comparison with an atmospheric pressure thermally processed sub-atmospheric pressure thermally processed dielectric layer.

Claim 2

A method for forming a dielectric layer upon a substrate employed within a microelectronics fabrication comprising: providing a substrate; forming over the substrate a dielectric layer formed of a spin-on-polymer (SOP) dielectric material, the spin-on-polymer (SOP) dielectric material being susceptible to greater shrinkage when thermally processed at sub-atmospheric pressure than when thermally processed at atmospheric pressure; the SOP dielectric material comprised of a material selected from the group comprising poly (arylene ether) and fluorinated poly (arylene ether); thermally processing the dielectric layer at atmospheric pressure to form an atmospheric pressure thermally processed dielectric layer with attenuated shrinkage in comparison with a sub-atmospheric pressure thermally processed dielectric layer; the thermal processing being conducted at a temperature from about 350 to 450° C. for from about 10 to 120 minutes; and thermally processing the atmospheric pressure thermally processed dielectric layer at a sub-atmospheric pressure to form a sub-atmospheric pressure thermally processed atmospheric pressure thermally processed dielectric layer with attenuated shrinkage in comparison with an atmospheric pressure thermally processed sub-atmospheric pressure thermally processed dielectric layer.

Claim 4

A method for forming within an integrated circuit microelectronics fabrication a dielectric layer comprising: providing a semiconductor substrate; forming over the semiconductor substrate a patterned microelectronics layer; forming upon the patterned microelectronics layer a dielectric layer employing a poly (arylene ether) spin-on material; and thermally annealing the dielectric layer at a temperature from about 350 to 450° C. for from about 10 to 120 minutes at atmospheric pressure to stabilize the physical and chemical properties of the low dielectric constant dielectric layer so as to attenuate shrinkage due to further thermal annealing at sub-atmospheric pressure.

Claim 5

A method for forming within an integrated circuit microelectronics fabrication a dielectric layer comprising: providing a semiconductor substrate; forming over the semiconductor substrate a patterned microelectronics layer; forming upon the patterned microelectronics layer a dielectric layer employing a poly (arylene ether) spin-on material; and thermally annealing the dielectric layer at a temperature from about 350 to 450° C. for from about 10 to 120 minutes at atmospheric pressure to stabilize the physical and chemical properties of the low dielectric constant dielectric layer so as to attenuate shrinkage due to further thermal annealing at sub-atmospheric pressure.

Claim 10

A method for forming a dielectric layer upon a substrate employed within a microelectronics fabrication comprising: providing a substrate; p 1 forming over the substrate a dielectric layer formed of a spin-on-polymer (SOP) dielectric material, the spin-on-polymer (SOP) dielectric material being susceptible to greater shrinkage when thermally processed at sub-atmospheric pressure than when thermally processed at atmospheric pressure; the SOP comprised of a material selected from the group comprising poly (arylene ether) and fluorinated poly (arylene ether); thermally processing the dielectric layer at atmospheric pressure to form an atmospheric pressure thermally processed dielectric layer with attenuated shrinkage in comparison with a sub-atmospheric pressure thermally processed dielectric layer; the thermal processing being conducted at a temperature from about 350 to 450° C. for from about 10 to 120 minutes; and thermally processing the atmospheric pressure thermally processed dielectric layer at a sub-atmospheric pressure to form a sub-atmospheric pressure thermally processed atmospheric pressure thermally processed dielectric layer with attenuated shrinkage in comparison with an atmospheric pressure thermally processed sub-atmospheric pressure thermally processed dielectric layer; the sub-atmospheric pressure thermally processed atmospheric pressure thermally processed poly (arylene ether) dielectric layer having a shrinkage of about 2.00%, and about a 2.7% decrease in change in line-line capacitance and about a 5.31% decrease in stress variation compared to an atmospheric pressure thermally processed sub-atmospheric pressure thermally processed poly (arylene ether) dielectric layer; the sub-atmospheric pressure thermally processed atmospheric pressure thermally processed fluorinated poly (arylene ether) dielectric layer having a shrinkage of about 8.80%, and about a 6.1% decrease in change in line-line capacitance and about a 4.29% decrease in stress variation compared to an atmospheric pressure thermally processed sub-atmospheric pressure thermally processed fluorinated poly (arylene ether) dielectric layer.

Claim 11

A method for forming a dielectric layer upon a substrate employed within a microelectronics fabrication comprising: providing a substrate; p 1 forming over the substrate a dielectric layer formed of a spin-on-polymer (SOP) dielectric material, the spin-on-polymer (SOP) dielectric material being susceptible to greater shrinkage when thermally processed at sub-atmospheric pressure than when thermally processed at atmospheric pressure; the SOP comprised of a material selected from the group comprising poly (arylene ether) and fluorinated poly (arylene ether); thermally processing the dielectric layer at atmospheric pressure to form an atmospheric pressure thermally processed dielectric layer with attenuated shrinkage in comparison with a sub-atmospheric pressure thermally processed dielectric layer; the thermal processing being conducted at a temperature from about 350 to 450° C. for from about 10 to 120 minutes; and thermally processing the atmospheric pressure thermally processed dielectric layer at a sub-atmospheric pressure to form a sub-atmospheric pressure thermally processed atmospheric pressure thermally processed dielectric layer with attenuated shrinkage in comparison with an atmospheric pressure thermally processed sub-atmospheric pressure thermally processed dielectric layer; the sub-atmospheric pressure thermally processed atmospheric pressure thermally processed poly (arylene ether) dielectric layer having a shrinkage of about 2.00%, and about a 2.7% decrease in change in line-line capacitance and about a 5.31% decrease in stress variation compared to an atmospheric pressure thermally processed sub-atmospheric pressure thermally processed poly (arylene ether) dielectric layer; the sub-atmospheric pressure thermally processed atmospheric pressure thermally processed fluorinated poly (arylene ether) dielectric layer having a shrinkage of about 8.80%, and about a 6.1% decrease in change in line-line capacitance and about a 4.29% decrease in stress variation compared to an atmospheric pressure thermally processed sub-atmospheric pressure thermally processed fluorinated poly (arylene ether) dielectric layer.