GOALI - A University/Industry Partnership to Study Reaction and Transport During Depositions from Supercritical Fluids

研究：不断向更小、更复杂的微电子设备发展，对用于生产的制造技术提出了新的要求。最困难的挑战之一是在尺寸小于100纳米的狭窄设备特征内快速，无缺陷地沉积高纯度金属。一个迫切需要关注的突出例子是制造用于集成电路的高级铜互连。最近，在美国国家科学基金会的资助下，马萨诸塞州大学开发了一种全新的技术，该技术被称为超临界流体沉积（SFD），符合设备金属化的性能标准。在SFD中，可溶性有机金属化合物在包括二氧化碳在内的超临界流体中被还原，在低温下产生高纯度的沉积物。超临界流体可以看作是一种混合介质，其性质介于气体和液体之间。这些特性使得当前液相和气相技术的局限性可以被规避，同时保留各自的优点。Cu沉积的结果是在低于100纳米的器件尺寸下实现了前所未有的特征填充，同时保持了其他关键的薄膜性能。迄今为止，PI的结果表明SFD为半导体和其他设备的制造提供了巨大的希望，但该技术仍处于起步阶段，需要进行基础研究以进一步发展和扩大其影响。为此，PI将研究对理解SFD和相关SCF过程至关重要的两个问题。首先，将确定SFD反应的机制，并阐明捕获沉积动力学和步骤覆盖的模型。了解SFD过程中的反应途径将对器件金属化和超临界介质中的催化反应产生直接影响。其次，将发展计算流体动力学（CFD）模拟来描述多组分超临界沉积反应器在高湍流下的传热传质过程。这些功能在商业软件包中是无法获得的，对于广泛的SCF应用程序将是无价的。实验数据将用于验证和完善模型。影响：该研究项目是马萨诸塞大学和Novellus系统公司的合作成果，Novellus系统公司是一家领先的半导体设备公司，已经授权SFD用于微电子应用。它将促进SFD互连技术的发展，这可能会为未来几代集成电路提供支持，这是一个每年1000亿美元的产业。成功将导致学术研究转移到商业应用，同时引出与许多关键行业广泛相关的SCFs反应和运输的基本原理。该计划还将为研究生提供一个独特的机会，在工业界和学术界的界面工作。

Research: The continuous drive towards smaller and more complex microelectronic devices is placing new demands on the fabrication technologies used for their production. One of the most difficult challenges is the rapid, defect-free deposition of high purity metals within narrow device features with dimensions below 100 nanometers. One prominent example of immediate concern is the fabrication of advanced copper interconnects for integrated circuits. With recent NSF funding, a fundamentally new technique that meets the performance criteria for device metallization, called supercritical fluid deposition (SFD), was developed at the University of Massachusetts. In SFD, soluble organometallic compounds are reduced in supercritical fluids including carbon dioxide to yield high purity deposits at low temperature. A supercritical fluid can be viewed as hybrid medium with properties that lie intermediate to those of gases and liquids. These properties are such that the limitations of current liquid and vapor-phase techniques can be circumvented while preserving the benefits of each. The result for Cu deposition is unprecedented feature fill at sub-100 nm device dimensions, while maintaining other critical film properties.The PI's results to date indicate SFD offers great promise for the fabrication of semiconductor and other devices, but the technique is still in its infancy and fundamental studies are required to further development and broaden its impact. Toward this end, the PI will examine two issues that are essential to understanding SFD and related SCF processes. First, the mechanisms for SFD reactions will be determined and models that capture both deposition kinetics and step coverage will be elucidated. Knowledge of reaction pathways during SFD will have direct implications for device metallization and broader impact for catalytic reactions in supercritical media. Second, computation fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations will be developed to describe heat and mass transfer in multi-component supercritical deposition reactors under highly turbulent flow. These capabilities are not accessible in commercial packages and will be invaluable for a broad range of SCF applications. Experimental data will be used to validate and refine the models. Impact: The research program is a cooperative effort between the University of Massachusetts and Novellus Systems, a leading semiconductor equipment company that has licensed SFD for microelectronic applications. It will facilitate the development of SFD for interconnect technology, which may prove enabling for future generations of integrated circuits, a $100 billion / yr. industry. Success will result in the transfer of academic research to commercial applications while eliciting fundamentals of reaction and transport in SCFs that have broad relevance to a number key industries. The program will also provide a unique opportunity for graduate students to work at the interface of industry and academia.