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

调研：不断向更小和更复杂的微电子器件发展，对用于生产微电子器件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纳米的窄器件特征内快速、无缺陷地沉积高纯度金属。当前关注的一个突出例子是用于集成电路的先进铜互连的制造。在最近的NSF资助下，马萨诸塞州大学开发了一种符合器件金属化性能标准的全新技术，称为超临界流体沉积（SFD）。在SFD中，可溶性有机金属化合物在包括二氧化碳的超临界流体中还原，以在低温下产生高纯度沉积物。 超临界流体可以被视为混合介质，其性质介于气体和液体的性质之间。 这些特性使得可以规避当前液相和气相技术的限制，同时保留各自的优点。铜沉积的结果是前所未有的功能填充在100 nm以下的设备尺寸，同时保持其他关键的薄膜properties.The PI的结果迄今表明，SFD为半导体和其他设备的制造提供了很大的希望，但该技术仍处于起步阶段，需要进一步发展和扩大其影响的基础研究。为此，PI将研究两个对理解SFD和相关SCF流程至关重要的问题。 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率的模型。 在SFD过程中的反应途径的知识将有直接的影响，器件金属化和更广泛的影响，在超临界介质中的催化反应。第二，计算流体动力学（CFD）模拟将被开发来描述在高湍流下的多组分超临界沉积反应器中的传热和传质。这些功能在商业软件包中是不可访问的，对于广泛的SCF应用程序来说是非常宝贵的。实验数据将用于验证和完善模型。影响：该研究计划是马萨诸塞州大学和Novellus系统公司之间的合作，Novellus系统公司是一家领先的半导体设备公司，已授权SFD用于微电子应用。它将促进互联技术的SFD的发展，这可能会证明未来几代集成电路的实现，每年1000亿美元。行业 成功将导致学术研究向商业应用的转移，同时引出与许多关键行业具有广泛相关性的SCF中的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接口工作。

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.