SBIR Phase I: Iptymer Low-k Dielectric Materials

这个小型企业创新研究第一阶段项目将开发一种用于集成电路制造的新型低介电常数有机聚合物。这些材料的化学结构利用了自由体积工程的新定义的分子概念，达到了以前无法达到的基质材料的介电电容水平。研究目标是开发用于制造关键Iptmer(TM)聚合物的合成方法，制造铅Iptmer材料，对照关键性能规格评估材料性能，并探索制造和放大的经济性。在第一阶段结束时，具有既定性能规格的铅聚合物材料将提供给潜在的工业合作伙伴样品。IPT聚合物低k介电材料的主要商业应用是作为插入集成电路铜线之间的层间介电基质材料。这些材料的低介电常数将导致更快的电路。在商业上，这种材料的成功开发有可能用于广泛的高性能电子产品，如微处理器和无线通信部件。据估计，到2006年，这一市场规模将达到4亿美元。除了这些应用，聚合物材料还具有低折射率，可以用作光学涂层来增强显示器的亮度。可靠的低k电介质的经济和技术影响是相当大的。随着材料的改进，以同样的成本进行更高带宽的处理和通信成为可能，每个国家、经济团体和行业都将从这种进步中受益。通过将电子工具扩展到目前不切实际或负担不起的领域所实现的社会效益将是巨大的，即使只考虑医疗设备。

This Small Business Innovative Research Phase I project will develop a new class of low-dielectric constant organic polymers for integrated circuit manufacture. The chemical structure of these materials exploits newly defined molecular concepts of free-volume engineering to reach previously unattainable dielectric capacitance levels for matrix materials. The research objectives are to develop synthetic methods for the manufacture of key Iptymer(TM) polymers, manufacture lead Iptymer materials, evaluate material performance against key performance specifications, and explore manufacturing and scale-up economics. At the conclusion of Phase I, lead Iptymer materials with established performance specifications will be available for sample to potential industrial partners. The principal commercial application of Iptymer low-k dielectric materials is as interlayer dielectric matrix materials that are inserted between copper wires of integrated circuits. The lower dielectric constant of these materials will lead to faster circuits.Commercially, successful development of the materials has the potential to be used in a wide array of high performance electronics such as microprocessors and components for wireless communications. This is estimated to be a $400M market by 2006. In addition to these applications, Iptymer materials also have low refractive indices and can be used as optical coatings to enhance the brightness of displays. The economic and technical impact of reliable low-k dielectrics is considerable. Higher bandwidth processing and communication for the same cost is possible with improved materials, and every country, economic group, and industry will benefit from such advances. The societal benefits realized through the extension of electronic tools into areas where their use is now impractical or not affordable will be tremendous, even if consideration is given only to medical equipment.