SBIR Phase II: Iptymer Low-k Dielectric Materials

该小型企业创新研究（SBIR）第二阶段项目将开发和引入新型低介电常数聚合物，作为集成电路互连系统制造的新型介电材料。对更密集的集成电路和更快的互连的持续驱动需要开发新的层间电介质材料。所提出的材料依赖于新定义的所谓的Iptymer分子设计概念，以在材料内产生固有的自由体积。这种方法明显不同于目前正在研究的方法，这些方法将外部孔引入材料中以降低其介电常数。Iptymer材料出色的热稳定性、机械强度和可加工性将使其能够轻松集成到半导体制造工艺中。第二阶段计划的研究目标是将Iptymer材料引入并供应到半导体制造工艺开发计划中。这一努力建立在第一阶段结果的基础上，第一阶段结果证明了关键Iptymer单体和聚合物的规模合成，并验证了Iptymer聚合物的介电性能、机械强度和加工性能。第二阶段计划将展示介电常数小于2.0并具有上级机械和热完整性的Iptymer材料的试生产。此外，还将展示在半导体制造工艺中的聚合物集成。在商业上，可靠的低k电介质材料的影响是相当大的。使用改进的材料，以相同的成本进行更高带宽的处理和通信将是可能的。当今的微处理器具有从制造后测试确定的时钟速度范围。上级低介电材料不仅将提高最终的时钟速度，而且还将提高最高速度器件的产量。每个国家、经济集团和行业都将从这些进步中受益。通过将电子工具推广到目前无法使用或负担不起的领域，将产生巨大的社会效益。在整个初等和中等教育中广泛使用计算机将在教育方面取得巨大成就。

This Small Business Innovative Research (SBIR) Phase II project will develop and introduce new low-dielectric constant polymers as a new dielectric material for the fabrication of interconnect systems in integrated circuits. The continuing drive for denser integrated circuits and faster interconnects requires the development of new interlayer dielectric materials. The proposed materials rely on newly defined, so called Iptymer molecular design concepts, to create intrinsic free volume within the material. This approach is distinctly different than the current methods under investigation that introduce extrinsic pores into a material to lower its dielectric constant. The standout thermal stability, mechanical strength, and processability of Iptymer materials will enable facile integration into semiconductor fabrication processes. The research objectives of the Phase II program will introduce and supply Iptymer materials into semiconductor fabrication process development programs. This effort builds on Phase I results that demonstrated scaled synthesis of key Iptymer monomers and polymers and validated the dielectric performance, mechanical strength and processability of Iptymer polymers. The Phase II program will demonstrate pilot production of Iptymer materials that possess a dielectric constant less than 2.0 and have superior mechanical and thermal integrity. In addition integration of Iptymers in semiconductor fabrication processes will be demonstrated.Commercially, the impact of reliable low-k dielectric materials is considerable. Higher bandwidth processing and communication for the same cost will be possible with improved materials. Present day microprocessors have a range of clock speeds determined from post-fabrication testing. Superior low- dielectric materials will not only increase the ultimate clock speeds, but will also improve the yield of the highest speed devices. 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. Widespread availability of computers throughout primary and secondary education will reap tremendous gains in education.