Low dielectric constant (Low-k) films are used as inter layer dielectric (ILD) in nanoelectronic devices to reduce interconnect delay, crosstalk noise and power consumption. Tailoring capability of porous low-k films attracted more attention. Present work investigates comparative study of xerogel, aerogel and porogen based porous low-k films. Deposition of SiO₂ and incorporation of less polar bonds in film matrix is confirmed using Fourier Transform Infra-Red Spectroscopy (FTIR). Refractive indices (RI) of xerogel, aerogel and porogen based low-k films observed to be as low as 1.25, 1.19 and 1.14, respectively. Higher porosity percentage of 69.46% is observed for porogen-based films while for shrinked xerogel films, it is lowered to 45.47%. Porous structure of low-k films has been validated by using Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscopy (FE-SEM). The pore diameters of porogen based annealed samples were in the range of 3.53–25.50 nm. The dielectric constant (k) obtained from RI for xerogel, aerogel and porogen based films are 2.58, 2.20 and 1.88, respectively.

中文翻译：

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基于溶胶-凝胶沉积干凝胶、气凝胶和致孔剂的多孔低 k 薄膜：比较研究

低介电常数（低ķ) 薄膜在纳米电子器件中用作层间电介质 (ILD)，以减少互连延迟、串扰噪声和功耗。多孔低的剪裁能力ķ电影引起了更多关注。目前的工作调查了干凝胶、气凝胶和致孔剂基多孔低-ķ电影。使用傅里叶变换红外光谱 (FTIR) 确认了 SiO ₂的沉积和薄膜基质中极性较小的键的结合。基于干凝胶、气凝胶和致孔剂的低折射率 (RI)ķ观察到的薄膜分别低至 1.25、1.19 和 1.14。多孔性薄膜的孔隙率较高，为 69.46%，而收缩干凝胶薄膜的孔隙率降至 45.47%。低孔结构ķ薄膜已通过场发射扫描电子显微镜 (FE-SEM) 进行了验证。基于致孔剂的退火样品的孔径在 3.53-25.50 nm 范围内。介电常数（ķ) 从 RI 获得的干凝胶、气凝胶和致孔剂基薄膜的值分别为 2.58、2.20 和 1.88。