Reactive Vapor-Phase Inhibitors for Area-Selective Depositions at Tunable Critical Dimensions.

Area of Science:

• Materials Science
• Chemical Engineering
• Nanotechnology

Background:

• Area-selective deposition (ASD) is crucial for advanced device fabrication, enabling selective film growth on specific material surfaces.
• Traditional ASD methods face challenges with inhibitor stability and precursor diffusion, impacting fabrication precision.
• Small molecule inhibitors (SMIs) with reactive moieties offer enhanced thermal stability and controlled diffusion for improved ASD.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate alkyne-terminated small molecule inhibitors (SMIs) for metal-selective area-selective deposition.
• To understand the binding mechanisms and network formation of these SMIs on different surfaces.
• To explore the control of film growth based on pattern dimensions using these inhibitors.

Main Methods:

• Synthesis and evaluation of alkyne-terminated SMIs (propargyl, dipropargyl, tripropargylamine) as metal-selective inhibitors.
• Surface binding analysis on copper and dielectric materials.
• Atomic Layer Deposition (ALD) growth rate studies on patterned substrates.
• Computational modeling to understand inhibitor-surface interactions and network formation.

Main Results:

• Significant contrast in SMI binding between copper and dielectric surfaces was observed.
• Residual inhibitor on dielectric surfaces led to variable ALD growth rates dependent on pattern dimensions.
• A critical dimension threshold was identified, below which both metal and dielectric features were protected.

Conclusions:

• Alkyne-terminated SMIs provide a tunable method for controlling area-selective deposition.
• The observed pattern-dependent growth offers a new design parameter for ASD processes.
• This approach has the potential to enhance existing device fabrication schemes and enable novel architectures.