Effect of Plasma Treatment on Stress Reduction Induced by Shallow Trench Isolation Filled with Spin-on-Glass Dielectric

Abstract

We used Raman spectroscopy to evaluate the stress induced by shallow trench isolation (STI) filled with spin-on-glass (SOG) dielectric material. We investigated the novel processes, such as the nitrogen into the liner oxide, and the plasma treatment before and/or after cure annealing to suppress the strain introduced by the STI with SOG. We clarified that a nitrogen incorporated liner oxide suppressed the stress in the active area caused by the SOG film shrinkage, and the plasma treatments were also effective at suppressing the stress induction in the active area.