Materials chemistry for low-k materials

The microelectronics industry is constantly trying to reinvent itself, to find new technological solutions to keep pace with the trend of increasing device densities in ultra-large-scale integrated (ULSI) circuits. Integral in this development has been the replacement of the conventional Al/SiO2 metal and dielectric materials in multilevel interconnect structures. Higher-conductivity Cu has now successfully replaced Al interconnects, but there is still a need for new low dielectric constant (k) materials, as an interlayer dielectric.