The effects of direct plasma chemistries on carbon removal from silicon nitride (SiNx) and oxynitride (SiOxNy ) surfaces and Cu have been studied by x-photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and ex-situ contact angle measurements. The data indicate that O2,NH3 and He capacitively coupled plasmas are effective at removing adventitious carbon from silicon nitride (SiNx) and Silicon oxynitride (SiOxNy ) surfaces. O2plasma and He plasma treatment results in the formation of silica overlayer. In contrast, the exposure to NH3 plasma results in negligible additional oxidation of the SiNx and SiOxNy surface. Ex-situ contact angle measurements show that SiNx and SiOxNy surfaces when exposed to oxygen plasma are initially more hydrophilic than surfaces exposed to NH3 plasma and He plasma, indicating that the O2 plasma-induced SiO2 overlayer is highly reactive towards ambient corresponding to increased roughness measured by AFM. At longer ambient exposures (>~10 hours), however surfaces treated by either O2, He or NH3 plasma exhibit similar steady state contact angles, correlated with rapid uptake of adventitious carbon, as determined by XPS. Surface passivation by exposure to molecular hydrogen prior to ambient exposure significantly retards the increase in the contact angle upon the exposure to ambient. The results suggest a practical route to enhancing the time available for effective bonding to surfaces in microelectronics packaging applications.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:unt.edu/info:ark/67531/metadc700040 |
| Date | 08 1900 |
| Creators | Gaddam, Sneha Sen |
| Contributors | Kelber, Jeffry Alan, 1952-, Cundari, Thomas R., Du, Jincheng, Omary, Mohammad A. |
| Publisher | University of North Texas |
| Source Sets | University of North Texas |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis or Dissertation |
| Format | ix, 72 pages : illustrations (some color), Text |
| Rights | Public, Gaddam, Sneha Sen, Copyright, Copyright is held by the author, unless otherwise noted. All rights reserved. |
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