Nano/Mesoporous Polymers Based Low‐k Dielectric Materials: A Review on Methods and Advances

Nanoporous or mesoporous structures and hence a decrease in dielectric constant can always be induced with the introduction of air into polymeric materials. It is therefore achievable to prepare ultra-large-scale integrated circuit (ULSIC) on ultralow dielectric constant (i.e., low-k) materials. The research on nano/mesoporous polymer based low-k materials, including the past decade advances, the introduction of principles and methods of nano/mesopores, characterization, commonly used raw materials, typical products, and corresponding dielectric properties, is extensively reviewed and summarized in this paper. The nano/mesopores can be introduced into the polymers by more than five methods such as reprecipitation, sol–gel, thermolysis, supercritical foaming, and electrochemical etch. The pore size, morphologies, porosities, and film thicknesses of the products can be controlled by raw materials and processing conditions in these methods. The low-k dielectric materials based on nano/mesoporous polymers have great potential application in ULSIC in light of their special dielectric, optical, thermal, and mechanical properties. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Adv Polym Technol 2013, 32, 21358; View this article online at wileyonlinelibrary.com. DOI 10.1002/adv.21358