Photoresist removal process by hydrogen radicals generated by W catalyst

Abstract Hydrogen radical process for photoresist removal by use of hot W catalyst has been investigated for a possible application to advanced Cu/low- k dielectric interconnects in LSI. It is found that etching rates of resists depend critically on sample temperature ( T s ) and are higher than 1 μm/min at the optimized condition. H radical irradiation effects on porous methylsilsesquioxane (p-MSQ) have been studied from measurements of k value and capacitance of the advanced interconnect test sample. No radical process is observed to induce the increase in k value of p-MSQ films. These results suggest that the hydrogen radical process for resist removal with W catalyst is promising for production of advanced interconnects.