Calibration method for high-density-plasma chemical vapor deposition simulation

We present a consistent calibration method for high-density-plasma chemical vapor deposition (HDP-CVD) topography simulation using the gap-filling process of the inter-metal dielectric (IMD). For the HDP-CVD model, four phenomena, thermal deposition, ion-enhanced deposition, sputter-etching by Ar+ ion, and redeposition, were considered. The contribution of each phenomenon to surface evolution was determined on the basis of six parameters. All six parameters were calibrated by methods including deposition/etching rate measurement, an experiment using the test structure and plasma simulation. The simulation calibrated by these methods has high predictive accuracy in terms of the gap-fill capability in trenches.