low-k dielectrics

To help the industry meet global demand for more affordable, high-performance memory, Applied Materials today introduced solutions that support three levers of DRAM scaling: a new hard mask material for capacitor scaling, a low-k dielectric material for the interconnect wiring, and the adoption of high-k metal gate transistors for advanced DRAM designs.

In part one, Russ Perry, dielectric guru, talked about the evolution of dielectric films – the insulation that cradles the 50 plus miles of copper wiring in a modern microprocessor.Now, Applied’s researchers have gone a step further. They’ve developed a new technology that reinforces the dielectric at the atomic level, making it more power-efficient and mechanically stronger.With the aid of various plastic and silicon props, Russ explains how Applied’s new Onyx technology works. This breakthrough will enable chipmakers to fabricate the industry’s lowest capacitance interconnects while making the whole structure tough enough to withstand the stress of hundreds of downstream processes and packaging steps.This is very cool stuff. For more technical information, visit the Onyx page on our website.  

When it comes to microchip technology, transistors seem to get all the attention. But did you know that the transistor layer only makes up 10% of a modern logic chip?The other 90% is made up of interconnect layers – the three-dimensional maze of copper wires that make connections between all those transistors and the outside world. From a volume perspective, that makes the dielectric insulator that supports all that copper the most important material in all of chipmaking!