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. (C) 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.