Published online by Cambridge University Press: 15 February 2011
The stress at room temperature in many typical polymer coatings used for microelectronic dielectrics is near 40 MPa. Polymer coatings derived from divinylsiloxane bisbenzocyclobutene (BCB), (CAS 117732-87-3), have a stress level of ca. 38 MPa after a conventional thermal oven cure. In this work, a novel approach based on curing the BCB polymeric network in the vitrified state has been used to achieve far field stresses of 24 MPa in the final coatings. This represents a 36% reduction in the far field stress of BCB coatings cured at 250 °C. The cure methodology and compatibility with device process design are discussed.