Interlayers overview

An overview ofthe properties ofthe materials we are studying is presented in Table 18.11. The objective of this work was to find new approaches to the problem of generating new media with low dielectric constants and high thermal stabilities for use as interlayer dielectrics in microelectronic interconnection applications. We have been partially successful in this quest but there is still much more work to be done. The materials we have been able to deposit remain to be characterized in frill detail, which includes not only elucidating their molecular structure but also measuring the panoply of physical properties necessary for practical applications. 

Amine-Linked and Complexed Ionomers. Oiganic bases, notably diamines, can be substituted for metal ions to give ionomers which have similar solid-state properties to those neutralized with metal ions but differ in the area of melt viscosity. A general overview of the various properties has been published (45,46). Diamines may also be combined with metal cations to give transparent, tough products (47—50). This technology is used commercially in glass interlayers. 

Since the porosity of pillared clays was limited primarily to the microporous region (max. 2 nm), in 1995 researchers started to intercalate the same surfactants into layered clay hosts to perform a templated reaction in the clay interlayer region, in order to obtain true mesoporous clay materials (pore diameter > 2 nm), the so-called porous clay heterostructures, or PCHs. Because this research on PCHs is very young, many challenges still remain. In what follows, an overview of what is known about these materials in the literature will be given. 

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