| abstract |
A porous SiCOH (e.g., p-SiCOH) dielectric film in which the stress change caused by increased tetrahedral strain is minimized by post treatment in unsaturated Hydrocarbon ambient. The inventive p-SiCOH dielectric film has more -(CHx) and less Si-O-H and Si-H bondings as compared to prior art p-SiCOH dielectric films. Moreover, a stable pSiOCH dielectric film is provided in which the amount of Si-OH (silanol) and Si-H groups at least within the pores has been reduced by about 90 % or less by the post treatment. Hence, the inventive p-SiCOH dielectric film has hydrophobicity improvement as compared with prior art p-SiCOH dielectric films. In the present invention, a p-SiCOH dielectric film is produced that is flexible since the pores of the inventive film include stabilized crosslinking -(CHx)- chains wherein x is 1,2 or 3 therein. The dielectric film is produced utilizing an annealing step subsequent deposition that includes a gaseous ambient that includes at least one C-C double bond and/or at least one C-C triple bond. |