Treating silicon nitride based dielectric films

A method of forming a silicon-nitride based dielectric film, comprising:

• providing a substrate into a processing chamber;
• forming an amorphous silica layer on a surface of the substrate by flowing a dielectric precursor and a carrier gas on the substrate;
• forming a modified amorphous silica layer by flowing a reactive gas into the processing chamber;
• forming a silicon-nitride based dielectric film by reacting the modified amorphous silica layer with one or more radicals generated by a remote plasma source;
• and
• forming an etched silicon-nitride based dielectric film by flowing a fluorine-containing compound to the processing chamber in the presence of a plasma.

A method of forming a silicon-nitride based dielectric film, comprising:

• forming an amorphous silica layer on a surface of a substrate by flowing a dielectric precursor and a carrier gas on the substrate;
• forming a modified amorphous silica layer by flowing a reactive gas into a processing chamber;
• forming a silicon-nitride based dielectric film by reacting the modified amorphous silica layer with one or more radicals;
• forming an etched silicon-nitride based dielectric film by flowing a fluorine-containing compound to the processing chamber in the presence of a plasma;
• and
• exposing the etched silicon-nitride based dielectric film to a hydrogen recovery process in the processing chamber.