Methods for forming a low dielectric constant carbon-containing film, and films produced thereby

A method of annealing a carbon-containing film on a substrate, comprising the steps of:

• flowing an ozone gas and a gas comprising an organosilane having at least one silicon-carbon bond into a processing chamber containing the substrate;
• reacting the ozone with the organosilane to form a carbon-containing layer on the substrate;
• and
• flowing hydrogen into a chamber containing the layer on the substrate to remove at least some carbon atoms from the layer, to anneal the carbon-containing layer.

A method for bombarding a carbon-containing layer with a plasma, comprising the steps of:

• flowing an ozone gas and a gas comprising an organosilane having at least one silicon-carbon bond into a processing chamber containing the substrate;
• reacting the ozone with the organosilane to form a carbon-containing layer on the substrate;
• flowing hydrogen into a chamber containing the layer on the substrate to remove at least some carbon atoms from the layer;
• flowing hydrogen into a plasma chamber containing the substrate and the annealed carbon-containing layer;
• applying RF energy to the chamber to create a plasma;
• and
• bombarding the layer with the plasma to remove additional carbon from the layer.

A method of capping a carbon-containing layer, comprising the steps of:

• flowing an ozone gas and a gas comprising an organosilane having at least one silicon-carbon bond into a processing chamber containing the substrate;
• reacting the ozone with the organosilane to form a carbon-containing layer on the substrate;
• annealing the layer by flowing hydrogen into a chamber containing the layer on the substrate, to remove at least some carbon atoms from the layer;
• flowing hydrogen into a plasma chamber containing the substrate and the layer;
• applying RF energy to the chamber to create a plasma;
• bombarding the layer with the plasma to remove additional carbon from the layer;
• flowing helium and a capping gas into a processing chamber containing the substrate and layer;
• and
• reacting the helium with the capping gas to form a capping layer on the carbon-containing layer on the substrate.