Method of making dense, conformal, ultra-thin cap layers for nanoporous low-k ild by plasma assisted atomic layer deposition

A method for forming a barrier layer on a porous material comprising:

• chemically adsorbing a plurality of first molecules on a surface of the porous material;
• forming a first layer of the first molecules on the surface of the porous layer;
• and
• using a plasma to react a plurality of second molecules with the first layer of first molecules to convert the first layer to the barrier layer.

A method for adjusting a pore size on a porous material comprising:

• providing a porous material, wherein the porous material comprises a plurality of pores having a diameter equal to or great than a first diameter;
• chemically adsorbing a plurality of first molecules on a surface of the porous material in a chamber;
• forming a first layer of the first molecules on the surface of the porous material;
• and
• using a plasma to react a plurality of second molecules with the first layer of first molecules to form a first pore size reducing layer on the porous material, wherein the first pore size reducing layer reduces the diameter of the plurality of pores to less than the first diameter.