Low oxygen content photoresist stripping process for low dielectric constant materials

A method for removing photoresist from a semiconductor substrate, said method comprising:

• providing a semiconductor device with a carbon-containing dielectric layer formed thereon and photoresist formed over said carbon-containing dielectric layer;
• and
• removing said photoresist from over said carbon-containing dielectric layer using a plasma having a pressure within the range of 1–150 mTorr and containing 5–10 volume % oxygen and 90–95 volume % of an inert gas, said inert gas comprised of at least one of nitrogen, hydrogen and NH3.

A composition for stripping photoresist from a layer of a carbon-containing dielectric having a dielectric constant no greater than 3, said composition comprising a plasma with 5–10 volume % O2 and 90–95 volume % of an inert gas composed of H2 and N2 and a pressure no greater than 100 millitorr.

An apparatus for stripping photoresist from a semiconductor device comprising

• a plasma tool containing a semiconductor device formed on a substrate that includes photoresist formed over a low-k dielectric layer, and
• a plasma maintained at a pressure within the range of 1–150 mTorr and including 5–10 volume % oxygen and 90–95 volume % of an inert gas including at least one of hydrogen and nitrogen,
• said plasma tool being one of a downstream stripper, a reactive ion etcher, an inductively coupled plasma tool, a magnetically enhanced reactive ion etcher and a microwave etcher.