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US 7,071,126 B2Granted
Densifying a relatively porous material
AssigneeIntel Corporation
InventorsSteven W. Johnston, Kevin P. O'Brien
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An interlayer dielectric may be exposed to a gas cluster ion beam to densify an upper layer of the interlayer dielectric. As a result, the upper layer of the interlayer dielectric may be densified without separate deposition steps and without the need for etch stops that may adversely affect the capacitance of the overall structure.
Claims17
A method comprising:
- forming a porous layer;
- and
- exposing said porous layer to a gas clustered ion beam to densify said porous layer to form a hard mask.
A semiconductor device comprising:
- a porous layer, said porous layer including an upper surface that has been densified to act as a hard mask and the remainder of said porous layer is undensified.
A method comprising:
- forming a porous layer over a sacrificial layer;
- exhausting at least a portion of said sacrificial layer through said overlying porous layer;
- and
- densifying the porous layer.
1 more element
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.