UV assisted silylation for recovery and pore sealing of damaged low K films
AssigneeApplied Materials, Inc.
InventorsBo Xie, Alexandros T. Demos, Kang Sub Yim, Thomas Nowak, Kelvin Chan
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Abstract
Methods for the repair of damaged low k films are provided. Damage to the low k films occurs during processing of the film such as during etching, ashing, and planarization. The processing of the low k film causes water to store in the pores of the film and further causes hydrophilic compounds to form in the low k film structure. Repair processes incorporating ultraviolet (UV) radiation and silylation compounds remove the water from the pores and further remove the hydrophilic compounds from the low k film structure.
Claims20
A method of repairing a damaged low k dielectric film, comprising:
- positioning a dielectric film in a processing chamber;
- and
- alternatingly exposing the dielectric film to ultraviolet (UV) radiation and a vapor phase of a silylation compound at least two times in the same processing chamber, wherein the dielectric film is exposed to the UV radiation for between 5 seconds and 10 seconds at a time, and the dielectric film is exposed to the vapor phase of the silylation compound for between 5 seconds and 10 seconds at a time, and wherein exposing to the vapor phase of the silylation compound recovers the hydrophobicity of the dielectric film.
A method of repairing a damaged low k dielectric film, comprising:
- exposing a dielectric film to a silylation compound;
- depositing a conformal seed layer of silicon oxide onto the dielectric film, wherein the depositing the conformal seed layer of silicon oxide onto the dielectric film comprises forming a plasma from a silicon-containing precursor to deposit a silicon-containing compound onto the dielectric film, and exposing the deposited silicon-containing compound to an oxygen-containing plasma;
- and
- exposing the dielectric film and the conformal seed layer of silicon oxide to ultraviolet (UV) radiation.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.