Method for hydrophobization of surface of silicon-containing film by ALD

A method for repairing process-related damage of a silicon-containing dielectric film formed on a substrate caused by processing the dielectric film comprises:

• (i) providing the silicon-containing dielectric film damaged by the processing of the dielectric film;
• (ii) forming a pore-sealing film on a surface of the damaged dielectric film by plasma-assisted deposition, said pore-sealing film being constituted by SiO or SiOC and deposited using an oxygen-containing plasma;
• and
• (iii) forming a hydrophobic atomic layer on a surface of the pore-sealing film by exposing the surface to a silicon-containing treating gas without exciting the gas throughout step (iii) so as to chemisorb the gas on the surface, wherein steps (ii) and (iii) are continuously conducted without interruption in sequence,
• wherein the dielectric film has a first dielectric constant (k1) before the processing, the damaged dielectric film has a second dielectric constant (k2), the pore-sealed dielectric film has a third dielectric constant (k3), and the surface-hydrophobization treated dielectric film has a fourth dielectric constant (k4), wherein k1≦k4<k3<k2;
• wherein a recovery rate ((k2−k4)/(k2−k1)×100) is more than 50%, and an intermediate recovery rate ((k3−k4)/(k3−k1)×100) is no more than 50%;
• wherein the treating gas has a single Si—N bond and at least one Si—CxHy (x and y represent integers);
• and
• wherein the hydrophobic atomic layer has a contact angle against water of about 80° or higher.