Self repairing process for porous dielectric materials

An integrated chip, comprising:

• a porous dielectric film disposed over a substrate and having a first plurality of pores with a first pore size;
• a plurality of treating agent particles arranged within the porous dielectric film and having a size smaller than the first pore size;
• a cap material arranged onto the porous dielectric film and comprising a dielectric material having a second plurality of pores with a second pore size that is less than the size of the plurality of treating agent particles;
• and
• a repaired region located on an outer surface of the porous dielectric film and comprising a second plurality of treating agent particles, wherein the cap material abuts a first surface of the repaired region without abutting a second surface of the repaired region.

An integrated chip, comprising;

• a porous dielectric film disposed over a metal interconnect layer and having a first plurality of pores with a first pore size;
• a plurality of treating agent particles having a size smaller than the first pore size;
• a cap material located on an upper surface of the porous dielectric film, and comprising a dielectric material having a second plurality of pores with a second pore size that is smaller than the first pore size;
• a trench that vertically extends from a top surface of the cap material to the metal interconnect layer underlying the porous dielectric film, and that laterally abuts a repaired region of the porous dielectric film;
• and
• wherein the plurality of treating agent particles are disposed in a gradient concentration having a first density of treating agent particles within a surface region of the porous dielectric film that is less than a second density of treating agent particles within a bulk region of the porous dielectric film.