plasma pre-treatment of a porous silica thin film

摘要

Low dielectric constant films with improved elastic modulus. An SiO2-containing plasma cured coating having a first dielectric constant and having a first elastic modulus is provided, the coating being formed by providing a porous network coating produced from a resin molecule containing at least 2 Si-H groups, and plasma curing the porous network coating to reduce an amount of Si-H bonds. Plasma curing of the network coating yields a coating with improved modulus, but with a higher dielectric constant. Accordingly, an SiO2-containing plasma cured coating is also provided, the coating being formed by annealing the plasma cured coating to produce an annealed, plasma cured coating having a second dielectric constant which is less than the first dielectric constant and having a second elastic modulus which is comparable to the first elastic modulus. The annealed, SiO2-containing plasma cured coating can have a dielectric constant between about 1.1 and about 3.5 and an elastic modulus greater than or about 4 GPa. It is emphasized that this abstract is provided to comply with the rules requiring an abstract which will allow a searcher or other reader to quickly ascertain the subject matter of the technical disclosure. It is submitted with the understanding that it will not be used to interpret or limit the scope or meaning of the claims. 37 CFR §1.72(b).