Plasma enhanced ALD pore sealing for highly porous SiOCH films with k = 2.0

In order to implement highly porous PECVD SiOCH films with k = 2.0 in ILD integration, the UV-assisted restoration to remove plasma damages related with dry etch and pore sealing by plasma enhanced ALD (PEALD)-SiN formation to prevent the metal penetration into the film during subsequent metallization process was investigated. Sequential application of the restoration and pore sealing processes was proved to be the best solution enabling successful sealing capability with preserving pristine k-value of the porous SiOCH films.