Suppressing oxidization of hydrogen silsesquioxane films by using H/sub 2/O plasma in ashing process

We have found that H/sub 2/O plasma is very effective in suppressing degradation of HSQ (hydrogen silsesquioxane) films when removing photoresist from their surfaces. H/sub 2/O plasma treatment causes little Si-H oxidization in HSQ films. Increases in the dielectric constant and leakage current of HSQ films treated by H/sub 2/O plasma is much smaller than those of films treated by O/sub 2/ plasma.