An improved interlevel dielectric process for submicron double-level metal products

An improved interlevel dielectric (ILD) deposition process is presented for submicron double-level metal products that use a multichamber tool capable of doing both CVD film deposition and etching. This multistep, multitool process has now been integrated into a single cassette-to-cassette operation. By using both plasma-enhanced and thermal CVD TEOS oxide films together with argon sputtering and anisotropic oxide etching, an effective low-temperature, void-free interlevel dielectric is formed in a manner that also reduces wafer handling and process queuing time.<>