DENSIFYING SURFACE OF POROUS DIELECTRIC LAYER USING GAS CLUSTER ION BEAM

摘要

A method of fabricating and a structure of an integrated circuit (IC) incorporating a porous dielectric layer are disclosed. A metal line is formed in the porous dielectric layer. A gas cluster ion beam process is applied to the porous dielectric layer so that an upper portion of the dielectric layer is densified to be not porous or non-interconnected low porous, while a lower portion of the porous dielectric layer still maintains its ultra-low dielectric constant after the gas cluster ion beam process.