DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Accordingly, nanoporous silica dielectric films having a dielectric constant, or k value, ranging from about 1.
5 to about 3.
8, can be produced by the methods of the invention.
The films produced by the processes of the invention have a number of advantages over those previously known to the art, including improved mechanical strength to withstand the further processing steps required to prepare integrated circuit on the treated substrate, and a low and stable dielectric constant.
The property of a stable dielectric constant is advantageously achieved without the need for further surface modification steps to render the film surface hydrophobic, thus confirming that the silica dielectric films as produced by the processes of the invention are sufficiently hydrophobic as initially formed.
As summarized in the "Description of the Prior Art" above, a number of methods for the preparation of nanoporous silica films on substrates are known to the art.
In addition, a number of variations and improvement to these generally known methods for the preparation of nanoporous films are taught by co-owned U.
S.
patent application Ser.
Nos.
, 09/046,475 and 09/046,473, both filed on Mar.
25, 1998; U.
S.
patent application Ser.
No.
09/054,262, filed on Apr.
3, 1998; and U.
S.
patent application Ser.
Nos.
09/055,244 and 09/055,516, both filed on Apr.
6, 1998, the disclosures of which are incorporated by reference herein in their entireties.
In order to better appreciate the scope of the invention, it should be understood that unless the "SiO.
sub.
2 " functional group is specifically mentioned when the term "silica" is employed, the term "silica" as used herein, for example, with reference to nanoporous dielectric films, is intended to refer to dielectric films prepared by the inventive methods from an organic or inorganic glass base material, e.
g.
, any suitable silicon-based material.
It should also be understood that the use of singular terms herein is not intended to be so limited, but, where appropriate, also encompasses the plural, e
|
Semiconductor manufacture 
