Patent ID: 6358845
Filing Date: 2002-03-19
Classification: H01L

Abstract:
A method for forming inter-metal dielectric comprising the steps of:providing a substrate; forming a metal line pattern over said substrate; forming a liner layer over said metal line pattern including over a gap between two adjacent metal lines; forming a first insulative inter-metal dielectric (IMD) layer conformally over said liner layer; forming a photoresist layer over said substrate and then partial stripping said photoresist layer only to leave a portion of said photoresist in said gap so as to reduce the aspect ratio of said gap between said metal lines; removing said first insulative IMD partially only to leave that portion underlying and surrounding said portion of said photoresist layer in said gap between said metal lines; removing said portion of said photoresist layer remaining in said gap; filling said gap of said reduced aspect ratio with a second insulative IMD layer so as to avoid the problem of forming voids in otherwise deep, high aspect ratio gaps; and forming an oxide layer over said second insulative IMD layer on said substrate, and chemical mechanical polishing said oxide layer.