Patent ID: 7294585

Claim:
A process for forming a performance film having a dielectric constant of 3.7 or less, the process comprising: providing a mixture of an at least one chemical reagent comprising: an at least one silica source; a carboxylate selected from the group consisting of a carboxylic acid, a carboxylate anion, a carboxylic acid ester, or combinations thereof; a strong acid catalyst that has a pKa that is 2 or less and a strong base catalyst that has a pKa of its conjugate acid of greater than 12 in an amount sufficient to adjust a pAcid value of the mixture to a range of from 2.2 to 9; and an at least one porogen comprising from about 5 weight percent to about 75 weight percent ethylene oxide groups; provided that if the at least one chemical reagent has a metal impurity level of 1 ppm or greater then the at least one chemical reagent is purified prior to adding to the mixture; depositing the mixture onto a substrate to form a coated substrate; and curing the coated substrate to one or more temperatures and for a time sufficient to form said performance film.