Patent ID: 7691736

Claim:
A method of fabricating a semiconductor device, the method comprising: providing a substrate having active devices formed therein; forming an ILD (inter-layer dielectric) over the substrate, said ILD comprising a first region and a remaining region, said first region comprising at least one trench filled with a conductive material, and said remaining region having a top surface that is not protected by a hard mask; exposing said top surface of the remaining region of the ILD to a plasma subsequent to forming said ILD layer and said conductive filled trenches, thereby forming a chemically reactive top surface in said remaining region, wherein the plasma modifies a surface region of said remaining region to form the chemically reactive top surface without depositing another material layer; turning off the plasma after forming the chemically reactive surface; and exposing the chemically reactive top surface to a gaseous precursor after turning off the plasma, thereby reacting the gaseous precursor with chemically reactive surface to form a protected top surface in said remaining region of said ILD, wherein the protected top surface is not formed over the first region during the exposing.