Patent ID: 7560144

Claim:
A method of forming a film having a low dielectric constant, which comprises the steps of: (i) placing a substrate between an upper electrode and a lower electrode inside a reaction chamber; (ii) introducing a silicon-containing hydrocarbon compound source gas, an additive gas, and an inert gas into a space between said upper and lower electrodes; (iii) generating a plasma by applying RF power to the space between said upper and lower electrodes; (iv) forming a low dielectric constant film on said substrate at a deposition rate of approx. 790 nm/mm or higher; (v) detecting plasma damage occurring in the low dielectric constant film on the substrate; (vi) as a result of detecting the plasma damage, narrowing an interval between the upper electrode and the substrate more in the vicinity of a center of the substrate than that in the vicinity of its periphery in step (iii) for forming a subsequent low dielectric constant film on a substrate, wherein a surface of the upper electrode facing the substrate is convex, and a surface of the lower electrode is concave and in contact with the vicinity of a periphery of the substrate, wherein a convex amount of the upper electrode surface is greater than a concave amount of the lower electrode; and (vii) performing steps (i) to (iv) for the subsequent low dielectric constant film on the substrate, wherein the deposition rate is reduced to less than 790 nm/mm as a result of the narrowing of the interval, thereby inhibiting the occurrence of plasma damage.