Ultraviolet erasable non-volatile semiconductor memory apparatus

A silicon nitride film (36) is used as a passivation film for an ultraviolet erasable non-volatile semiconductor memory appartus, such as an EPROM. The nitride film has a large stress that is to act on an underlying layer, so that if the underlying layer is a metal inter connection layer (32A, 32B) made of aluminum or the like, it is likely to be destroyed quenched. Therefore, an insulating film, such as a PSG film or silicon oxide film, is formed between the nitride film (36) and metal inter connection layer (32A, 32B) to reduce the stress of the former film (36) acting on the latter (32A, 32B). The nitride film (36) is formed by a plasma method can reduce the growth temperature to approximately 350 to 400 DEG C, which prevents destruction of the metal line layer pattern.