STABILIZATION OF FLUORINE-CONTAINING LOW-K DIELECTRICS IN A METAL/INSULATOR WIRING STRUCTURE BY ULTRAVIOLET IRRADIATION

A method for providing regions of substantially lower fluorine content in a fluorine containing dielectric is described incorporating exposing a region to ultraviolet radiation and annealing at an elevated temperature to remove partially disrupted fluorine from the region. The invention overcomes the problem of fluorine from a fluorine containing dielectric reacting with other materials while maintaining a bulk dielectric material of sufficiently high or original fluorine content to maintain an effective low dielectric constant in semiconductor chip wiring interconnect structures.