An air gap structure and formation method for substantially reducing the
undesired capacitance between adjacent interconnects, metal lines or
other features in an integrated circuit device is disclosed. The air gap
extends above, and may also additionally extend below, the interconnects
desired to be isolated thus minimizing fringing fields between the lines.
The integrated air gap structure and formation method can be utilized in
conjunction with a tungsten plug process. Also, multiple levels of the
integrated air gap structure can be fabricated to accommodate multiple
metal levels while always ensuring that physical dielectric layer support
is provided to the device structure underlying the interconnects.