the silicon and carbon precursors respectively the substrate is heated to a temperature of between about 100 and 400 u00b0 c during the arl deposition the flow rate of sih 4 is between about 10 and 10 000 sccm and that of co 2 is between about 10 and 10 000 sccm in order to achieve reduced carbon in the arl 40 a flow of hydrogen at a flow rate of between about 10 and 10 000 sccm is added to the sih 4 co 2 flow to substitute si u2014 h bonds in place of c u2014 h bonds in the deposited arl the reactant flows are delivered into the reaction chamber in a helium carrier gas flowing at a rate of between about 0 and 10 000 sccm adjusted to maintain a chamber pressure of between about 1 mtorr and 100 torr the added hydrogen produces a carbon deficient silicon oxycarbide arl wherein the carbon content is less than about 10 atomic and more preferably less than about 5 atomic the oxygen content of the arl is greater than about 20 atomic the si u2014 c si u2014 o bond ratio as measured by ftir fourier transfer infrared spectroscopy at around 1250 cm u2212 1 should be less than about 18 a duv photoresist is applied and patterned to.