an on - chip vertically stacked decoupling capacitor includes a hardmask film formed between the capacitor dielectric and the lower electrode . the manufacturing process used to form the capacitor takes advantage of the hardmask film and enables the capacitor to be formed over a low - k dielectric material . attack of the underlying low - k dielectric material is suppressed during the etching and stripping processes used to form the capacitor , due to the presence of the hardmask . the low - k dielectric film provides for a reduced parasitic capacitance between adjacent conductive wires formed in the low - k dielectric material and therefore provides for increased levels of integration .