Texas Instruments Corporation

Texax Instruments Incorporated

Andrew McKerrow

Robert Kraft

Ting Yiu Tsui

Kenneth Joseph Newton

Brian Keith Kirkpatrick

Guoqiang Xing

Dirk N Anderson

Michael Morrison

Jiong-Ping Lu

Francis Gabriel Celii

Satyavolu Srinivas Papa Rao

Ping Jiang

Patricia Beauregard Smith

Changming Jin

Phillip D Matz

David Gerald Farber

Donald S Miles

Hyesook Hong

Clinton L Montgomery

William Wesley Dostalik

Jeff A West

Jeannette Michelle Jacques

Zhicheng Tang

Heungsoo Park

Ralf B Willecke

Melissa M Hewson

Glenn J Tessmer

Andrew Ralston

Yuji Richard Kuan

The present invention provides a process for improving the hardness and/or modulus of elasticity of a dielectric layer and a method for manufacturing an integrated circuit. The process for improving the hardness and/or modulus of elasticity of a dielectric layer, among other steps, includes providing a dielectric layer having a hardness and a modulus of elasticity, and subjecting the dielectric layer to an energy beam, thereby causing the hardness or modulus of elasticity to increase in value.

Energy beam treatment to improve packaging reliability

The present invention provides an insulating layerfor an integrated circuitcomprising a porous silicon-based dielectric layerlocated over a substrate. The insulating layer comprises a densified layercomprising an uppermost portionof the porous silicon-based dielectric layer.

Method to increase mechanical fracture robustness of porous low k dielectric materials

One aspect of the invention relates to a method of removing contaminants from a low-k film. The method involves forming a sacrificial layer over the contaminated film. The contaminants combine with the sacrificial layer and are removed by etching away the sacrificial layer. An effective material for the sacrificial layer is, for example, a silicon carbide. The method can be used to prevent the occurrence of pattern defects in chemically amplified photoresists formed over low-k films.

Method of passivating and/or removing contaminants on a low-k dielectric/copper surface

A dual damascene process flow for forming interconnect lines and vias in which at least part of the via () is etched prior to the trench etch. A low-k material such as a thermoset organic polymer is used for the ILD () and IMD (). After the at least partial via etch, a BARC () is deposited over the structure including in the via (). Then, the trench () is patterned and etched. Although at least some of the BARC () material is removed during the trench etch, the bottom of the via () is protected.

Process flow for dual damescene interconnect structures

A low-k dielectric layer () is treated with a dry-wet (D-W) or dry-wet-dry (D-W-D) process to improve patterning Resist poisoning occurs due to an interaction between low-k films (), such as OSG, and DUV resist (). The D-W or D-W-D treatment is performed to either pretreat a low-k dielectric () before forming the pattern () or during a rework of the pattern ().

Pre-pattern surface modification of low-k dielectrics

A method of forming an integrated circuit including an organosilicate low dielectric constant insulating layer () formed of a substitution group depleted silicon oxide, such as an organosilicate glass, is disclosed. Subsequent plasma processing has been observed to break bonds in such an insulating layer (), resulting in molecules at the surface of the film with dangling bonds. Eventually, the damaged insulating layer () includes silanol molecules, which results in a degraded film. The disclosed method exposes the damaged insulating layer () to a thermally or plasma activated fluorine, hydrogen, or nitrogen, which reacts with the damaged molecules to form a passivated surface for the insulating layer ().

Chemical treatment of low-k dielectric films

A process for forming nickel silicide and silicon nitride structure in a semiconductor integrated circuit device is described. Good adhesion between the nickel silicide and the silicon nitride is accomplished by passivating the nickel suicide surface with nitrogen. The passivation may be performed by treating the nickel silicide surface with plasma activated nitrogen species. An alternative passivation method is to cover the nickel silicide with a film of metal nitride and heat the substrate to about 500&deg; C. Another alternative method is to sputter deposit silicon nitride on top of nickel silicide.

Nickel silicide&mdash;silicon nitride adhesion through surface passivation

The present invention provides, in one embodiment, process of treating a target semiconductor surface. The process includes exposing a test surface to a plasma protocol ( ), and measuring chemical changes in discrete locations of the test surface ( ). The process further includes preparing a target surface by exposing the target surface to the plasma protocol ( ) when a uniformity of the chemical changes are within a performance criterion of the plasma protocol ( ). Other embodiments advantageously incorporate this process into methods for making semiconductor devices and integrated circuits.

Method for fabricating semiconductor devices that uses efficient plasmas

A low-k dielectric layer ( ) is treated with a dry H plasma pretreatment to improve patterning. Resist poisoning occurs due to an interaction between low-k films ( ), such as OSG, and DUV resist ( ). The H plasma pre-treatment is performed to either pretreat a low-k dielectric ( ) before forming the pattern ( ) or during a rework of the pattern ( ).

Pre-pattern surface modification for low-k dielectrics using A H2 plasma

Plasma treating a low-k dielectric layer ( ) using an oxidation reaction (e.g., O ) to improve patterning. Resist poisoning occurs due to an interaction between low-k films ( ), such as OSG, and DUV resist ( ). The plasma treatment is performed to either pretreat a low-k dielectric ( ) before forming the pattern ( ), during a rework of the pattern ( ), or between via and trench patterning to reduce resist poisoning.

Plasma treatment of low-k dielectric films to improve patterning

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Dallas, TX, United States of America

Andrew McKerrow