International Business Machines Corporation

Infineon Technologies Ag

Ann H McDonald

John Anthony Fitzsimmons

Vincent James McGahay

Anthony K Stamper

Thomas H Ivers

Edward Paul Barth

Yun Yu Wang

Soon-Cheon Seo

Stephen McConnell Gates

Tze-Chiang Chen

Erdem Kaltalioglu

Terence Lawrence Kane

Darryl D Restaino

Brett H Engel

Jia Lee

Sarah L Lane

Naftall E Lustig

Jeffrey P Gambino

Keith Kwong Hon Wong

Hyun K Lee

Yun-Yu Wang

Richard Anthony Conti

Michael F Lofaro

Daewon Yang

Ernest N Levine

Thomas F Houghton

Glenn A Biery

Jeffery Burton Maxson

The present invention relates to a bilayer cap structure for interconnect structures that comprise copper metallization or other conductive metallization. Such bilayer cap structure includes a first cap layer formed by an unbiased high density plasma (HDP) chemical vapor deposition process, and a second cap layer over the first cap layer, where the second cap layer is formed by a biased high density plasma (bHDP) chemical vapor deposition process. During the bHDP chemical vapor deposition process, a low AC bias power is applied to the substrate to increase the ion bombardment on the substrate surface and to induce resputtering of the capping material, thereby forming a seamless second cap layer with excellent reactive ion etching (RIE) selectivity.

Bilayer cap structure including HDP/bHDP films for conductive metallization and method of making same

A metallization insulating structure, having

Dual damascene interconnect structure using low stress fluorosilicate insulator with copper conductors

An advanced back-end-of-line (BEOL) metallization structure is disclosed. The structure includes a diffusion barrier or cap layer having a low dielectric constant (low-k), where the cap layer is formed of silicon nitride by a plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PE CVD) process. The metallization structure also includes an inter-layer dielectric (ILD) formed of a carbon-containing dielectric material having a dielectric constant of less than about 4, and a continuous hardmask layer overlying the ILD which is preferably formed of silicon nitride or silicon carbide. A method for forming the BEOL metallization structure is also disclosed. The method includes a pre-clean or pre-activation step to improve the adhesion of the cap layer to the underlying copper conductors. The pre-clean or pre-activation step comprises exposing the copper surface to a reducing plasma including hydrogen, ammonia, nitrogen and/or noble gases.

Advanced BEOL interconnect structures with low-k PE CVD cap layer and method thereof

An advanced back-end-of-line (BEOL) metallization structure is disclosed. The structure includes a bilayer diffusion barrier or cap, where the first cap layer is formed of a dielectric material preferably deposited by a high density plasma chemical vapor deposition (HDP CVD) process, and the second cap layer is formed of a dielectric material preferably deposited by a plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PE CVD) process. A method for forming the BEOL metallization structure is also disclosed. The invention is particularly useful in interconnect structure comprising low-k dielectric material for the inter-layer dielectric (ILD) and copper for the conductors.

Bilayer HDP CVD/PE CVD cap in advanced BEOL interconnect structures and method thereof

An advanced back-end-of-line (BEOL) metallization structure is disclosed. The structure includes a bilayer diffusion barrier or cap, where the first cap layer is formed of a dielectric material preferably deposited by a high density plasma chemical vapor deposition (HDP CVD) process, and the second cap layer is formed of a dielectric material preferably deposited by a plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PE CVD) process. A method for forming the BEOL metallization structure is also disclosed. The invention is particularly useful in interconnect structures comprising low-k dielectric material for the inter-layer dielectric (ILD) and copper for the conductors.

Bilayer HDP CVD/PE CVD cap in advance BEOL interconnect structures and method thereof

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New Windsor, NY, United States of America

Ann H McDonald