Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Comp. Ltd.

Chen-Kuang Lien

Yu-Min Chang

Yu-Hung Lin

Chi-Yu Chou

Kuei-Pin Lee

Yu-Chang Hsiao

Yao-Hsiang Liang

Yao Hsiang Liang

Lun-Chieh Chiu

Hung-Chih Wang

Wei-Rong Chen

Methods for use in electrochemical plating processes are described herein. An exemplary method includes determining a wafer electrical property associated with a wafer, wherein the wafer electrical property affects the wafer during an electrochemical plating (ECP) process; adjusting a process parameter to be applied to the wafer during the ECP process based on the determined wafer electrical property, wherein the process parameter specifies at least one of a current or a voltage; and applying the adjusted process parameter to the wafer undergoing the ECP process. In some implementations, the process parameter is adjusted, such that a peak entry current of the ECP process substantially matches a plating current of the ECP process induced following the peak entry current.

Electrochemical plating

A method for electrochemical plating includes providing a wafer for an electrochemical plating (ECP) process, determining a wafer electrical property affecting the ECP process, adjusting a plating current or voltage applied in the ECP process based on the determined wafer electrical property, and electroplating the wafer with the adjusted plating current or voltage. A controller for controlling a power supply, and a system for electrochemical plating are also disclosed.

A device and a method of forming the device is provided. The device includes a dielectric layer overlying a substrate, a conductive line with a sidewall in the dielectric layer, a Ta layer adjoining the sidewall of the conductive line, and a metal oxide formed between the Ta layer and the dielectric layer.

Barrier layer for copper interconnect

A device including a dielectric layer overlying a substrate, a conductive line with a sidewall in the dielectric layer, a Ta layer adjoining the sidewall of the conductive line, and a metal oxide formed between the Ta layer and the dielectric layer.

A method for forming an interconnect structure includes forming a dielectric layer overlying a substrate, forming a metal-containing layer in the dielectric layer, forming a barrier layer overlying the metal-containing layer, and performing a thermal process to form a metal oxide layer underlying the conductive layer. The metal oxide layer is a barrier layer formed at the boundary between the dielectric layer and the metal-containing layer.

Methods and apparatus are disclosed for the back end of line process for fabrication of integrated circuits (ICs). The inter-metal dielectric (IMD) layer between two metal layers may comprise an etching stop layer over a metal layer, a low-k dielectric layer over the etching stop layer, a dielectric hard mask layer over the low-k dielectric layer, an nitrogen free anti-reflection layer (NFARL) over the dielectric hard mask layer, and a metal-hard-mask (MHM) layer of a thickness in a range from about 180 &#x212b; to about 360 &#x212b; over the NFARL. The MHM layer thickness is optimized at the range from about 180 &#x212b; to about 360 &#x212b; to reduce the Cu pits while avoiding the photo overlay shifting issue.

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Kaohsiung, Taiwan

Chen-Kuang Lien