Ebara Corporation

Oki Electric Industry Co., Ltd.

Ricoh Company, Ltd.

Daisuke Takagi

Akira Fukunaga

Manabu Seo

Takahiko Matsumoto

Satoshi Nakazawa

Hidekazu Yaginuma

Satoshi Izumi

Koichi Muramatsu

Xinming Wang

Akihiko Tashiro

Yukio Fukunaga

Akira Owatari

Yukiko Nishioka

Yuzuru Kuramochi

Ryuya Mashiko

Satoshi Okano

Tsuyoshi Sahoda

Shinsuke Ohnishi

Mayuko Murano

A metal film-forming method of the present invention can form a metal film having different film qualities in the thickness direction, in a continuous manner using a single processing solution. The metal film-forming method including: providing a substrate having embedded interconnects formed in interconnect recesses provided in a surface of the substrate; and forming a metal film, having different film qualities in the thickness direction, on surfaces of the interconnects in a continuous manner by changing the flow state of a processing solution relative to the surface of the substrate while keeping the surface of the substrate in contact with the processing solution.

Method and apparatus for forming metal film

There is provided a substrate processing method and apparatus which can measure and monitor thickness and/or properties of a film formed on a substrate as needed, and quickly correct a deviation in process conditions, and which can therefore stably provide a product of constant quality. A substrate processing method for processing a substrate having a metal and an insulating material exposed on its surface in such a manner that a film thickness of the metal, with an exposed surface of the metal as a reference plane, is selectively or preferentially changed, including measuring a change in the film thickness and/or a film property of the metal during and/or immediately after processing, and monitoring processing and adjusting processing conditions based on results of this measurement.

Substrate processing method

The present invention provides an interconnects-forming method and an interconnects-forming apparatus which can minimize the lowering of processing accuracy in etching, minimize light exposure processing for the formation of interconnect recesses in the production of multi-level interconnects, improve the electromigration resistance of interconnects without impairing the electrical properties of the interconnects, and enhance the reliability of the device. The interconnects-forming method, includes providing interconnect recesses in an insulating film formed in a surface of a substrate; embedding an interconnect material in the interconnect recesses while forming a metal film of the interconnect material on a surface of the insulating film; removing an extra metal material other than the metal material in the interconnect recesses and flattening the substrate surface, thereby forming interconnects; forming a first protective film of a conductive material selectively on exposed surfaces of the interconnects; forming a second protective film on the surface of the substrate having the thus-formed first protective film; forming an interlevel insulating film on the surface of the substrate having the thus-formed second protective film; and flattening a surface of the interlevel insulating film.

Interconnects forming method and interconnects forming apparatus

A substrate processing method can securely form a metal film by electroless plating on an exposed surface of a base metal, such as interconnects, with increased throughput and without the formation of voids in the base metal. The substrate processing method includes: cleaning a surface of a substrate having a base metal formed in the surface with a cleaning solution comprising an aqueous solution of a carboxyl group-containing organic acid or its salt and a surfactant as an additive; bringing the surface of the substrate after the cleaning into contact with a processing solution comprising a mixture of the cleaning solution and a solution containing a catalyst metal ion, thereby applying the catalyst to the surface of the substrate; and forming a metal film by electroless plating on the catalyst-applied surface of the substrate.

Method for processing substrate

Digital-to-analog (DA) conversion circuitry with a simplified testing circuit includes a DA converter to which test data, initially &ldquo;0&rdquo;, may be applied. The DA converter feeds an analog voltage corresponding to the test data to a voltage holding circuit. Subsequently the test data is incremented to &ldquo;1&rdquo; and then converted to a corresponding analog voltage by the DA converter. A comparator compares the analog voltage corresponding to the test data &ldquo;1&rdquo; with the previous analog voltage held in the voltage holding circuit and corresponding to the test data &ldquo;0&rdquo;. When the test data is sequentially incremented by 1 (one) at intervals, the voltage output from the DA converter is higher than the voltage held in the voltage holding circuit while the DA converter operates normally. The function of the DA converter can be easily, rapidly tested by monitoring the output of the comparator.

Digital-to-analog conversion circuitry incorporating a simplified testing circuit

Growing community of inventors

Tokyo, Japan

Daisuke Takagi