Micron Technology Incorporated

Round Rock Research, LLC

Gregory C Herdt

Trung Tri Doan

Allen McTeer

Jiutao Li

Jin Lu

Mikhail A Treger

Semiconductor device interconnect structures comprising nitrided barriers are disclosed herein. In one embodiment, an interconnect structure includes a conductive material at least partially filling an opening in a semiconductor substrate, and a nitrided barrier between the conductive material and a sidewall in the opening. The nitrided barrier comprises a nitride material and a barrier material, such as tantalum, between the nitride material and the sidewall of the substrate.

Interconnect structure with nitrided barrier

The present invention is related to methods and apparatus that allow a chalcogenide glass such as germanium selenide (GeSe) to be doped with a metal such as silver, copper, or zinc without utilizing an ultraviolet (UV) photodoping step to dope the chalcogenide glass with the metal. The chalcogenide glass doped with the metal can be used to store data in a memory device. Advantageously, the systems and methods co-sputter the metal and the chalcogenide glass and allow for relatively precise and efficient control of a constituent ratio between the doping metal and the chalcogenide glass. Further advantageously, the systems and methods enable the doping of the chalcogenide glass with a relatively high degree of uniformity over the depth of the formed layer of chalcogenide glass and the metal. Also, the systems and methods allow a metal concentration to be varied in a controlled manner along the thin film depth.

Co-sputter deposition of metal-doped chalcogenides

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Boise, ID, United States of America

Gregory C Herdt