Motorola Corporation

John Mendonca

Suresh Venkatesan

Janos Farkas

Venkat Kolagunta

Mohammed Rabiul Islam

Rajesh Tiwari

Brian George Anthony

Abbas Guvenilir

Sam S Garcia

David K Watts

Ramnath Venkatraman

Jeffrey T Wetzel

Franklin D Nkansah

Gregory Norman Hamilton

Tze W Poon

A copper interconnect polishing process begins by polishing ( ) a bulk thickness of copper ( ) using a first platen. A second platen is then used to remove ( ) a thin remaining interfacial copper layer to expose a barrier film ( ). Computer control ( ) monitors polish times of the first and second platen and adjusts these times to improve wafer throughput. One or more platens and/or the wafer is rinsed ( ) between the interfacial copper polish and the barrier polish to reduce slurry cross contamination. A third platen and slurry is then used to polish away exposed portions of the barrier ( ) to complete polishing of the copper interconnect structure. A holding tank that contains anti-corrosive fluid is used to queue the wafers until subsequent scrubbing operations ( ). A scrubbing operation ( ) that is substantially void of light is used to reduce photovoltaic induced corrosion of copper in the drying chamber of the scubber.

Method for forming a copper interconnect using a multi-platen chemical mechanical polishing (CMP) process

A copper interconnect polishing process begins by polishing (,) a bulk thickness of copper (,) using a first platen. A second platen is then used to remove (,) a thin remaining interfacial copper layer to expose a barrier film (,). Computer control (,) monitors polish times of the first and second platen and adjusts these times to improve wafer throughput. One or more platens and/or the wafer is rinsed (,) between the interfacial copper polish and the barrier polish to reduce slurry cross contamination. A third platen and slurry is then used to polish away exposed portions of the barrier (,) to complete polishing of the copper interconnect structure. A holding tank that contains anti-corrosive fluid is used to queue the wafers until subsequent scrubbing operations (,). A scrubbing operation (,) that is substantially void of light is used to reduce photovoltaic induced corrosion of copper in the drying chamber of the scrubber.

A method of forming a semiconductor device by first providing a substrate in a processing chamber. The substrate has an insulating layer and an opening in the insulating layer. A copper barrier layer is formed on the insulating layer and in the opening by providing a plurality of refractory metal atoms and a plurality of silicon atoms in the processing chamber. The atoms are ionized by applying a first bias to the atoms to form a plasma. The substrate is then biased by a first stage bias followed by a second stage bias to accelerate the plasma to the substrate to form the copper barrier layer, where the first stage bias is less than the second stage bias. The copper-containing metal is then deposited on the copper barrier layer over the insulating layer and in the opening. The present invention further includes a semiconductor device formed by the above method.

Semiconductor device with a copper barrier layer and formation thereof

A method of chemical-mechanical polishing of a semiconductor device utilizes a combination of polishing steps, including a first step using a first slurry containing an abrasive component (i.e., mechanical component) and a chemical component (i.e., chemical reactants), and a second polishing step using a second slurry having a reduced amount of the abrasive component. The method is carried out with respect to metal (39), such as copper, deposited on a dielectric layer (34) and the first polishing step is stopped before the entirety of the metal overlying the dielectric layer is removed. In one embodiment, the second slurry has no abrasive component.

Method of making a semiconductor device using chemical-mechanical

Growing community of inventors

Austin, TX, United States of America

John Mendonca