Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Comp. Ltd.

Li-Der Chen

Chih-Ching Lin

Chung Chang Liu

Chih-Min Wen

Cheng-Shien Chen

This invention relates to a method of fabricating metal wiring, whereby sputtered metal is rapidly cooled down by a post-metal quenching process, to prevent deleterious CuAl precipitation. The main embodiments are the formation of a TiN reactively sputtered bottom barrier layer, followed by a sputtered Al&mdash;Cu alloy wiring layer immediately followed by an in situ post-metal quench (key step), then followed by a reactively sputtered second TiN top barrier layer. The &ldquo;in situ&rdquo; post-metal quench is especially effective by employing wafer backside cooling using low temperature helium gas or argon gas, cooling the substrate from a high temperature range of 450 to 150 &deg;C., to a low temperature range near room temperature, in a short time interval of between 30 to 180 seconds. The CuAl precipitates if allowed to form, block the etch removal of the underlying TiN layer causing electrical shorts between closely spaced lines.

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Shin-Dian, Taiwan

Li-Der Chen