Siemens Aktiengesellschaft

International Business Machines Corporation

Martin Gutsche

Ravikumar Ramachandran

Wesley Charles Natzle

Hiroyuki Akatsu

Dirk Tobben

Bruno Spuler

Chien Yu

Matthias Ilg

Peter Weigand

Wolfgang Bergner

Juergen Wittmann

A method for removal of post reactive ion etch sidewall polymer rails on a Al/Cu metal line of a semiconductor or microelectronic composite structure comprising:

Removal of post-rie polymer on A1/CU metal line

A semiconductor memory cell includes a field effect transistor coupled to a storage capacitor that formed as a multilayer stack over the surface of the silicon chip of the cell. The capacitor is formed by three conformal layers over the surface of a cup-shaped contact hole in a silicon oxide layer overlying the surface of the chip.

Memory cell with a stacked capacitor

A method for manufacturing a dual damascene structure includes the use of a sacrificial stud and provides an improved defined edge on the interface between the conductive line openings and the via openings.

Dual damascene structure

A method for removal of post reactive ion etch sidewall polymer rails on a Al/Cu metal line of a semiconductor or microelectronic composite structure comprising: 1) supplying a mixture of an etching gas and an acid neutralizing gas into a vacuum chamber in which said composite structure is supported to form a water soluble material of sidewall polymer rails left behind on the Al/Cu metal line from the RIE process; removing the water soluble material with deionized water; and removing photo-resist from said composite structure by either a water-only plasma process or a chemical down stream etching method; or 2) forming a water-only plasma process to strip the photo-resist layer of a semiconductor or microelectronic composite structure previously subjected to a RIE process; supplying a mixture of an etching gas and an acid neutralizing gas into a vacuum chamber on which said structure is supported to form a water soluble material of saidwall polymer rails left behind on the Al/Cu metal line from the RIE process; and removing the water soluble material with deionized water.

Removal of post-RIE polymer on Al/Cu metal line

A method for forming a Self Aligned Contact in a semiconductor device includes incorporating carbon into a nitride layer during or following the formation of the nitride layer on a semiconductor substrate.

Deposition of carbon into nitride layer for improved selectivity of

A method for forming a plurality of electrically conductive wires on a substrate. The method includes forming a relatively non-planar metal layer over a surface of the substrate. A self-planarizing material is deposited over the metal layer. The self-planarizing material forms a planarization layer over the surface of the metal layer. The planarization layer has a surface relatively planar compared to the relatively non-planar metal layer. A photoresist layer is deposited over the surface of the planarization layer. The photoresist layer is patterned with a plurality of grooves to form a mask with such grooves exposing underling portions of the planarization layer. The photoresist mask is used as a mask to etch grooves in the exposed portions of the planarization layer and thereby form a second mask. The second mask exposes underling portions of the relatively non-planar metal layer. The second mask is used to etch grooves in the relatively non-planar conductive metal layer and thereby form the plurality of electrically conductive wires in the metal layer. The wires are separated from each other by the grooves formed in the relatively non-planar metal layer. The planarization layer is formed by a spinning-on an organic polymer, for example an organic polymer having silicon, or a flowable oxide, or a hydrogensilsequioxane, or divinyl-siloxane-benzocyclobutene. The metal layer is etched using reactive ion etching. The planarization layer is removed using a wet chemical etch.

Growing community of inventors

Poughkeepsie, NY, United States of America

Martin Gutsche