Texas Instruments Corporation

Ralf B Willecke

Tae S Kim

Jin Zhao

Nathan J Kruse

August J Fischer

Jiong-Ping Lu

Brian Keith Kirkpatrick

Andrew McKerrow

Donald S Miles

Clinton L Montgomery

Melissa M Hewson

Glenn J Tessmer

Lu Jiong-Ping

Andrew J Mckerrow

A method of forming a film stack in an integrated circuit, said method comprising depositing a layer of silicon carbide adjacent a first layer of dielectric material, depositing a layer of silicon nitride adjacent the layer of silicon carbide, and depositing a second layer of dielectric material adjacent the layer of silicon nitride.

Bi-layer etch stop process for defect reduction and via stress migration improvement

A process for forming nickel silicide and silicon nitride structure in a semiconductor integrated circuit device is described. Good adhesion between the nickel silicide and the silicon nitride is accomplished by passivating the nickel suicide surface with nitrogen. The passivation may be performed by treating the nickel silicide surface with plasma activated nitrogen species. An alternative passivation method is to cover the nickel silicide with a film of metal nitride and heat the substrate to about 500&deg; C. Another alternative method is to sputter deposit silicon nitride on top of nickel silicide.

Nickel silicide&mdash;silicon nitride adhesion through surface passivation

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Dallas, TX, United States of America

Ralf B Willecke