International Business Machines Corporation

Applied Materials, Inc.

Novellus Systems Incorporated

Robert L Jackson

Steven T Mayer

Jonathan David Reid

Evan E Patton

Thomas H Baum

Ming Xi

Xinliang Lu

Alfred W Mak

Paul B Comita

Gopalakrishna B Prabhu

Gregory E Menk

Ken Kaung Lai

Robert M Smith

Erik S Rondum

Anand N Iyer

Jong Hyun Yoo

Garlen C Leung

Benjamin A Bonner

Ping Jian

Peter McReynolds

Gary H Irish

James L Carper

Sheldon C Rieley

Vijay Bhaskaran

Phillip Joe Brock

Thomas Anthony Wassick

Carl Eric Larson

James Economy

Christopher R Moylan

Janice D Frazier

Richard A Reich

James R Lyerla, Jr

Thoams F Redmond

John R Lankard Sr

Several techniques are described for reducing or mitigating the formation of seams and/or voids in electroplating the interior regions of microscopic recessed features. Cathodic polarization is used to mitigate the deleterious effects of introducing a substrate plated with a seed layer into an electroplating solution. Also described are diffusion-controlled electroplating techniques to provide for bottom-up filling of trenches and vias, avoiding thereby sidewalls growing together to create seams/voids. A preliminary plating step is also described that plates a thin film of conductor on the interior surfaces of features leading to adequate electrical conductivity to the feature bottom, facilitating bottom-up filling.

Process for electroplating metals into microscopic recessed features

In one embodiment, a method for depositing a tungsten material on a substrate within a process chamber is provided which includes exposing the substrate to a gaseous mixture containing a tungsten precursor and a reducing gas to deposit a tungsten nucleation layer on the substrate during a tungsten deposition process. The process further includes removing reaction by-products generated during the tungsten deposition process from the process chamber, exposing the substrate to the reducing gas to react with residual tungsten precursor within the process chamber during a soak process, removing reaction by-products generated during the soak process from the process chamber, and repeating the tungsten deposition process and the soak process during a cyclic deposition process. In the examples, the reducing gas may contain diborane or silane.

Pulsed deposition process for tungsten nucleation

A polishing article and method for manufacturing a polishing article for use in a chemical mechanical polishing process is disclosed. The polishing article has a plurality of polishing material tiles separated by grooves formed in or through a polishing material and may be adhesively bound to a base film. The polishing article may include various polygonal tiles and oval shapes formed in the polishing material which allow enhanced slurry retention and ease in rolling from a polishing material supply roll and onto a take-up roll in a web type platen assembly. The polishing article may also include an upper carrier film adapted to minimize delaminating stress placed in an area of the polishing article that is not adapted for polishing. A method and apparatus for manufacturing the various embodiments of the polishing article and a replacement supply roll are also disclosed.

Materials for chemical mechanical polishing

A method of forming a tungsten nucleation layer using a sequential deposition process. The tungsten nucleation layer is formed by reacting pulses of a tungsten-containing precursor and a reducing gas in a process chamber to deposit tungsten on the substrate. Thereafter, reaction by-products generated from the tungsten deposition are removed from the process chamber. After the reaction by-products are removed from the process chamber, a flow of the reducing gas is provided to the process chamber to react with residual tungsten-containing precursor remaining therein. Such a deposition process forms tungsten nucleation layers having good step coverage. The sequential deposition process of reacting pulses of the tungsten-containing precursor and the reducing gas, removing reaction by-products, and than providing a flow of the reducing gas to the process chamber may be repeated until a desired thickness for the tungsten nucleation layer is formed.

Pulsed nucleation deposition of tungsten layers

Process for electroplating metal into microscopic recessed features

An electroplating apparatus prevents anode-mediated degradation of electrolyte additives by creating a mechanism for maintaining separate anolyte and catholyte and preventing mixing thereof within a plating chamber. The separation is accomplished by interposing a porous chemical transport barrier between the anode and cathode. The transport barrier limits the chemical transport (via diffusion and/or convection) of all species but allows migration of ionic species (and hence passage of current) during application of sufficiently large electric fields within electrolyte.

Copper electroplating method and apparatus

Copper electroplating apparatus

A leadframe has conductive fingers with an insulating film located on a first portion of the fingers. The insulating film has openings into which contact pads formed of a noble metal are provided. Pads on a chip are wire bonded to these contact pads on the leadframe. The first portion is encapsulated in a molded package. The structure inhibits silver migration, provides insulation between wires and leadframe, and provides improved adhesion between plastic package and leadframe. A single insulating film with openings for providing the contact pads provides all these features.

Leadframe having contact pads defined by a polymer insulating film

Control of the local environment during pulsed laser removal of thin film circuit metallurgy is used to change the nature of the top surfaces. Interconnecting such laser treated surfaces with LCVD films results in different growth morphologies, dependent on the nature of the surface created and the debris generated during the ablation process. Flowing helium across the surface during the ablation process results in improved growth morphologies for the same laser writing conditions. A low power laser scan is used to induce metal deposition on the substrate without surface damage. This is followed by several scans at an intermediate laser power to deposit the desired thickness of metal (e.g., about 8 .mu.m). Lastly, a high power laser scan is used, either at the points of intersection between the existing metallurgy and the metal repair or across the entire deposit area. Thermal spreading or blooming is reduced by modulating the intensity of the laser source.

Laser-induced chemical vapor deposition of thin-film conductors

Solder flux compositions and pastes made therefrom, consisting essentially of solder metal powder, an amount of non-corrosive water soluble flux, said water soluble flux comprising a mixture of 2 non-corrosive water-soluble components, one of which is a non-halogenated amine, preferably triethanolamine and the other of which is an organic moiety with a polar group, preferably GAFAC RE-610.

Water soluble solder flux and paste

Thin-film electrical circuits are interconnected by a process comprising the steps of partially ablating the existing thin-film conductor at the connection point(s) by means of a pulsed laser and depositing a thin-film metal interconnection over the desired area, which includes the area(s) of the existing thin-film circuit that were exposed the pulsed laser.

Process for interconnecting thin-film electrical circuits

A process for generating a capacitive servo pattern on a magnetic storage disk, comprising the steps of: (1) coating the disk with a solution of noble metal compound to form a film of the compound on the disk, (2) exposing said film to radiation through a mask to generate an image on the film, and (3) plating the disk on the areas exposed to radiation.

Generation of capacitive servo patterns on magnetic storage disks

A process for depositing and tightly binding noble metal seeds onto a substrate by coating the substrate with a very thin layer of a polymer which complexes with a noble metal compound and contacting the layer of polymer with a noble metal compound which forms a complex with the layer of polymer.

Seeding process for electroless metal deposition

Growing community of inventors

San Jose, CA, United States of America

Robert L Jackson