International Business Machines Corporation

Sony Corporation

Sony Electronics Inc

Sarah L Lane

Darryl D Restaino

Son Van Nguyen

Jia Lee

Kensaku Ida

Anthony K Stamper

Jeffrey P Gambino

Daniel C Edelstein

Takeshi Nogami

Timothy Joseph Dalton

Stephen McConnell Gates

John Anthony Fitzsimmons

Vincent James McGahay

Ebenezer E Eshun

Anil Kumar Chinthakindi

Eric Gerhard Liniger

Thomas H Ivers

Ann H McDonald

Edward Paul Barth

The invention is directed to an integrated circuit comb capacitor with capacitor electrodes that have an increased capacitance between neighboring capacitor electrodes as compared with other interconnects and via contacts formed in the same metal wiring level and at the same pitches. The invention achieves a capacitor that minimizes capacitance tolerance and preserves symmetry in parasitic electrode-substrate capacitive coupling, without adversely affecting other interconnects and via contacts formed in the same wiring level, through the use of, at most, one additional noncritical, photomask.

Integrated circuit comb capacitor

A low k dielectric stack having an effective dielectric constant k, of about 3.0 or less, in which the mechanical properties of the stack are improved by introducing at least one nanolayer into the dielectric stack. The improvement in mechanical properties is achieved without significantly increasing the dielectric constant of the films within the stack and without the need of subjecting the inventive dielectric stack to any post treatment steps. Specifically, the present invention provides a low k dielectric stack that comprises at least one low k dielectric material and at least one nanolayer present within the at least one low k dielectric material.

Low k dielectric CVD film formation process with in-situ imbedded nanolayers to improve mechanical properties

A porous low k or ultra low k dielectric film comprising atoms of Si, C, O and H (hereinafter 'SiCOH') in a covalently bonded tri-dimensional network structure having a dielectric constant of less than about 3.0, a higher degree of crystalline bonding interactions, more carbon as methyl termination groups and fewer methylene, &#x2014;CH&#x2014; crosslinking groups than prior art SiCOH dielectrics is provided. The SiCOH dielectric is characterized as having a FTIR spectrum comprising a peak area for CH+CHstretching of less than about 1.40, a peak area for SiH stretching of less than about 0.20, a peak area for SiCHbonding of greater than about 2.0, and a peak area for Si&#x2014;O&#x2014;Si bonding of greater than about 60%, and a porosity of greater than about 20%.

Advanced low dielectric constant organosilicon plasma chemical vapor deposition films

An advanced back-end-of-line (BEOL) metallization structure is disclosed. The structure includes a diffusion barrier or cap layer having a low dielectric constant (low-k), where the cap layer is formed of silicon nitride by a plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PE CVD) process. The metallization structure also includes an inter-layer dielectric (ILD) formed of a carbon-containing dielectric material having a dielectric constant of less than about 4, and a continuous hardmask layer overlying the ILD which is preferably formed of silicon nitride or silicon carbide. A method for forming the BEOL metallization structure is also disclosed. The method includes a pre-clean or pre-activation step to improve the adhesion of the cap layer to the underlying copper conductors. The pre-clean or pre-activation step comprises exposing the copper surface to a reducing plasma including hydrogen, ammonia, nitrogen and/or noble gases.

Advanced BEOL interconnect structures with low-k PE CVD cap layer and method thereof

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Wappingers Falls, NY, United States of America

Sarah L Lane