Texas Instruments Corporation

Sopa Chevacharoenkul

Sudtida Lavangkul

Mona M Eissa

Mark L Jenson

Mark R Kimmich

Binghua Hu

Ju-Ai Ruan

Byron J R Shulver

Lee Alan Stringer

Bhaskar Srinivasan

Abbas Ali

Tae S Kim

Changming Jin

Jarvis Benjamin Jacobs

Weidong Tian

Pushpa Mahalingam

Phillip D Matz

Eugene C Davis

Kenneth Joseph Newton

Basab Chatterjee

Xinfen Chen

Bernard John Fischer

Satyavolu Papa Rao

Anand J Reddy

Prakash Dalpatbhai Dev

Khanh Quang Le

Ching-Te Lin

Collin White

Ashley Norris

Marshall O Cathey, Jr

David C Guiling

An integrated fluxgate device includes a substrate that includes a dielectric layer. A fluxgate core is located over the dielectric layer. Lower windings are disposed in a lower metal level between the fluxgate core and the dielectric layer, and upper windings are disposed in an upper metal level above the fluxgate core. A metal structure in the upper metal level or the lower metal level overlaps an end of the fluxgate core and is conductively isolated from the upper and lower windings.

Layouts for interlevel crack prevention in fluxgate technology manufacturing

An integrated circuit has a substrate, a circuit, a core structure, a first encapsulation layer, a second encapsulation layer, and an oxide layer. The circuit includes transistors with active regions developed on the substrate and a metal layer formed above the active regions to provide interconnections for the transistors. The core structure is formed above the metal layer. The first encapsulation layer covers the core structure, and it has a first thermal expansion coefficient. The second encapsulation layer covers the first encapsulation layer over the core structure, and it has a second thermal expansion coefficient that is different from the first thermal expansion coefficient. As a part of the stress relief structure, the oxide layer is formed above the second encapsulation layer. The oxide layer includes an oxide thickness sufficient to mitigate a thermal stress between the first and second encapsulation layers.

Integrated fluxgate device

A method for forming trench capacitors includes forming a silicon nitride layer over a first region of a semiconductor surface doped a first type and over a second region doped a second type. A patterned photoresist layer is directly formed on the silicon nitride layer. An etch forms a plurality of deep trenches (DTs) within the first region. A liner oxide is formed that lines the DTs. The silicon nitride layer is etched forming an opening through the silicon nitride layer that is at least as large in area as the area of an opening in the semiconductor surface of the DT below the silicon nitride layer. The liner oxide is removed, a dielectric layer(s) on a surface of the DTs is formed, a top plate material layer is deposited to fill the DTs, and the top plate material layer is removed beyond the DT to form a top plate.

Integrated trench capacitor with top plate having reduced voids

A method comprises forming an etch stop layer, a first titanium layer, a magnetic core, a second titanium layer, and patterning the first and second titanium layers. The etch stop layer is formed above a substrate. The first titanium layer is formed on the etch stop layer. The magnetic core is formed on the first titanium layer. The second titanium layer has a first portion encapsulating the magnetic core with the first titanium layer, and a second portion interfacing with the first titanium layer beyond the magnetic core. The patterning of the first and second titanium layers includes forming a mask over a magnetic core region and etching the first and second titanium layers exposed by the mask using a titanium etchant and a titanium oxide etchant.

Selective patterning of titanium encapsulation layers

Selective patterning of an integrated fluxgate device

A method of fabricating an integrated circuit (IC) includes etching a trench in a semiconductor substrate having an aspect ratio (AR) &#x2267;5 and a trench depth &#x2267;10 &#x3bc;m. A dielectric liner is formed along the walls of the trench to form a dielectric lined trench. In-situ doped polysilicon is deposited into the trench to form a dielectric lined polysilicon filled trench having a doped polysilicon filler therein. The doped polysilicon filler after completion of fabricating the IC is essentially polysilicon void-free and has a 25&#xb0; C. sheet resistance &#x2266;100 ohms/sq. The method can include etching an opening at a bottom of the dielectric liner before depositing the polysilicon to provide ohmic contact to the semiconductor substrate.

In-situ doped polysilicon filler for trenches

A one-step CMP process for polishing three or more layer film stacks on a wafer having a multilayer film stack thereon including a silicon nitride (SiNx) layer on its semiconductor surface, and a silicon oxide layer on the SiNx layer, wherein trench access vias extend through the silicon oxide layer and SiNx layer to trenches formed into the semiconductor surface, and wherein a polysilicon layer fills the trench access vias, fills the trenches, and is on the silicon oxide layer. CMP polishes the multilayer film stack with a slurry including slurry particles including at least one of silica and ceria. The CMP provides a removal rate (RR) for the polysilicon layer &#x3e; a RR for the silicon oxide layer &#x3e; a RR for the SiNx layer. The CMP process is continued to remove the polysilicon layer, silicon oxide layer and a portion of the SiNx layer to stop on the SiNx layer. Optical endpointing during CMP can provide a predetermined remaining thickness range for the SiNx layer.

Single step CMP for polishing three or more layer film stacks

A method of forming integrated circuits (IC) having at least one metal insulator metal (MIM) capacitor. A bottom electrode is formed on a predetermined region of a semiconductor surface of a substrate. At least one dielectric layer including silicon is formed on the bottom electrode, wherein a thickness of the dielectric layer is &#x3c;1,000 A. A top electrode layer is formed on the dielectric layer. A patterned masking layer is formed on the top electrode layer. Etching using dry-etching at least in part is used to etch the top electrode layer outside the patterned masking layer to reach the dielectric layer, which removes &#x2266;100 A of the thickness of the dielectric layer. The dry etch process includes using a first halogen comprising gas, a second halogen comprising gas that comprises fluorine, and a carrier gas.

Forming integrated circuit devices with metal-insulator-metal capacitors using selective etch of top electrodes

A method of fabricating an interconnect structure, comprising exposing an empty deposition chamber to a process that includes generating reactive species produced from a source gas in the presence of a plasma. The method further comprises terminating the plasma and then introducing a semiconductor substrate with a metal layer thereon into the chamber while the reactive species are present in the chamber.

Semiconductor device manufactured by reducing hillock formation in metal interconnects

A semiconductor device is fabricated while mitigating conductive void formation in metallization layers. A substrate is provided. A first dielectric layer is formed over the substrate. A conductive trench is formed within the first dielectric layer. An etch stop layer is formed over the first dielectric layer. A second dielectric layer is formed over/on the etch stop layer. A resist mask is formed over the device and via openings are etched in the second dielectric layer. The resist mask is removed by an ash process. A clean process is performed that mitigates/reduces surface charge on exposed portions of the etch stop layer. Additional surface charge reduction techniques are employed. The via openings are filled with a conductive material and a planarization process is performed to remove excess fill material.

Reduction of punch-thru defects in damascene processing

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Richardson, TX, United States of America

Sopa Chevacharoenkul