International Business Machines Corporation

Stephen Alan Cohen

Alessandro Cesare Callegari

Alfred Grill

Sampath Purushothaman

Vishnubhai Vitthalbhai Patel

Katherine Lynn Saenger

Christopher Vincent Jahnes

Stephen McConnell Gates

Fuad Elias Doany

Katherina E Babich

Chih-Chao Yang

Cyprian Emeka Uzoh

Daniel C Edelstein

Timothy Joseph Dalton

Baozhen Li

John Anthony Fitzsimmons

Griselda Bonilla

Thomas M Shaw

Eric Gerhard Liniger

Stanley Joseph Whitehair

Arnold Halperin

Jurij R Paraszczak

Pak Leung

Brian Wayne Herbst

A method of annealing a semiconductor and a semiconductor. The method of annealing including heating the semiconductor to a first temperature for a first period of time sufficient to remove physically-adsorbed water from the semiconductor and heating the semiconductor to a second temperature, the second temperature being greater than the first temperature, for a period of time sufficient to remove chemically-adsorbed water from the semiconductor. A semiconductor device including a plurality of metal conductors, and a dielectric including regions separating the plurality of metal conductors, the regions including an upper interface and a lower bulk region, the upper interface having a density greater than a density of the lower bulk region.

Multiple step anneal method and semiconductor formed by multiple step anneal

A switching device including a first dielectric layer having a first top surface, two conductive features embedded in the first dielectric layer, each conductive feature having a second top surface that is substantially coplanar with the first top surface of the first dielectric layer, and a set of discrete islands of a low diffusion mobility metal between the two conductive features. The discrete islands of the low diffusion mobility metal may be either on the first top surface or embedded in the first dielectric layer. The electric conductivity across the two conductive features of the switching device increases when a prescribed voltage is applied to the two conductive features. A method of forming such a switching device is also provided.

Semiconductor switching device and method of making the same

A method of fabricating a dielectric film comprising atoms of Si, C, O and H (hereinafter SiCOH) that has improved insulating properties as compared with prior art dielectric films, including prior art SiCOH dielectric films that are not subjected to the inventive deep ultra-violet (DUV) is disclosed. The improved properties include reduced current leakage which is achieved without adversely affecting (increasing) the dielectric constant of the SiCOH dielectric film. In accordance with the present invention, a SiCOH dielectric film exhibiting reduced current leakage and improved reliability is obtained by subjecting an as deposited SiCOH dielectric film to a DUV laser anneal. The DUV laser anneal step of the present invention likely removes the weakly bonded C from the film, thus improving leakage current.

DUV laser annealing and stabilization of SiCOH films

A method for providing regions of substantially lower fluorine content in a fluorine containing dielectric is described incorporating exposing a region to ultraviolet radiation and annealing at an elevated temperature to remove partially disrupted fluorine from the region. The invention overcomes the problem of fluorine from a fluorine containing dielectric reacting with other materials while maintaining a bulk dielectric material of sufficiently high or original fluorine content to maintain an effective low dielectric constant in semiconductor chip wiring interconnect structures.

Stabilization of fluorine-containing low-k dielectrics in a metal/insulator wiring structure by ultraviolet irradiation

A metal plus low dielectric constant (low-k) interconnect structure is provided for a semiconductor device wherein adjacent regions in a surface separated by a dielectric have dimensions in width and spacing in the sub 250 nanometer range, and in which reduced lateral leakage current between adjacent metal lines, and a lower effective dielectric constant than a conventional structure, is achieved by the positioning of a differentiating or mask member that is applied for the protection of the dielectric in subsequent processing operations, at a position about 2-5 nanometers below a, to be planarized, surface where there will be a lower electric field. The invention is particularly useful in the damascene type device structure in the art wherein adjacent conductors extend from a substrate through an interlevel dielectric material, connections are made in a trench, a diffusion barrier liner is provided in the interlevel dielectric material and masking is employed to protect the dielectric material between conductors during processing operations.

Semiconductor recessed mask interconnect technology

An apparatus for testing structures in semiconductor wafers. The apparatus includes at least one test probe. At least one tool measures and controls deceleration of the at least one test probe as it approaches a surface of a structure in the semiconductor wafer.

Method to test devices on high performance ULSI wafers

The present invention relates to semiconductor devices comprising as one of their structural components diamond-like carbon as an insulator for spacing apart one or more levels of a conductor on an integrated circuit chip. The present invention also relates to a method for forming an integrated structure and to the integrated structure produced therefrom. The present invention further provides a method for selectively ion etching a diamond-like carbon layer from a substrate containing such a layer.

Diamond-like carbon for use in VLSI and ULSI interconnect systems

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Wappingers Falls, NY, United States of America

Stephen Alan Cohen