International Business Machines Corporation

Thomas H Ivers

John Anthony Fitzsimmons

Vincent James McGahay

Edward Paul Barth

Stephen McConnell Gates

Darryl D Restaino

Ann H McDonald

Richard Anthony Conti

Paul Charles Jamison

Joyce C Liu

Henry Atkinson Nye, Iii

Ernest N Levine

Chester T Dziobkowski

Jia Lee

Sarah L Lane

Anthony K Stamper

Jeffrey P Gambino

Daniel C Edelstein

Sampath Purushothaman

Laertis Economikos

Hyun K Lee

Wesley Charles Natzle

George D Papasouliotis

William J Cote

Ashima B Chakravarti

Nancy Anne Greco

Stephan Alan Cohen

Horatio Seymour Wildman

Donna Rizzone Cote

Glenn A Biery

Pavel Smetana

Frank V Liucci

Steven Moskowitz

Methods for forming conductor contacts provide for etching through a capping layer located upon a conductor contact region within a substrate. A first pair of methods provide for etching through at least a lower thickness of the capping layer with other than a reactive ion etch to provide an exposed conductor contact region. A partially overlapping second pair of methods provides for converting at least an upper thickness of the capping layer to a converted material layer that is removed incident to providing an exposed conductor contact region. As adjunct to any of the methods, a liner layer is formed and located upon the exposed conductor contact region in absence of an undesirable reactive environment.

Method of making conductor contacts having enhanced reliability

A metallization insulating structure, having

Dual damascene interconnect structure using low stress fluorosilicate insulator with copper conductors

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

Poorly adherent layers such as silicon nitride and silicon dioxide exhibit improved adhesion to copper member by providing an intervening germanium-containing layer. The germanium-containing layer is copper germanide, germanium oxide, germanium nitride or combinations thereof. The germanium-containing layer enhances the adhesion such that the poorly adherent layer is less susceptible to delamination from the copper member.

Method for improving adhesion to copper

A diffusion barrier that has a low dielectric constant, k, yet resistant to oxygen and/or moisture permeability is provided. The diffusion barrier includes a dielectric stack having at least two or more dielectric films, each film having a dielectric constant of about 8 or less, wherein the dielectric stack comprises alternating films composed of a high-permeability material and a low-permeability material. A semiconductor structure including substrate having at least one wiring region and the inventive diffusion barrier formed on a surface of the substrate is also provided.

Laminated diffusion barrier

The present invention relates generally to the field of semiconductor device manufacturing, and more specifically to a method for cleaning and preconditioning a dome in a chemical vapor deposition system. During cleaning, the direction of flow of cooling water through an induction coil in the dome is reversed. During preconditioning, the direction of cooling water flow is preferably reversed again, such that it is the same direction as during deposition. The preconditioning portion of the method comprises introducing a hydrogen gas into the CVD chamber, and then introducing a mixture of hydrogen gas and nitrogen gas into the chamber.

Method for cleaning and preconditioning a chemical vapor deposition chamber dome

A method of depositing a film on a substrate, comprising placing the substrate in the presence of plasma energy, and contacting the substrate with a reactive gas component comprising a compound of the formula (R&mdash;NH) SiX , wherein R is an alkyl group, n is 1, 2, or 3, and X is selected from hydrogen or the halogens. The reactive gas composition may further comprise an oxidizer and/or a reducing agent.

Methods and materials for depositing films on semiconductor substrates

A method is described for filling a high-aspect-ratio feature, in which compatible deposition and etching steps are performed in a sequence. The feature is formed as an opening in a substrate having a surface; a fill material is deposited at the bottom of the feature and on the surface of the substrate; deposition on the surface adjacent the feature causes formation of an overhang structure partially blocking the opening. The fill material is then reacted with a reactant to form a solid reaction product having a greater specific volume than the fill material. The overhang structure is thus converted into a reaction product structure blocking the opening. The reaction product (including the reaction product structure) is then desorbed, thereby exposing unreacted fill material at the bottom of the feature. The depositing and reacting steps may be repeated, with a final depositing step to fill the feature. Each sequence of depositing, reacting and desorbing reduces the aspect ratio of the feature.

Directional CVD process with optimized etchback

Poorly adherent layers such as silicon nitride and silicon dioxide exhibit improved adhesion to copper member by providing an intervening germanium-containing layer. The germanium-containing layer is copper germanide, germanium oxide, germanium bitride or combinations thereof. The germanium-containing layer enhances the adhesion such that the poorly adherent layer is less susceptible to delamination from the copper member.

The adhesion of a silicon carbide containing film to a surface is enhanced by employing a transition film of silicon nitride, silicon dioxide and/or silicon oxynitride.

Adhesion of silicon carbide films

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Hopewell Junction, NY, United States of America

Thomas H Ivers