The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Dec. 10, 2019
Filed:
Jan. 28, 2019
Applied Materials, Inc., Santa Clara, CA (US);
Johanes S. Swenberg, Los Gatos, CA (US);
Wei Liu, San Jose, CA (US);
Houda Graoui, Gilroy, CA (US);
Shashank Sharma, Fremont, CA (US);
Shankar Muthukrishnan, Los Gatos, CA (US);
Rene George, San Jose, CA (US);
APPLIED MATERIALS, INC., Santa Clara, CA (US);
Abstract
Embodiments described herein generally relate to a sequential hydrogenation and nitridization process for reducing interfacial and bulk O atoms in a conductive structure in a semiconductor device. A hydrogenation and plasma nitridization process is performed on a metal nitride layer in a conductive structure prior to deposition of a second metal layer, thereby reducing interfacial oxygen atoms formed on a surface of the metal nitride and oxygen atoms present in the bulk metal layers of the conductive structure. As a result, adhesion of the second metal layer to the metal nitride layer is improved and the electrical resistance of the contact structure is reduced.