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:
Jun. 16, 1998
Filed:
Jun. 07, 1995
Applicant:
Inventors:
William A Lanford, Malden Bridge, NY (US);
Wei Wang, Albany, NY (US);
Peijun Ding, San Jose, CA (US);
Assignee:
The Research Foundation of State University of New York, Albany, NY (US);
Attorney:
Primary Examiner:
Int. Cl.
CPC ...
C22F / ; C22F / ;
U.S. Cl.
CPC ...
148537 ; 427 96 ; 148277 ; 148285 ;
Abstract
A copper conductor is formed which is included as a component in microelectronic devices. The conductor is formed by forming a metal layer on the surface of a microelectronic substrate, forming a copper layer on the metal layer, and annealing the metal and copper layers. The annealing step diffuses at least some of the metal layer through the copper layer to the surface thereof where the diffused metal forms a protective metal oxide at the surface of the copper layer. As a result, the metal oxide layer passivates the copper layer.