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. 06, 2000
Filed:
Sep. 25, 1998
Applicant:
Inventor:
Bin Zhao, Irvine, CA (US);
Assignee:
Rockwell Semiconductor Systems, Inc., Newport Beach, CA (US);
Attorney:
Primary Examiner:
Assistant Examiner:
Int. Cl.
CPC ...
H01L / ;
U.S. Cl.
CPC ...
438634 ; 438624 ; 438637 ; 438622 ; 438631 ; 438633 ; 438645 ;
Abstract
Dual damascene methods and structures are provided for IC interconnects which use a dual-damascene process incorporating a low-k dielectric material, high conductivity metal, and an improved hard mask scheme. A pair of hard masks are employed: a silicon dioxide layer and a silicon nitride layer, wherein the silicon dioxide layer acts to protect the silicon nitride layer during dual damascene etch processing, but is subsequently sacrificed during CMP, allowing the silicon nitride layer to act as a the CMP hard mask. In this way, delamination of the low-k material is prevented, and any copper-contaminated silicon dioxide material is removed.