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:
Jul. 17, 2001
Filed:
Apr. 29, 1999
Dennis P. Bouldin, Essex Junction, VT (US);
Timothy H. Daubenspeck, Colchester, VT (US);
William T. Motsiff, Essex Junction, VT (US);
International Business Machines Corporation, Armonk, NY (US);
Abstract
A structure and method of fabricating a metallization fuse line is disclosed. The structure can be formed on a semiconductor substrate, including an insulator structure formed on the substrate, the insulator structure having an upper layer and a lower layer, the upper being thinner than the lower, the insulator structure having a plurality of openings of varying depth, and a metal structure inlaid in the insulator structure, the metal structure having first and second portions and a third portion there between that is substantially more resistive than the first and second portions, the third portion having a thickness substantially similar to the thickness of the upper layer of the insulator structure. The upper layer includes a nitride, the lower layer includes an oxide and the metal structure includes copper. The fuse structure allows formation of “easy to laser delete” thin metal fuses within segments of thick metal lines. This applies to wiring layers formed from “high” melting temperature metals and those defined using a damascene process. For example, copper back end of line (Cu BEOL) damascene wiring, as used with CMOS can use the invention. The technique achieves high yield fusing for technologies that use thick wiring layers. The structure separates the thickness of the fuse segment from the remainder of the wiring line. The structure can be used with very thick, e.g., >1.2&mgr; wiring and very thin, e.g., <0.5&mgr; fuses.