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:
Oct. 22, 2002
Filed:
Jul. 09, 2001
Cheng-Shien Chen, Hsin-Chu, TW;
Li-Der Chen, Shin-Dian, TW;
Chih-Min Wen, Hsin Chu, TW;
Chung Liu, Taipei, TW;
Chih-Ching Lin, Typing, TW;
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, Hsin-Chu, TW;
Abstract
This invention relates to a method of fabricating metal wiring, whereby sputtered metal is rapidly cooled down by a post-metal quenching process, to prevent deleterious CuAl precipitation. The main embodiments are the formation of a TiN reactively sputtered bottom barrier layer, followed by a sputtered Al—Cu alloy wiring layer immediately followed by an in situ post-metal quench (key step), then followed by a reactively sputtered second TiN top barrier layer. The “in situ” post-metal quench is especially effective by employing wafer backside cooling using low temperature helium gas or argon gas, cooling the substrate from a high temperature range of 450 to 150 °C., to a low temperature range near room temperature, in a short time interval of between 30 to 180 seconds. The CuAl precipitates if allowed to form, block the etch removal of the underlying TiN layer causing electrical shorts between closely spaced lines.