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:
Feb. 25, 2003
Filed:
Sep. 13, 2001
Edward Belden Harris, Orlando, FL (US);
Sailesh Mansinh Merchant, Orlando, FL (US);
Yifeng Winston Yan, Orlando, FL (US);
Agere Systems Inc., Allentown, PA (US);
Abstract
An integrated circuit capacitor includes a metal plug in a dielectric layer adjacent a substrate. The metal plug has at least one topographical defect in an uppermost surface portion thereof. A lower metal electrode overlies the dielectric layer and the metal plug. The lower metal electrode includes, in stacked relation, a metal layer, a lower metal nitride layer, an aluminum layer, and an upper metal nitride layer. A capacitor dielectric layer overlies the lower metal electrode, and an upper metal electrode: overlies the capacitor dielectric layer. An advantage of this structure is that the stack of metal layers of the lower metal electrode, will prevent undesired defects at the surface of the metal plug from adversely effecting device reliability or manufacturing yield.