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:
Apr. 29, 2003
Filed:
Aug. 27, 2001
Tue Nguyen, Vancouver, WA (US);
Lawrence J. Charneski, Vancouver, WA (US);
David R. Evans, Beaverton, OR (US);
Sheng Teng Hsu, Camas, WA (US);
Sharp Laboratories of America, Inc., Camas, WA (US);
Abstract
A system and method of selectively etching copper surfaces free of copper oxides in preparation for the deposition of an interconnecting metallic material is provided The method removes metal oxides with &bgr;-diketones, such as Hhfac. The Hhfac is delivered into the system in vapor form, and reacts almost exclusively to copper oxides. The by-products of the cleaning process are likewise volatile for removal from the system with a vacuum pressure. Since the process is easily adaptable to most IC process systems, it can be conducted in an oxygen-free environment, without the removal of the IC from the process chamber. The in-situ cleaning process permits a minimum amount of copper oxide to reform before the deposition of the overlying interconnection metal. In this manner, a highly conductive electrical interconnection between the copper surface and the interconnecting metal material is formed. An IC having a metal interconnection, in which the underlying copper layer is cleaned of copper oxides, in-situ with Hhfac vapor, is also provided.