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:
Aug. 09, 2005
Filed:
Apr. 22, 2003
Hartmut Ruelke, Dresden, DE;
Christof Streck, Coswig, DE;
Georg Sulzer, Dresden, DE;
Advanced Micro Devices, Inc., Austin, TX (US);
Abstract
A low-k dielectric layer stack is provided including a silicon based dielectric material with a low permittivity, wherein an intermediate silicon oxide based etch indicator layer is arranged at a depth that represents the depth of a trench to be formed in the dielectric layer stack. A thickness of the etch indicator layer is sufficiently small to not unduly compromise the overall permittivity of the dielectric layer stack. On the other hand, the etch indicator layer provides a prominent optical emission spectrum to reliably determine the time point when the etch process has reached the etch indicator layer. Thus, the depth of trenches in highly sophisticated low-k dielectric layer stacks may reliably be adjusted to minimize resistance variations of the metal lines.