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:
Sep. 05, 2006
Filed:
Apr. 09, 2004
Sergei Drizlikh, Scarborough, ME (US);
Thomas John Francis, South Portland, ME (US);
Sergei Drizlikh, Scarborough, ME (US);
Thomas John Francis, South Portland, ME (US);
National Semiconductor Corporation, Santa Clara, CA (US);
Abstract
A system and method is disclosed for minimizing increases in via resistance by applying a nitrogen plasma after a titanium liner deposition. A via in a semiconductor device is formed by placing a metal layer on a substrate and placing a layer of anti-reflective coating (ARC) titanium nitride (TiN) over the metal layer. A layer of dielectric material is placed over the ARC TiN layer and a via passage is etched through the dielectric and partially through the ARC TiN layer. A titanium layer is then deposited and subjected to a nitrogen plasma process. The nitrogen plasma converts the titanium layer to a first layer of titanium nitride. The first layer of titanium nitride does not react with fluorine to form a high resistance compound. Therefore the electrical resistance of the first layer of titanium nitride does not significantly increase during subsequent thermal cycles.