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:
Mar. 31, 2009
Filed:
Aug. 15, 2007
Douglas D. Coolbaugh, Essex Junction, VT (US);
Ebenezer E. Eshun, Essex Junction, VT (US);
Natalie B. Feilchenfeld, Jericho, VT (US);
Michael L. Gautsch, Richmond, VT (US);
Zhong-xiang He, Essex Junction, VT (US);
Matthew D. Moon, Jeffersonville, VT (US);
Vidhya Ramachandran, Ossining, NY (US);
Barbara Waterhouse, Richmond, VT (US);
Douglas D. Coolbaugh, Essex Junction, VT (US);
Ebenezer E. Eshun, Essex Junction, VT (US);
Natalie B. Feilchenfeld, Jericho, VT (US);
Michael L. Gautsch, Richmond, VT (US);
Zhong-Xiang He, Essex Junction, VT (US);
Matthew D. Moon, Jeffersonville, VT (US);
Vidhya Ramachandran, Ossining, NY (US);
Barbara Waterhouse, Richmond, VT (US);
International Business Machines Corporation, Armonk, NY (US);
Abstract
Disclosed is a method of fabricating a metal-insulator-metal (MIM) capacitor. In this method, a dielectric layer is formed above a lower conductor layer and an upper conductor layer is formed above the dielectric layer. The invention then forms an etch stop layer above the upper conductor layer and the dielectric layer, and forms a hardmask (silicon oxide hardmask, a silicon nitride hardmask, etc.) over the etch stop layer. Next, a photoresist is patterned above the hardmask, which allows the hardmask, the etch stop layer, the dielectric layer, and the lower conductor layer to be etched through the photoresist.