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. 07, 2009
Filed:
Aug. 20, 2007
Griselda Bonilla, Fishkill, NY (US);
Shyng-tsong Chen, Rensselaer, NY (US);
Matthew E. Colburn, Hopewell Junction, CT (US);
Ronald Dellaguardia, Poughkeepsie, NY (US);
Chih-chao Yang, Poughkeepsie, NY (US);
Griselda Bonilla, Fishkill, NY (US);
Shyng-Tsong Chen, Rensselaer, NY (US);
Matthew E. Colburn, Hopewell Junction, CT (US);
Ronald DellaGuardia, Poughkeepsie, NY (US);
Chih-Chao Yang, Poughkeepsie, NY (US);
International Business Machines Corporation, Armonk, NY (US);
Abstract
A method of creating metal caps on copper lines within an inter-line dielectric (ILD) deposits a thin (e.g., 5 nm) metal blanket film (e.g., Ta/TaN) on top the copper lines and dielectric, after the wafer has been planarized. Further a thin dielectric cap is formed over the metal blanket film. A photoresist coating is deposited over the thin dielectric cap and a lithographic exposure process is performed, but without a lithographic mask. A mask is not needed in this situation, because due to the reflectivity difference between copper and the ILD lying under the two thin layers, a mask pattern is automatically formed for etching away the Ta/TaN metal cap between copper lines. Thus, this mask pattern is self-aligned above the copper lines.