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:
Dec. 21, 2010
Filed:
May. 24, 2007
Alexander Dulkin, Sunnyvale, CA (US);
Asit Rairkar, Santa Clara, CA (US);
Frank Greer, Portola Valley, CA (US);
Anshu A. Pradhan, San Jose, CA (US);
Robert Rozbicki, San Francisco, CA (US);
Alexander Dulkin, Sunnyvale, CA (US);
Asit Rairkar, Santa Clara, CA (US);
Frank Greer, Portola Valley, CA (US);
Anshu A. Pradhan, San Jose, CA (US);
Robert Rozbicki, San Francisco, CA (US);
Novellus Systems, Inc., San Jose, CA (US);
Abstract
Copper seed layers are formed on diffusion barrier layers (e.g., on Ta, and TaNlayers) without significant agglomeration of copper, with the use of an engineered barrier layer/seed layer interface. The engineered interface includes an adhesion layer, in which copper atoms are physically trapped and are prevented from migrating and agglomerating. The adhesion layer can include between about 20-80% atomic of copper. The copper atoms of the adhesion layer are exposed during deposition of a copper seed layer and serve as the nucleation sites for the deposited copper. Thin, continuous, and conformal seed layers can be deposited on top of the adhesion layer. The trapping of copper within the adhesion layer is achieved by intermixing diffusion barrier and seed layer materials using PVD and/or ALD.