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. 18, 2014
Filed:
Jun. 01, 2012
Hung-chih Wang, Hsin-Chu, TW;
Wei-rong Chen, New Taipei, TW;
Yao Hsiang Liang, Hsin-Chu, TW;
Chen-kuang Lien, Kaohsiung, TW;
Hung-Chih Wang, Hsin-Chu, TW;
Wei-Rong Chen, New Taipei, TW;
Yao Hsiang Liang, Hsin-Chu, TW;
Chen-Kuang Lien, Kaohsiung, TW;
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, Ltd., Hsin-Chu, TW;
Abstract
Methods and apparatus are disclosed for the back end of line process for fabrication of integrated circuits (ICs). The inter-metal dielectric (IMD) layer between two metal layers may comprise an etching stop layer over a metal layer, a low-k dielectric layer over the etching stop layer, a dielectric hard mask layer over the low-k dielectric layer, an nitrogen free anti-reflection layer (NFARL) over the dielectric hard mask layer, and a metal-hard-mask (MHM) layer of a thickness in a range from about 180 Å to about 360 Å over the NFARL. The MHM layer thickness is optimized at the range from about 180 Å to about 360 Å to reduce the Cu pits while avoiding the photo overlay shifting issue.