Patent · US Expired

Oxygen enhancement of ion metal plasma (IMP) sputter deposited barrier layers

US5985759A · kind A · utility

91Cited by
10References
14Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventors

Key dates

Filing dateFeb 24, 1998
Grant dateNov 16, 1999
Priority date
Expiry dateFeb 24, 2018

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC H)Electricity
  • CPC primaryH01L21/76855
  • WIPO fieldSemiconductors
  • WIPO sectorElectrical engineering

Abstract

The present disclosure pertains to our discovery that depositing various film layers in a particular order using a combination of Ion Metal Plasma (IMP) and traditional sputter deposition techniques with specific process conditions results in a barrier layer structure which provides excellent barrier properties and allows for metal/conductor filling of contact sizes down to 0.25 micron and smaller without junction spiking. Specifically, the film layers are deposited on a substrate in the following order: (a) a first layer of a barrier metal (M), deposited by IMP sputter deposition; (b) a second layer of an oxygen-stuffed barrier metal (MOx), an oxygen-stuffed nitride of a barrier metal (MNOx), or a combination thereof; (c) a third layer of a nitride of a barrier metal (MN.sub.x), deposited by IMP sputter deposition of the barrier metal in the presence of nitrogen; and (d) a fourth, wetting layer of a barrier metal, deposited by traditional sputter deposition. The first layer of barrier metal can optionally be annealed to form a silicide of the barrier metal (MSi.sub.2) in order to reduce contact resistance and interdiffusion of the silicon and metal/conductor which may result form …

Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.