Method of forming noble metal contacts

US7581314B2 · kind B2 · utility

Assignee

• International Business Machines Corporation · US

Inventors

• Hariklia Deligianni · Alpine, US
• Panayotis Andricacos · Ossining, US
• L. Paivikki Buchwalter · Hopewell Junction, US
• John M. Cotte · New Fairfield, US
• Christopher V. Jahnes · Upper Saddle River, US
• Mahadevaiyer Krishnan · Hopewell Junction, US
• John Harold Magerlein · Yorktown Heights, US
• Kenneth J. Stein · Sandy Hook, US
• Richard P. Volant · New Fairfield, US
• James A. Tornello · Somers, US
• Jennifer Lund · Brookeville, US

Key dates

• Filing date: Feb 21, 2006
• Grant date: Sep 1, 2009
• Expiry date: Sep 16, 2027

Classification

• Technology area (CPC Y): Emerging Cross-Sectional Technologies
• CPC primary: Y10T29/49204
• WIPO field: Electrical machinery, apparatus, energy
• WIPO sector: Electrical engineering

Abstract

A semiconductor micro-electromechanical system (MEMS) switch provided with noble metal contacts that act as an oxygen barrier to copper electrodes is described. The MEMS switch is fully integrated into a CMOS semiconductor fabrication line. The integration techniques, materials and processes are fully compatible with copper chip metallization processes and are typically, a low cost and a low temperature process (below 400° C.). The MEMS switch includes: a movable beam within a cavity, the movable beam being anchored to a wall of the cavity at one or both ends of the beam; a first electrode embedded in the movable beam; and a second electrode embedded in an wall of the cavity and facing the first electrode, wherein the first and second electrodes are respectively capped by the noble metal contact.