Systems and methods for avoiding base address collisions

• US 20070026654A1
• Filed: 03/14/2006
• Published: 02/01/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 03/15/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Hannu Huotari, Marko Tuominen, Miika Leinikka
• Original Assignee: ASM International NV
• Inventors: Tuominen, Marko, Leinikka, Miika, Huotari, Hannu
• Granted Patent: US 7,666,773 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 438/585
• CPC Class Codes: C23C 16/32 Carbides
• CPC Class Codes: C23C 16/34 Nitrides C23C16/303 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: C23C 16/38 Borides
• CPC Class Codes: C23C 16/40 Oxides
• CPC Class Codes: C23C 16/45525 Atomic layer deposition [ALD]
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 21/28079 the final conductor layer next to the insulator being a single metal, e.g. Ta, W, Mo, Al
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 29/517 the insulating material comprising a metallic compound, e.g. metal oxide, metal silicate H01L29/518 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 29/66583 with initial gate mask or masking layer complementary to the prospective gate location, e.g. with dummy source and drain contacts

Abstract

Processes are provided for selectively depositing thin films comprising one or more noble metals on a substrate by vapor deposition processes. In some embodiments, atomic layer deposition (ALD) processes are used to deposit a noble metal containing thin film on a high-k material, metal, metal nitride or other conductive metal compound while avoiding deposition on a lower k insulator such as silicon oxide. The ability to deposit on a first surface, such as a high-k material, while avoiding deposition on a second surface, such as a silicon oxide or silicon nitride surface, may be utilized, for example, in the formation of a gate electrode.

Claims

1-26. -26. (canceled)

27. A method for avoiding base address collisions during loading of a component of a software process into a memory of a computer, wherein the component has a preferred base address, which is specified in an on-disk representation of the component stored in a persistent storage of the computer system, the method comprising the steps of:

detecting that a copy of the component has been loaded into the memory of the computer system at an in-memory address that is not the preferred base address; and

in response to determining that the copy of the component has been loaded at the in-memory address that is not the preferred base address, changing the preferred base address specified in the on-disk representation of the component.

28. A computer readable medium having stored thereon computer executable instructions for performing the method of claim 27.

29. The method of claim 27, wherein detecting that the copy of the component has been loaded at the in-memory address that is not the preferred base address comprises detecting that a conflicting component caused the copy of the component to be relocated to the in-memory address.

30. The method of claim 27, wherein changing the preferred base address specified in the on-disk representation of the component comprises the step of calling an Application Programming Interface function programmed to change the preferred base address of the on-disk representation of the component.

31. The method of claim 30, wherein the Application Programming Interface comprises the RebaseImage provided by the Microsoft Windows operating system.

32. The method of claim 27, wherein changing the preferred base address specified in the on-disk representation of the component comprises replacing the preferred base address with a new base address.

33. The method of claim 32, wherein the new base address is equivalent to the in-memory base address.

34. A system for avoiding base address collisions during loading of a component of a software process, comprising:

a persistent storage for storing an on-disk representation of the component, the on-disk representation of the process component specifying a preferred base address for the component;

a memory being logically divided into a plurality of in-memory addresses; and

a processor for executing computer-executable instructions for;

detecting that a copy of the component has been loaded into the memory at an in-memory address that is not the preferred base address, and

in response to detecting that the copy of the component has been loaded at the in-memory address that is not the preferred base address, changing the preferred base address specified in the on-disk representation of the component.

35. The system of claim 34, wherein detecting that the copy of the component has been loaded at the in-memory address that is not the preferred base address comprises determining that a conflicting component caused the copy of the component to be relocated to the in-memory base address.

36. The system of claim 34, wherein changing the preferred base address specified in the on-disk representation of the component comprises calling an Application Programming Interface function programmed to change the preferred base address of the on-disk representation of the component.

37. The system of claim 35, wherein the Application Programming Interface comprises the RebaseImage API provided by the Microsoft Windows operating system.

38. The system of claim 34, wherein changing the preferred base address specified in the on-disk representation of the component comprises replacing the preferred base address with a new base address.

39. The system of claim 38, wherein the new base address is equivalent to the in-memory base address.

40. A method for avoiding base address collisions while loading a component of a software process into a memory of a computer system, wherein the component has a preferred base address which is specified in an on-disk representation of the component stored in a persistent storage of the computer system, the method comprising:

detecting that a copy of the component has been loaded into the memory of the computer system at an in-memory address that is not the preferred base address;

in response to determining that the copy of the component has been loaded at the in-memory address that is not the preferred base address, creating an alternate on-disk representation of the component that specifies a new preferred base address; and

in response to a subsequent attempt to load the copy of the component into the memory, causing a copy of the alternate component to be loaded into the memory instead.

41. A computer readable medium having stored thereon computer executable instructions for performing the method of claim 40.

42. The method of claim 40, wherein detecting that the copy of the component has been loaded into the memory of the computer system at the in-memory address that is not the preferred base address comprises detecting that a conflicting component caused the copy of the component to be relocated to the in-memory address.

43. The method of claim 40, wherein the new base address is equivalent to the in-memory base address.

44. A system for avoiding base address collisions during loading of a component of a software process, comprising:

a persistent storage for storing an on-disk representation of the component, the on-disk representation of the process component specifying a preferred base address for the component;

a memory being logically divided into a plurality of in-memory addresses; and

a processor for executing computer-executable instructions for;

detecting that a copy of the component has been loaded into the memory at an in-memory address that is not the preferred base address, and

in response to detecting that the copy of the component has been loaded at the in-memory address that is not the preferred base address, creating an alternate on-disk representation of the component that specifies a new preferred base address; and

in response to a subsequent attempt to load the copy of the component into the memory, causing a copy of the alternate component to be loaded into the memory instead.

45. The system of claim 44, wherein detecting that the copy of the component has been loaded at the in-memory address that is not the preferred base address comprises determining that a conflicting component caused the copy of the component to be relocated to the in-memory base address.

46. The system of claim 44, wherein the new base address is equivalent to the in-memory base address.