Method for fabrication of ceramic tantalum nitride and imporoved structures based thereon
First Claim
1. A method comprising the steps of:
- utilizing an ionized metal plasma tool for creating a plasma containing tantalum ions, said plasma being sustained by a mixture of gases containing nitrogen;
depositing a layer of tantalum nitride on a semiconductor wafer wherein a percentage of nitrogen partial flow in said mixture of gases is adjusted so as to cause a nitrogen content in said layer of tantalum nitride to be at least 30%.
6 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A method for fabrication of ceramic tantalum nitride and improved structures based thereon is disclosed. According to the disclosed method, an ionized metal plasma (“IMP”) tool is used to create a plasma containing tantalum ions where the plasma is sustained by a mixture of nitrogen and argon gases. The percentage of nitrogen partial flow in the mixture of gases is adjusted so as to result in a layer of tantalum nitride with a nitrogen content of at least 30%. With a nitrogen content of at least 30%, the tantalum nitride becomes ceramic. The ceramic tantalum nitride presents a number of advantages. For example, the fabrication of ceramic tantalum nitride can be easily incorporated into fabrication of semiconductor chips using copper as the interconnect metal. Also, ceramic tantalum nitride can be used as an effective etch stop layer. The reason is that ceramic tantalum nitride does not react with fluoride which is a typical constituent of etchants utilized to etch silicon-based dielectrics such as silicon dioxide. Further, ceramic tantalum nitride can be used as a dielectric in fabrication of a capacitor stack using copper electrodes. Since fabrication of ceramic tantalum nitride is easily assimilated with fabrication of copper, the capacitor stack utilizing ceramic tantalum nitride can be built in a single IMP tool along with the copper electrodes. The result is higher throughput and a reduced risk of contaminating the semiconductor wafer since there is no need to “break vacuum” for a separate fabrication of the dielectric layer.
2 Citations
20 Claims
-
1. A method comprising the steps of:
-
utilizing an ionized metal plasma tool for creating a plasma containing tantalum ions, said plasma being sustained by a mixture of gases containing nitrogen;
depositing a layer of tantalum nitride on a semiconductor wafer wherein a percentage of nitrogen partial flow in said mixture of gases is adjusted so as to cause a nitrogen content in said layer of tantalum nitride to be at least 30%. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6)
-
-
7. A structure comprising:
-
a first capacitor electrode;
a second capacitor electrode;
a dielectric comprising ceramic tantalum nitride situated between said first and second capacitor electrodes. - View Dependent Claims (8, 9, 10, 11)
-
-
12. A method for etching a dielectric in a semiconductor wafer, said method comprising the steps of:
-
forming a ceramic tantalum nitride layer as an etch stop layer in said dielectric;
etching said dielectric with an etchant wherein said etchant does not react with said ceramic tantalum nitride layer. - View Dependent Claims (13, 14, 15, 16, 17)
-
-
18. A method comprising the steps of:
-
forming a ceramic tantalum nitride layer as an etch stop layer in a silicon dioxide dielectric;
etching a via hole in a portion of said silicon dioxide dielectric situated above said ceramic tantalum nitride layer utilizing an etchant comprising fluoride, wherein said ceramic tantalum nitride layer prevents etching a portion of said silicon dioxide dielectric situated below said ceramic tantalum nitride layer. - View Dependent Claims (19, 20)
-
Specification