Deposition methodology for superconductor interconnects
AssigneeNorthrop Grumman Systems Corporation
InventorsChristopher F. Kirby, Vivien M. Luu, Michael Rennie, Sean R. McLaughlin
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Abstract
A method of forming a superconductor interconnect structure is disclosed. The method includes forming a dielectric layer overlying a substrate, forming an interconnect opening in the dielectric layer, and moving the substrate to a deposition chamber. The method further includes depositing a superconducting metal in the interconnect opening, by performing a series of superconducting deposition and cooling processes to maintain a chamber temperature at or below a predetermined temperature until the superconducting metal has a desired thickness, to form a superconducting element in the superconductor interconnect structure.
Claims18
A method of forming a superconductor interconnect structure, the method comprising:
- forming a dielectric layer overlying a substrate;
- forming an interconnect opening in the dielectric layer;
- moving the substrate to a deposition chamber;
- and
- depositing a superconducting metal in the interconnect opening, by applying DC power to a slab of superconducting target material and applying an AC bias to the wafer to project ionized metal at an angle in the range of greater than 45 degrees and less than 90 degrees to the substrate and by performing a series of superconducting deposition and cooling processes to maintain a chamber temperature at or below a predetermined temperature until the superconducting metal has a desired thickness, to form a superconducting element in the superconductor interconnect structure, wherein the DC power applied to the slab of superconducting target material is set to be high enough to sputter target material onto the dielectric layer and into the interconnect opening the the AC bias applied to the wafer is set to be low enough to provide directionality to the ionized metal.
A method of forming a superconductor dual damascene structure on a wafer, the method comprising:
- forming a second dielectric layer over a first dielectric layer having a first superconducting element;
- etching a contact opening in the second dielectric layer that extends to and exposes the first superconducting element in the first dielectric layer;
- etching a conductive line opening in the second dielectric layer that overlies the contact opening to form a dual damascene structure having a dual damascene opening;
- moving the dual damascene structure to reside on a temperature control chuck in a deposition chamber;
- setting the temperature to the temperature controlled chuck in a range from 75° C. to 100° C.;
- and
- depositing a superconducting metal in the dual damascene opening while in the deposition chamber to form a dual damascene structure comprised of a contact and a second conductive line overlying and coupled to the contact, such that the contact connects the first conductive line to the second conductive line through the second dielectric layer, depositing the superconducting metal comprises:
- injecting Argon (Ar) into the deposition chamber;
- setting the DC power aplied to the slab of superconducting target material to about 500 Watts for a predetermined time period;
- increasing the power applied to the slab of superconducting target material to about 20,000 Watts;
- setting the AC bias applied to the dual damascene structure in a range from about 100 Watts to about 500 Watts;
- setting a coil to have an RF power of about 1100 Watts and DC power of about 500 Watts;
- and
- performing a series of superconducting deposition processes for about 20 to 40 seconds and cooling processes for about 40 to 200 seconds to maintain a chamber temperature at or below the predetermined temperature until the superconducting metal has a desired thickness, wherein the DC power applied to the slab of superconducting target material is set be high enough to sputter target material onto the second dielectric layer and into the dual damascene opening and the AC bias applied to the wafer is set to be low enough to provide a linear directionality to the ionized metal.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.