Method of passivating and/or removing contaminants on a low-k dielectric/copper surface
OwnerDavid Gerald Farber, William Wesley Dostalik +4inventors
InventorsDavid Gerald Farber, William Wesley Dostalik, Robert Kraft, Andrew J. McKerrow, Kenneth Joseph Newton, Ting Tsui
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Abstract
One aspect of the invention relates to a method of removing contaminants from a low-k film. The method involves forming a sacrificial layer over the contaminated film. The contaminants combine with the sacrificial layer and are removed by etching away the sacrificial layer. An effective material for the sacrificial layer is, for example, a silicon carbide. The method can be used to prevent the occurrence of pattern defects in chemically amplified photoresists formed over low-k films.
Claims18
A method of removing a contaminant from a low-k dielectric, comprising:
- forming a sacrificial layer over the low-k dielectric;
- and
- etching to remove the sacrificial layer.
A method of patterning a low-k dielectric over a substrate, comprising:
- forming a sacrificial layer over the substrate;
- etching to remove the sacrificial layer;
- forming a low-k dielectric layer over the substrate;
- coating the low-k dielectric layer with a chemically amplified photoresist;
- selectively exposing the photoresist to actinic radiation;
- developing the photoresist;
- and
- etching the low-k dielectric layer using the photoresist as a mask.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.