Inter-metal dielectric fill
OwnerNeal Rueger, Chris Hill +2inventors
InventorsNeal Rueger, Chris Hill, Zailong Bian, John Smythe
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Abstract
An inter-metal dielectric (IMD) fill process includes depositing an insulating nanolaminate barrier layer. The nanolaminate is preferably an oxide liner formed by using an alternating layer deposition process. The layer is highly conformal and is an excellent diffusion barrier. Gaps between metal lines are filled using high density plasma chemical vapor deposition with a reactive species gas. The barrier layer protects the metal lines from shorts between neighboring layers. The resulting structure has substantially uneroded metal lines and an insulating IMD fill.
Claims66
An insulated metallization structure in an integrated circuit comprising a plurality of metal lines on a substrate;
- an insulating nanolaminate barrier liner over the metal lines;
- an inter-metal dielectric material over the nanolaminate layer.
An integrated circuit comprising;
- a metal layer with a plurality of metal lines and having a plurality of gaps between adjacent lines;
- a conformal metal-containing oxide liner over the metal lines and the gaps;
- and
- an oxide fill material over the conformal metal-containing oxide liner.
A method of filling gaps between metal lines comprising:
- forming a metal layer;
- patterning the metal layer to form a plurality of metal lines and a plurality of gaps between the metal lines;
- depositing an alternating layer deposition liner over the metal lines and the gaps between the metal lines;
- and
- filling the gaps between the metal lines with an inter-metal dielectric (IMD) fill material.
A method of insulating a plurality of metal lines comprising:
- depositing a barrier layer over the metal lines and a plurality of gaps between the metal lines;
- filling the gaps between the metal lines with an inter-metal dielectric material, wherein filling the gaps comprises using high density plasma chemical vapor deposition (HDP-CVD) with a fluorine source, a silicon source and an oxygen source.
A method of connecting components on an integrated circuit comprising
- forming a plurality of metal lines;
- lining the metal lines with a silicon oxide material, wherein the silicon oxide material contains a metal;
- and
- filling a plurality of gaps between the metal lines with an insulating dielectric material.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.