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US 2006/0134920 A1Published application
Passivating metal etch structures
OwnerTed Lianginventor
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A method to passivate a freshly etched metal structure comprises providing a metal surface on a substrate that has been etched by a first particle beam, exposing the metal surface to a passivation gas, and exposing the freshly etched metal structures to a second particle beam in the presence of the passivation gas. The second particle beam may comprise an electron beam, an ion beam, or a laser beam. The passivation gas may comprise water vapor, oxygen gas, or hydrocarbon gas.
Claims19
A method comprising:
- providing a metal surface on a substrate that has been etched by a first particle beam;
- exposing the metal surface to a passivation gas;
- and
- exposing the metal surface to a second particle beam in the presence of the passivation gas.
1 more element
An apparatus comprising:
- a vacuum chamber;
- a particle beam generator;
- a first inlet to introduce an etching gas;
- and
- a second inlet to introduce a passivation gas.
2 more elements
A method comprising:
- providing a metal surface on a substrate that has been etched by a first particle beam;
- and
- forming an oxide layer on the metal surface by exposing the metal surface to a particle beam in the presence of a passivation gas.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.