Nitrogen gettering from a metal by use of a selectively deposited metal

A computer readable medium, having instructions stored thereon which, when executed, cause a processing chamber to perform a method of selectively depositing a gettering metal layer atop an exposed surface of a cobalt capping layer in copper interconnects, the method comprising:

• exposing a substrate, comprising a dielectric layer having an exposed dielectric surface and a metal layer having an exposed metal surface, to a reducing gas at a temperature of about 200 degrees Celsius to about 800 degrees Celsius, or to a plasma formed from a reducing gas to remove contaminants from a surface of the exposed metal surface and the exposed dielectric surface;
• selectively depositing the cobalt capping layer atop the exposed metal surface
• using a vapor deposition process;
• and
• selectively depositing the gettering metal layer atop the exposed surface of the cobalt capping layer.