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US 6,464,779 B1Granted
Copper atomic layer chemical vapor desposition
AssigneeNovellus Systems, Inc.
InventorsRonald A. Powell, James A. Fair
Life of this patent
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Abstract
This invention pertains to systems and methods for atomic layer chemical vapor deposition. More specifically, the invention pertains to methods for copper atomic layer chemical vapor deposition, particularly to deposit a seed layer prior to the electrochemical Cu fill operation in integrated circuit fabrication. It also pertains to apparatus modules for performing such deposition.
Claims20
A method of atomic layer chemical vapor deposition of a metal, the method comprising:
- (a) exposing a substrate surface to a metal precursor, wherein the temperature of the substrate surface ensures that only one atomic layer of the precursor will adhere to the substrate surface;
- (b) exposing the atomic layer of the precursor to an oxidizing agent to leave behind an oxidized metal;
- and
- (c) exposing the metal oxide to a reducing agent, thus reducing the metal oxide to the metal and leaving an atomic layer of the metal on the substrate surface.
1 more element
A method of atomic layer chemical vapor deposition of a metal, the method comprising:
- (a) exposing a substrate surface to a metal precursor, wherein the temperature of the substrate surface ensures that only one atomic layer of the precursor will adhere to the substrate surface;
- and
- (b) exposing the atomic layer of the precursor to an oxidizing agent that liberates the metal from the metal precursor without oxidizing the metal in the metal precursor, thus leaving an atomic layer of the metal on the substrate surface.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.