Activation of oxides for electroless plating
AssigneeMicron Technology, Inc.
InventorNishant Sinha
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
The present invention provides approaches for electroless deposition of conductive materials onto the surface of oxide-based materials, including nonconductive metal oxides, in a manner that does not require intervening conductive pastes, nucleation layers, or additional seed or activation layers formed over the surface of the oxide-based layer. According to one embodiment of the present invention, a layer of a titanium-based material is formed over an oxide-based surface. The layer of titanium-based material is subsequently removed from the surface of the oxide-based layer in a manner such that the surface of the oxide-based layer is activated for electroless deposition. A metal or metal alloy is then plated over the oxide-based surface using electroless plating techniques.
Claims40
A method of electroless plating an oxide-based surface comprising:
- forming a layer of titanium-based material using chemical vapor deposition on an oxide-based surface;
- removing said layer of titanium-based material from said oxide-based surface;
- and,
- performing electroless plating over said oxide-based surface.
A method performing electroless plating comprising:
- forming an oxide-based layer;
- performing a chemical vapor deposition process to deposit a layer of titanium-based material over said oxide-based layer;
- etching said layer of titanium-based material from said oxide-based layer;
- and,
- performing electroless plating over said oxide-based surface.
A method of performing electroless plating comprising:
- performing a chemical vapor deposition process at a temperature of at least 550 degrees Celsius to deposit a layer of titanium-based material over an oxide-based layer;
- performing a Piranha wet etch to remove said titanium-based layer from said oxide-based layer;
- and,
- performing electroless plating over said oxide-based surface.
A method of performing electroless plating comprising:
- performing a chemical vapor deposition process to deposit a layer of titanium-based material over an oxide-based layer;
- performing an etching operation to remove said layer of titanium-based material from said oxide-based layer;
- and,
- performing electroless plating of a metal directly over said oxide-based surface.
A method of performing electroless plating comprising:
- performing a chemical vapor deposition process to deposit a layer of titanium-based material over an oxide-based layer;
- performing a wet etch to remove said titanium-based layer from said oxide-based layer;
- and,
- performing electroless plating over said oxide-based surface.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.