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AssigneeNovellus Systems, Inc.
InventorsBart van Schravendijk, Thomas W Mountsier, Mahesh K Sanganeria, Glenn B Alers, Roey Shaviv
Estimating the term…
Methods of protecting exposed metal damascene interconnect surfaces in a process for making electronic components and the electronic components made according to such methods. An integrated circuit structure having damascene regions with exposed metal surfaces is provided into a closed processing chamber, whereby a first reactant is contacted to the exposed metal surfaces to transform a top portion of the metal layer into a protective self-aligned buffer layer. Reacting molecules of the first reactant with metal atoms of this metal layer forms the protective self-aligned buffer layer entirely within such metal layer. Alternatively, adsorbing surface-active reactant molecules onto the exposed metal surface forms the protective self-aligned buffer layer. A second reactant may be contacted to the protective self-aligned buffer layer to form a self-aligned dielectric cap layer directly over the protective self-aligned buffer layer.
A method for protecting exposed metal interconnect surfaces in a process for making electronic components comprising:
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.