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US 8,026,169 B2Granted
Cu annealing for improved data retention in flash memory devices
AssigneeAdvanced Micro Devices, Inc.
InventorsLu You, Alexander Nickel, Minh Q. Tran, Minh-Van Ngo, Hieu Pham, Erik Wilson, Hirokazu Tokuno, Amir Hossein Jafarpour, Inkuk Kang, Robert Huertas
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Abstract
Data retention in flash memory devices, such as mirrorbit devices, is improved by reducing the generation and/or diffusion of hydrogen ions during back end processing, such as annealing inlaid Cu. Embodiments include annealing inlaid Cu in an N2 atmosphere containing low H2 or no H2, and at temperatures less than 200° C., e.g., 100° C. to 150° C.
Claims6
A method of fabricating a semiconductor device, the method comprising:
- depositing a layer of copper (Cu) or a Cu alloy in an opening in a dielectric layer, the opening being a dual damascene opening;
- conducting chemical mechanical polishing (CMP) on an overburden formed in the depositing;
- conducting a first anneal by heating the deposited layer of Cu or Cu alloy in an atmosphere of nitrogen (N2) and 0 to 4 vol. % hydrogen (H2), at a temperature of about 100° C. to less than 200° C. for up to 5 minutes;
- and, subsequently,
- conducting a second anneal by heating the deposited layer of Cu or Cu alloy in N2 without H2 at a temperature of about 100° C. to less than 200° C., wherein both the first and second anneals are conducted after the CMP;
- and
- wherein the semiconductor device comprises a mirrorbit device having a gate dielectric layer, comprising an oxide/nitride/oxide (ONO) stack on a substrate, and a gate electrode on the ONO stack.
4 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.