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US 9,000,594 B2Granted
Use of graphene to limit copper surface oxidation, diffusion and electromigration in interconnect structures
AssigneeInternational Business Machines Corporation
InventorsJohn A. Ott, Ageeth A. Bol
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A contiguous layer of graphene is formed on exposed sidewall surfaces and a topmost surface of a copper-containing structure that is present on a surface of a substrate. The presence of the contiguous layer of graphene on the copper-containing structure reduces copper oxidation and surface diffusion of copper ions and thus improves the electromigration resistance of the structure. These benefits can be obtained using graphene without increasing the resistance of copper-containing structure.
Claims13
An interconnect structure comprising:
- at least one copper-containing structure located on a surface of a substrate;
- a contiguous layer of graphene surrounding sidewall surfaces and a topmost surface of said at least one copper-containing structure;
- and
- a dielectric material selected from a low-k dielectric material and air located adjacent said at least one copper-containing structure and said continuous layer of graphene, wherein said dielectric material has a topmost surface that is horizontally coplanar with a topmost surface of said continuous layer of graphene and a bottommost surface that is coplanar with a bottommost surface of said at least one copper-containing structure and a bottommost surface of said continuous layer of graphene.
1 more element
An interconnect structure comprising:
- at least one copper-containing structure located on a surface of a substrate, wherein said at least one copper-containing structure is a metal via or metal line;
- a contiguous layer of graphene surrounding sidewall surfaces and a topmost surface of said at least one copper-containing structure;
- and
- a dielectric material selected from a low-k dielectric material and air located adjacent said at least one copper-containing structure and said continuous layer of graphene, wherein said dielectric material has a topmost surface that is horizontally coplanar with a topmost surface of said continuous layer of graphene and a bottommost surface that is coplanar with a bottommost surface of said at least one copper-containing structure and a bottommost surface of said continuous layer of graphene.
1 more element
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.