Patent application number | Description | Published |
20080280456 | Thermal methods for cleaning post-CMP wafers - Methods for cleaning semiconductor wafers following chemical mechanical polishing are provided. An exemplary method exposes a wafer to a thermal treatment in an oxidizing environment followed by a thermal treatment in a reducing environment. The thermal treatment in the oxidizing environment both removes residues and oxidizes exposed copper surfaces to form a cupric oxide layer. The thermal treatment in the reducing environment then reduces the cupric oxide to elemental copper. This leaves the exposed copper clean and in condition for further processing, such as electroless plating. | 11-13-2008 |
20090087980 | METHODS OF LOW-K DIELECTRIC AND METAL PROCESS INTEGRATION - An integrated process for forming metallization layers for electronic devices that use damascene structures that include low-k dielectric and metal. According to one embodiment of the present invention, the integrated process includes planarizing a gapfill metal in low-k dielectric structures, generating a protective layer on the low-k dielectric followed by cleaning the surface of the gapfill metal. Another embodiment of the present invention includes a method of protecting low-k dielectrics such as carbon doped silicon oxide. | 04-02-2009 |
20100136788 | THERMAL METHODS FOR CLEANING POST-CMP WAFERS - Methods for cleaning semiconductor wafers following chemical mechanical polishing are provided. An exemplary method exposes a wafer to a thermal treatment in an oxidizing environment followed by a thermal treatment in a reducing environment. The thermal treatment in the oxidizing environment both removes residues and oxidizes exposed copper surfaces to form a cupric oxide layer. The thermal treatment in the reducing environment then reduces the cupric oxide to elemental copper. This leaves the exposed copper clean and in condition for further processing, such as electroless plating. | 06-03-2010 |
20110120653 | ANTENNA FOR PLASMA PROCESSOR AND APPARATUS - An antenna includes excitation terminals responsive to an RF source to supply an RF electromagnetic field to a plasma that processes a workpiece in a vacuum chamber. The coil includes a transformer having a primary winding coupled to the excitation terminals and a multi-turn plasma excitation secondary winding connected in series with a capacitor. | 05-26-2011 |
20120248978 | ANTENNA FOR PLASMA PROCESSOR AND APPARATUS - An antenna includes excitation terminals responsive to an RF source to supply an RF electromagnetic field to a plasma that processes a workpiece in a vacuum chamber. The coil includes a transformer having a primary winding coupled to the excitation terminals and a multi-turn plasma excitation secondary winding connected in series with a capacitor. | 10-04-2012 |
20120269987 | Processes and Systems for Engineering a Barrier Surface for Copper Deposition - An integrated system for processing a substrate in controlled environment to enable deposition of a thin copper seed layer on a surface of a metallic barrier layer of a copper interconnect is provided. The system includes a lab-ambient transfer chamber, a vacuum transfer chamber, a vacuum process module for cleaning an exposed surface of a metal oxide of a underlying metal, a vacuum process module for depositing the metallic barrier layer, and a controlled-ambient transfer chamber filled with an inert gas, wherein at least one controlled-ambient process module is coupled to the controlled-ambient transfer chamber. In addition, the system includes an electroless copper deposition process module used to deposit the thin layer of copper seed layer on the surface of the metallic barrier layer. | 10-25-2012 |
20140214395 | Segmenting A Model Within A Plasma System - Systems and methods for segmenting an impedance matching model are described. One of the methods includes receiving the impedance matching model. The impedance matching model represents an impedance matching circuit, which is coupled to an RF generator via an RF cable and to a plasma chamber via an RF transmission line. The method further includes segmenting the impedance matching model into two or more modules of a first set. Each module includes a series circuit and a shunt circuit. The shunt circuit is coupled to the series circuit. The series circuit of the first module is coupled to a cable model and the series circuit of the second module is coupled to an RF transmission model. The series circuit and the shunt circuit of the first module are coupled to the series circuit of the second module. The shunt circuit of the second module is coupled to the RF transmission model. | 07-31-2014 |
20140322446 | PROCESSES AND SYSTEMS FOR ENGINEERING A COPPER SURFACE FOR SELECTIVE METAL DEPOSITION - An integrated system for transferring and processing a substrate in a controlled environment to enable selective deposition of a thin layer of a cobalt-alloy material on a copper surface of a copper interconnect to improve electromigration performance of the copper interconnect, comprising: a lab-ambient transfer chamber; a substrate cleaning reactor coupled to the lab-ambient transfer chamber, wherein the substrate cleaning reactor cleans the substrate surface to remove metal-organic complex contaminants on the substrate surface; a vacuum transfer chamber; a vacuum process module for removing organic contaminants from the substrate surface; a controlled-ambient transfer chamber filled with an inert gas; and an electroless cobalt-alloy material deposition process module used to deposit the thin layer of cobalt-alloy material on the copper surface of the copper interconnect after the substrate surface has been removed of metallic contaminants and organic contaminants, and the copper surface has been removed of copper oxide. | 10-30-2014 |