Appeal No. 2002-1992
Application 09/206,170
field on a surface of the wafer (claim 1), and immersing
(claim 4) the wafer in a chemical agent to remove a sufficient
amount of dielectric material from the open dielectric field to
prevent or substantially reduce subsequent formation and/or
growth of Cu or Cu compound dendrites from the lines into the
open dielectric field (claim 2).
Claim 3: Schonauer ‘727 recites that the interconnection
pattern is formed by a damascene technique (claim 1) and that the
dielectric layer and the open dielectric field comprise silicon
oxide (claim 3).
Claim 6: Schonauer ‘727 recites that the chemical agent is a
solution containing at least about 90 wt% acetic acid and up to
about 10 wt% ammonium fluoride (claim 6, which includes the
subject matter of claims 1-5).
Claim 10: Schonauer ‘727 recites immersing the wafer in the
solution for about 60 seconds to about 180 seconds (claim 5,
which includes the subject matter of claims 1-4).
Claim 11: Claim 28 of Schonauer ‘727, which includes the
subject matter of claims 26 and 27, claims a method of
manufacturing a semiconductor device on a wafer, comprising
forming a Cu or Cu alloy interconnection pattern comprising a
dense array of spaced apart Cu or Cu alloy lines bordering an
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