Appeal No. 1997-3338
Application No. 08/402,252
Claim 4 is illustrative of the claims on appeal and is
reproduced below:
4. A process of forming a barrier titanium
nitride layer in contact openings etched in a
dielectric layer supported over a semiconductor
substrate, said process comprising:
(a) etching said contact openings in said
dielectric layer down to a titanium silicide layer,
each of said contact openings having a bottom;
(b) forming said barrier titanium nitride layer
at said bottom of said contact openings by
converting at least a portion of said titanium
silicide layer at said bottom of said contact
openings into said barrier titanium nitride layer by
exposing said titanium silicide layer to a rapid
thermal anneal performed at a temperature of at
least about 600EC in a nitrogen-containing atmosphere
comprising a nitrogen-containing species selected
from the group consisting of N , NH , and N O;2 3 2
(c) providing blanket deposition of a metal by
employing a process selected from the group
consisting of high temperature metal sputtering,
regular metal sputtering followed by high
temperature reflow, and chemical vapor deposition of
said metal, to form a layer thereof; and
(d) removing metal outside of said contact
openings via chemical-mechanical polishing or plasma
etchback of said layer of metal thereby forming a
metal plug in each of said contact openings
consisting essentially of a metal selected from the
group consisting of aluminum, copper, and gold.
The subject matter on appeal relates to a process of
forming a barrier titanium nitride layer in contact openings
etched in a dielectric layer supported over a semiconductor
2
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