Appeal No. 1998-1578
Application No. 08/543,827
forming a dielectric layer on said first
electrode; and thereafter
forming a second electrode on said dielectric
layer.
The subject matter on appeal relates to a method of
making an integrated circuit capacitor. In the claimed
method, a metal nitride barrier layer (e.g., a titanium
nitride layer, claim 14) is deposited. Then the metal nitride
layer is annealed in a barrier anneal step having a maximum
temperature derived as a particular function of the thickness
of the deposited metal nitride layer. Specifically, the
maximum anneal temperature function includes any value within
a range one hundred degrees greater than a line defined by the
points (700EC, 1000 D) and (800EC, 3000 D), provided that the
maximum anneal temperature is at least 675EC. After
annealing, a first electrode, a dielectric layer on the first
electrode, and a second electrode on the dielectric layer are
formed. According to the appellants, anneal conditions
outside the claimed maximum temperature range produce poor
morphology in the form of surface irregularities, such as
hillocks and porosity, which can cause shorting or degrade
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