Passivation of a Conductive System of Integrated Circuits with a Layer of Aluminum Nitride

Abstract

Passivation of the film conductive system of integrated circuits makes it more reliable by increasing the resistance to electromigration. The problem of manufacturing a passivating layer on the formed current-conducting system of an integrated circuit, obtained in a single technological cycle, including isotropic plasma-chemical etching of an aluminum alloy layer to a depth of 8–12 nm and isotropic plasma-chemical nitriding of the surface of the obtained current-carrying tracks until the aluminum nitride thickness from 10 to 50 nm, is considered. This task makes it possible to form a dielectric film based on silicon dioxide on a silicon substrate with active regions, etch contact windows to active elements of the substrate in the dielectric film, deposit a barrier layer 0.005–0.050 µm thick, and deposit an aluminum alloy film 0.5–2.0 um and much more.

Keywords

• integrated circuits
• conductive systems
• aluminum metallization
• passivation layer
• aluminum nitride