Introductionto

MicroelectronicFabrication
by
RichardC.Jaeger
DistinguishedUniversityProfessor
ECEDepartment

AuburnUniversity
Chapter7
InterconnectionsandContacts

2002 Pearson Education, Inc., Upper Saddle River, NJ. All rights reserved. For the exclusive use of adopters of the book
This material is protected under all copyright laws as they currently exist. No Introduction to Microelectronic Fabrication, Second
portion of this material may be reproduced, in any form or by any means, Edition by Richard C. Jaeger. ISBN0-201-44494-
without permission in writing from the publisher. 1.
CopyrightNotice

2002 Pearson Education, Inc., Upper Saddle River, NJ. All

rights reserved. This material is protected under all copyright
laws as they currently exist. No portion of this material may be
reproduced, in any form or by any means, without permission in
writing from the publisher.

For the exclusive use of adopters of the book Introduction to

Microelectronic Fabrication, Second Edition by Richard C.
Jaeger. ISBN0-201-44494-1.

2002Pearson Forthe
InterconnectionsandContacts
MOSLogicCircuit
3BasicInterconnectionLevels
n+diffusion
Polysilicon
AluminumMetallization
Contacts
Aln+
AlPolysilicon
Alp
SubstrateContactNotShown

Figure7.1PortionofMOSintegratedcircuit
(a)Topview(b)Crosssection

2002Pearson Forthe
Interconnections
ResistivityofMetals
CommonlyUsedMetals
Aluminum
Titanium
Tungsten
Copper

LessFrequentlyUtilized
Nickel
Platinum
Paladium

2002Pearson Forthe
Contacts
OhmicContactFormation

(a) IdealOhmicContact
(b) RectifyingContact(similartodiode)
(c) PracticalNonlinearOhmicContact

2002Pearson Forthe
Contacts
OhmicContactFormation

Figure7.2
Figure7.3
Aluminumtoptypesiliconformsanohmiccontactsimilar
toFig.7.2(a)[RememberAlisptypedopant]
Aluminumtontypesiliconcanformarectifyingcontact
(Schottkybarrierdiode)similartoFig.7.3(b)
Aluminumton+siliconyieldsacontactsimilartoFig.7.3c

2002Pearson Forthe
Contacts
AluminumSiliconPhaseDiagram
AluminumSilicon
EutecticPoint577oC

2002Pearson Forthe
Contacts
AluminumSpikingandJunctionPenetration

Siliconabsorptionintothealuminumresultsinaluminum
spikes
Spikescanshortjunctionsorcauseexcessleakage
Barriermetaldepositedpriortometallization
SputterdepositionofAl1%Si

2002Pearson Forthe
Contacts
AlloyingofContacts
AlloytoObtainVeryLowContactResistivity

SpecificContactResistivity

c = 1.2x106 cm 2

ContactResistanceRC

c
RC = A = contactarea
A

2002Pearson Forthe
Contacts
ContactResistance
ExampleforC = 1 cm 2

A = 10mx10m = 10 6 cm 2
C
RC = = 1
A

A = 1mx1m = 10 8 cm 2
RC = 100

A = 0.1mx0.1m = 10 10 cm 2
RC = 10kUnacceptable!

2002Pearson Forthe
Interconnections
Electromigration
Highcurrentdensity
causesvoidstoformin
interconnections

Electronwindcauses
movementofmetal
atoms

(a)(b)
1A 10mA 2
J= 2 = 2 = 1MA /cm
(1m) 4
(10 cm)

HighCurrentDensities

2002Pearson Forthe
Interconnections
Electromigration
Copperaddedtoaluminumto
improvelifetime(Al,4%Cu,
1%Si)
1 E A
MTF exp
J2 kT
J = currentdensity
E A = activationenergy
MTF = meantimetofailure

Heaviermetals(e.g.Cu)
haveloweractivationenergy

2002Pearson Forthe
Interconnections
DiffusedInterconnections
Figure7.9
LumpedRCmodelforasmall
sectionofann+diffusion
2002Pearson
nandptypediffusionscanbeused
forlocalinterconnections
pnjunctiondiodemustbekeptinits
reversebiased(nonconducting)state
Allinterconnectionshaveaseries
resistanceRandshuntcapacitanceC
perunitlength
TheRCtimeconstantlimits
operatingfrequency
n+andpolysiliconlinesRS30
/square
Forthe
Interconnections
DiffusedInterconnection
Diffusedinterconnection
inNMOSORgate.
Mergedsourceanddrain
regionsusedto
interconnectdevices
Multiplecontactsused
toreduceoverallcontact
resistance
Figure7.10

2002Pearson Forthe
Interconnections
BuriedandButtedContacts
Techniquesfor
interconnectingpolysilicon
andn+diffusion
(a) Standardmetallevellink
(b) Buriedcontactwith
polysiliconincontactwith
diffusion(requires
additionalmaskstepto
placen+underpolysilicon
(c) Buttedcontactwith
aluminumoverlap
Figure7.11

2002Pearson Forthe
Interconnections
Silicides/Polycides/Salicides

Figure7.12

Silicidesofnobleandrefractorymetalscanbeusedto
reducesheetresistanceofpolisiliconanddiffused
interconnections
Provideshuntinglayerinparallelwithoriginal
inteconnection

2002Pearson Forthe
Interconnections
PropertiesofVariousSilicides

2002Pearson Forthe
Interconnections
Salicide
SelfAlignedSilicideon
siliconandpolysilicon
OftentermedSalicide

2002Pearson Forthe
Contacts
SilicideContactsinDevices

2002Pearson Forthe
Interconnections
LiftoffProcess

(a) Subtractiveetching
process
(b) Additivemetalliftoff
process

Figure7.15

2002Pearson Forthe
Interconnections
MultilevelMetallization

Twolevelmetalprocesses
Silicondioxide,polyimide
orsiliconnitride
dielectrics
Viasformedtoconnect
betweenmetallevels
Viascanbefilled(b)to
improveplanarization
Figure7.16

2002Pearson Forthe
Interconnections
MultilevelMetallization
Exampleofmultilevel
Al aluminum
metallizationwith
tungstenviaplugs
Planarityachieved
throughChemical
MechanicalPolishing
Figure7.17
Multilevelaluminummetallizationwith (CMP)
tungstenplugs.Copyright1998IEEE.
ReprintedwithpermissionfromRef.[7].

2002Pearson Forthe
Interconnections
PlatedCopper
Copperdepositedusing
standardplating
processesadaptedto
microelectronics
Seedlayerdeposited
Masklayerdepositedand
patterned
Copperplatedup
Masklayerremoved
Seedlayeretchedaway

2002Pearson Forthe
Interconnections
CopperDamasceneProcess

Damasceneprocessused
toobtainhighlyplanar
surfaces
Dielectriclayer(insulator)
depositedandpatterned
Seedlayerdeposited
Copperplated
Surfacepolished
mechanical&chemical

2002Pearson Forthe
Interconnections
DualDamasceneProcess

2002Pearson Forthe
Interconnections
DualDamasceneProcess(cont.)

2002Pearson Forthe
MultilevelMetallization
Examples

(b)

Figure7.20
(a)DualDamascenecoppercombinedwithaluminum
copperandtungstenplugsonthelowerlevels.Copyright
1997IEEE.ReprintedwithpermissionfromRef.[6].(b)
(a) DualDamsasceneCopper.CourtesyofMotorolaInc.
Noteplanarityofbothstructures.

2002Pearson Forthe
InterconnectionsandContacts
References

2002Pearson Forthe
 EndofChapter7

2002 Pearson Education, Inc., Upper Saddle River, NJ. All rights reserved. For the exclusive use of adopters of the book
This material is protected under all copyright laws as they currently exist. No Introduction to Microelectronic Fabrication, Second
portion of this material may be reproduced, in any form or by any means, Edition by Richard C. Jaeger. ISBN0-201-44494-
without permission in writing from the publisher. 1.