Enhancing adhesion of interlayer dielectric materials of semiconductor devices by suppressing silicide formation at the substrate edge

摘要

Adhesion of dielectric layer stacks to be formed after completing the basic configuration of transistor elements may be increased by avoiding the formation of a metal silicide in the edge region of the substrate. For this purpose, a dielectric protection layer may be selectively formed in the edge region prior to a corresponding pre-clean process or immediately prior to deposition of the refractory metal. Hence, non-reacted metal may be efficiently removed from the edge region without creating a non-desired metal silicide. Hence, the further processing may be continued on the basis of enhanced process conditions for forming interlayer dielectric materials.

主权项

1. A method, comprising:
forming a dielectric protection layer in an edge region of a silicon-containing semiconductor layer, said semiconductor layer being formed above a substrate and having a central region including a plurality of die regions, wherein forming said dielectric protection layer comprises exposing said edge region and said central region to substantially the same process ambient so as to form a dielectric layer above said edge region and said central region and selectively removing said dielectric layer from above said central region, wherein after selectively removing said dielectric layer from above said central region, said dielectric layer formed above said edge region covers an entirety of said edge region and exposes said die regions for metal silicide formation; after forming said dielectric protection layer in said edge region, forming a refractory metal layer above said edge region and said central region; performing a heat treatment so as to initiate said metal silicide formation in said die regions; and removing said refractory metal layer from above said edge region and dielectric areas in said die regions.