Selective etching of copper and copper-barrier materials by an aqueous base solution with fluoride addition

摘要

Wet-etch solutions for conductive metals (e.g., copper) and metal nitrides (e.g., tantalum nitride) can be tuned to differentially etch the conductive metals and metal nitrides while having very little effect on nearby oxides (e.g., silicon dioxide hard mask materials), and etching refractory metals (e.g. tantalum) at an intermediate rate. The solutions are aqueous base solutions (e.g., ammonia-peroxide mixture or TMAH-peroxide mixture) with just enough hydrofluoric acid (HF) added to make the solution's pH about 8-10. Applications include metallization of sub-micron logic structures.

主权项

1. A method of simultaneously etching a metal and a metal nitride, the method comprising:
exposing the metal and the metal nitride to a solution comprising hydrofluoric acid and a base; wherein the solution has a pH in a range of about 8 to about 10; and wherein the solution etches less than about 10 angstroms of silicon dioxide per second at a temperature of about 40 C.