A method of manufacturing a metal cap layer for preventing damascene conductive lines from oxidation

摘要

A semiconductor device (100) having a copper damascene BEOL structure. A metal cap layer (120) is formed over conductive lines (118) to prevent oxidation of the conductive lines (118) during subsequent processing steps. The metal cap layer (120) comprises a material other than the conductive line (118) material that is resistant to oxidation. The structure (100) is particularly beneficial for MRAM devices.