Pre-oxidizing high-dielectric-constant material electrodes

摘要

An improved method of forming a capacitor electrode for a microelectronic structure such as a dynamic read only memory is disclosed which has a high dielectric constant (HDC) material as a capacitor dielectric. According to an embodiment of the present invention, the sidewall of the adhesion layer (e.g. TiN 36) in a lower electrode is pre-oxidized after deposition of an unreactive noble metal layer (e.g. Pt 38) but before deposition of an HDC material (e.g. BST 42). An important aspect of the present invention is that the pre-oxidation of the sidewall generally causes a substantial amount of the potential sidewall expansion (and consequent noble metal layer deformation) to occur before deposition of the HDC material.