Patent ID: 11959167
Assignee: APPLIED MATERIALS, INC.
Field: Semiconductors (Electrical engineering)
Classification: CPC C  H | IPC C  H

Claim 18:
19. A method for capping a copper surface on a substrate, comprising:
positioning a substrate within a processing chamber, wherein the substrate comprises a copper oxide surface and a dielectric surface;
exposing the copper oxide surface and the dielectric surface to a remotely formed plasma to form a metallic copper surface during a pre-treatment process, wherein the remotely formed plasma comprises dihydrogen, atomic-hydrogen, ammonia, a mixture of dihydrogen and ammonia, hydrazine, or any combination thereof;
depositing a cobalt capping layer over the metallic copper surface while leaving exposed the dielectric surface during a plurality of deposition-treatment cycles, comprising:
exposing the substrate to a cobalt precursor gas to selectively form a first sublayer of the cobalt capping layer over the metallic copper surface while leaving exposed the dielectric surface;
exposing the first sublayer of the cobalt capping layer to a first plasma comprising ammonia during a treatment process;
exposing the substrate to the cobalt precursor gas to selectively form a second sublayer of the cobalt capping layer on the first sublayer of the cobalt capping layer while leaving exposed the dielectric surface; and
exposing the second sublayer of the cobalt capping layer to a second plasma comprising ammonia during a second treatment process; and

depositing a dielectric layer on the cobalt capping layer and the dielectric surface.