Patent ID: 7399696

Claim:
A method of forming a high performance inductor, said method comprising: providing a substrate; forming a plurality of wiring levels over said substrate such that said wiring levels comprise at least: a first wiring level; a second wiring level between said first wiring level and said substrate; and a third wiring level between said second wiring level and said substrate, wherein said forming of said plurality of wiring levels further comprises forming said plurality of wiring levels with a first metal wire above a first portion of said substrate and in one of said wiring levels below said first wiring level and with a second metal wire above a second portion of said substrate and in a different lower one of said wiring levels below said first wiring level; performing a triple damascene process, wherein said performing of said triple damascene process comprises: forming a first trench in a first dielectric layer of said first wiring level such that said first trench is above said first metal wire; forming a via through a bottom surface of said first trench to said first metal wire; forming a spiral-shaped second trench through said first dielectric layer of said first wiring level and through any intervening dielectric layers of any intervening wiring levels to said second metal wire; and forming a conductor layer substantially simultaneously in said first trench, said via and said second trench; and removing portions of said conductor layer overfilling said first and second trench so as to form a last metal wire, for a semiconductor device, in said first trench and a spiral-shaped inductor in said second trench.