Patent ID: 8883603

Claim:
A method for forming a silver structure for a non-volatile memory device, comprising: providing a silver layer material upon a underlying substrate; forming a diffusion barrier material overlying the silver layer material; forming a dielectric hard mask material overlying the diffusion barrier material; subjecting the dielectric hard mask material to a patterning and etching process to form a hard mask and to expose a portion of the diffusion barrier material; subjecting the portion of the diffusion barrier material to an etching process to remove the portion of the diffusion barrier material and to remove a portion of the silver layer material provided upon the underlying substrate using one or more chlorine bearing species as an etchant material, wherein one or more contaminant species is formed overlying adhered to at least a remaining portion of the silver layer material provided upon the underlying substrate, wherein the one or more contaminant species comprises chlorine bearing species and silver bearing species; and reacting the one or more contaminant species adhered to the remaining portion of the silver layer material provided upon the underlying substrate with a solution comprising an ammonia species to form a water soluble species, wherein the ammonia species is free from an oxidizing species to inhibit oxidation of the remaining portion of the silver layer material provided upon the underlying substrate.