Patent ID: 7655519

Claim:
A method of fabricating a metal-insulator-metal (MIM) capacitor, the method comprising: forming a first conductive layer on a semiconductor substrate and with major portions extending upward away from the semiconductor substrate; forming a chemical barrier layer on the first conductive layer including on the major portions extending away from the semiconductor substrate; forming a second conductive layer on the chemical barrier layer and with major portions extending upward away from the semiconductor substrate, wherein the chemical barrier layer is between the first and second conductive layers, and the chemical barrier layer comprises a different material than the first and second conductive layers, and wherein the first conductive layer, the chemical barrier layer, and the second conductive layer provide a lower electrode; forming a dielectric layer on the lower electrode; and forming an upper electrode on the dielectric layer, wherein forming a first conductive layer and forming a second conductive layer each comprise depositing a layer of titanium nitride (TiN), tantalum nitride (TaN), tungsten nitride (WN), ruthenium (Ru), platinum (Pt), ruthenium oxide (RuO 2 ), and/or platinum oxide (PtO 2 ).