Patent ID: 6949442

Claim:
A method of fabricating a metal-insulator-metal (MIM) capacitor, the method comprising: providing a semiconductor wafer; forming at least one first capacitor plate over the wafer; forming a first insulating layer over the wafer, wherein a top surface of the at least one first capacitor plate is exposed; selectively forming a first cap layer over the at least one first capacitor plate top surface; forming a second insulating layer over the first insulating layer and the first cap layer, the second insulating layer having a top surface; patterning the second insulating layer with at least one second capacitor plate pattern; depositing a capacitor dielectric layer over the second insulating layer; depositing a second capacitor plate material over the capacitor dielectric layer; and planarizing the wafer to remove the second capacitor plate material and capacitor dielectric layer from over the second insulating layer top surface and form at least one second capacitor plate within the patterned second insulating layer, wherein the at least one second capacitor plate, capacitor dielectric layer and at least one first capacitor plate form a MIM capacitor, wherein forming at least one first capacitor plate comprises patterning the first insulating layer with a pattern for the first capacitor plate, and depositing an alloy-containing seed layer over the patterned first insulating layer, and wherein selectively forming a first cap layer comprises passivating the top surface of the at least one first capacitor plate by annealing the semiconductor wafer.