PATENT CLAIM ANALYSIS

Application Number: 15880448
Application Type: Utility
Filing Date: 2018-01
Publication Date: 2019-05
Patent Classification: ["257", "751000"]

Abstract:
Generally, the present disclosure provides example embodiments relating to conductive features, such as metal contacts, vias, lines, etc., and methods for forming those conductive features. In an embodiment, a barrier layer is formed along a sidewall. A portion of the barrier layer along the sidewall is etched back. After etching back the portion of the barrier layer, an upper portion of the barrier layer along the sidewall is smoothed. A conductive material is formed along the barrier layer and over the smoothed upper portion of the barrier layer.

Claim (Index 15):
A method comprising:\n forming a dielectric layer over a semiconductor substrate; forming an opening through the dielectric layer; after forming the opening, forming a barrier layer conformally in the opening, the barrier layer extending along an uppermost sidewall of the opening; after forming the barrier layer, removing a first upper portion of the barrier layer from the uppermost sidewall of the opening, a remaining upper portion of the barrier layer being in the opening after removing the first upper portion of the barrier layer; after removing the first upper portion of the barrier layer, etching a portion of the barrier layer; and forming a conductive material on the barrier layer in the opening, a top surface of the conductive material being coplanar with a top surface of the dielectric layer, the conductive material having a portion above the remaining upper portion of the barrier layer.

Metadata:
- Claim Count in Document: 20.0
- Percentile: 86.0
- Lexical Diversity: 2.19565
- Patent Class: 257.0
- Transitional Phrase Type: open
- Component Type: 1
- Foreign Priority: False
- Related Applications: ['15801154', '14829959', '15802729', '15297850', '14579864']

Analysis Scores:
- 35 USC 101 Eligibility (BERT): 0.9071688975912834
- 35 USC 102 Novelty (BERT): 0.4597618592441684
- Combined Prediction Score: 0.862428193756572
- Mean Citation Score: 143.51318999999995
- Max Citation Score: 147.1743
- Similarity Product: 116.14868674553632

Labels:
- Claim Label 101: 1
- Claim Label 102: 0
- Claim Label 103: 1
- Claim Label 112: 0
- Combined Label: 0
- Label 101 Adjusted: 1

Dataset: test