April 18, 2006 – Dow Corning Corp., Midland, MI, has been granted a patent in Japan related to the use of silicon carbide (SiC) barrier films between dielectric and metal layers in semiconductor devices.
SiC is uses with leading-edge devices incorporating copper dual damascene conductors and low-k dielectric insulators, as a barrier layer preventing copper metallic species from diffusing into and contaminating dielectric film layers in the chip interconnect structure.
The new Japanese patent (#JP 3731932 B), “Silicon Carbide Metal Diffusion Barrier Layer,” is a sister to US patent #5818071, originally filed in 1995 and formally cited 53 times in support of other US patents, the company noted. Dow also holds a number of other patents for low-k dielectrics, barrier films, and silicon-based lithographic materials.