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Product Briefing Outline: Applied Materials has combined advances in PVD titanium (Ti) and preclean technologies within the Applied ‘Endura' iLB II, to reduce resistance in critical contact structures by up to 40%, according to the company. The system's new PVD eSIP chamber deposits a Ti layer with improved uniformity on the wafer, plus  a claimed 30% greater bottom coverage over that of the previous system. In addition its ‘Siconi' Preclean chamber, an improved surface preparation technology for yield-critical transistor and contact interfaces, provides better removal of oxide from the contact bottom with minimal silicon loss.

Problem: The contact structure is a key, speed-critical electrical component in sub-65nm designs and was becoming a bottleneck in chip performance. The system addresses the new liner/barrier challenges with the transition to ≤45nm nodes, including the use of thin NiSi films in gate and contact applications as well as tighter requirements for step coverage and contact resistance.

Solution: The 300mm Applied Endura iLB II system provides a fully integrated combination of preclean, PVD Ti, and CVD TiN for depositing nano-scale films. In addition to enhanced bottom coverage and process symmetry, the new eSIP Ti chamber delivers improved chamber matching and process repeatability, according to the company. The system's Siconi Preclean, has already been used for silicide transistor applications, and provides a highly selective, soft, chemical clean process that removes oxide without loss of the thin gate nickel-silicide (NiSi) film. In addition, the CVD TiN barrier layer has been enhanced by using a low-temperature process to improve step coverage while delivering higher throughput.

Applications: Preclean, PVD Ti, and CVD TiN for depositing nano-scale films.

Platform: The Endura system has been steadily expanded to include a large variety of critical films, including various aluminum technologies, barrier films such as titanium/titanium nitride, tantalum/tantalum nitride and copper seed layers, as well as cobalt and PVD tungsten films. The system's ability to utilize several different process chambers at once has enabled its use for multi-step PVD processes or integrated CVD/PVD and ALD/PVD processes used to create high-quality film stacks in copper interconnects.

Availability: July 2006 onwards.