Applied Materials Introduces Breakthrough Copper Cleaning Technology; Reactive Preclean Cuts Resistance in Copper Interconnects to Enable Faster Chips.

SANTA CLARA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--July 13, 1998--Applied Materials, Inc. extends copper deposition technology by introducing an innovative, environmentally benign cleaning process, called Reactive Preclean(tm), that removes speed-limiting copper oxide from copper interconnect structures without contaminating the device.

Providing a critical enabling technology for multilevel copper metallization, the Reactive Preclean reduced the via resistance of customers' dual damascene structures by greater than 40 percent over the conventional sputter clean. This advancement in cleaning technology is available on Applied Materials' market-leading Endura(R) Electra Cu(tm) barrier/seed layer deposition system. Reactive Preclean is extendible to the very small, high aspect ratio applications needed for copper-based sub-0.18 micron gigabit DRAMs and advanced microprocessor designs.

"The Reactive Preclean process is an 'industry first' for cleaning metal and significantly advances the technical capabilities of our Electra Cu system," said Dr. Fusen Chen, vice president and general manager of Applied Materials' Metal Deposition Product Business Group, PVD Division. "The preclean, barrier, and seed layers are considered to be the pivotal technologies for successful copper deposition. We already have more than 30 Electra Cu chambers in use by customers. This new cleaning technology will extend our copper technology even further by offering the potential for greater device yield and reliability."

The Applied Materials Endura Electra Cu system was introduced in late 1997 for depositing tantalum-based barrier and copper seed layers in contact and via structures using the company's proven IMP (ion metal plasma) PVD technology. Before depositing the tantalum barrier layer, Reactive Preclean removes the high-resistivity copper oxide that forms on the exposed copper from the previous deposition. All three process steps are performed on the Endura Electra Cu system under high vacuum, thus preventing oxide re-growth after Reactive Preclean.

Applied Materials' Reactive Preclean uses hydrogen-based chemistry and a low-energy, inductively-coupled, plasma source to effectively reduce the copper oxide to pure metallic copper. "Since the Reactive Preclean process is predominantly chemical, with minimal sputter etching, copper is not sputtered on the dielectric sidewalls of the structure," stated Sergio Edelstein, general manager of PVD at Applied Materials. "Thus, copper contamination is dramatically reduced, assuring device reliability, clean particle performance and longer process chamber life."

The Reactive Preclean's hydrogen-based chemistry offers a significant environmental advantage as well. The chamber virtually eliminates perfluorocompound (PFC) byproducts and hazardous air pollutants (HAPs), and requires no special venting or exhaust systems.

Applied Materials, Inc. is a Fortune 500 global growth company and the world's largest supplier of wafer fabrication systems and services to the global semiconductor industry. Applied Materials is traded on the Nasdaq National Market System under the symbol "AMAT." Applied Materials' web site is http://www.AppliedMaterials.com.

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