Abstract: In semiconductor devices, integrity of a titanium nitride material may be increased by exposing the material to an oxygen plasma after forming a thin silicon nitride-based material. The oxygen plasma may result in an additional passivation of any minute surface portions which may not be appropriately covered by the silicon nitride-based material. Consequently, efficient cleaning recipes, such as cleaning processes based on SPM, may be performed after the additional passivation without undue material loss of the titanium nitride material. In this manner, sophisticated high-k metal gate stacks may be formed with a very thin protective liner material on the basis of efficient cleaning processes without unduly contributing to a pronounced yield loss in an early manufacturing stage.

Abstract: Various apparatus for performing high frequency electronic package testing are disclosed. A test fixture assembly includes an electronics package having an interface structure, a mock-up IC, coupled to the interface structure for providing circuit connections, and a fixture board, coupled to the interface structure, wherein at least one of the fixture board and mock-up IC includes high frequency probe pads for providing a signal and ground point for high bandwidth test probing. Raw measurements are used for validation of the electronic package specifications when adequate test fixture bandwidth is available or included into circuit simulations models when a minimal phase error is acceptable, else phase and loss corrections are applied to the measurements.