Patents by Inventor Christy M.-C. Woo

Christy M.-C. Woo has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

  • Performing chemical mechanical polishing of oxides and metals using sequential removal on multiple polish platens to increase equipment throughput
    Patent number: 5816891
    Abstract: A chemical mechanical polisher is provided comprising multiple polish platens to sequentially remove any fixed amount of oxide or metal on a semiconductor wafer. Each polish platen polishes a fraction of the total oxide removed. Total oxide removal is achieved after completing polishing on all available polish platens assigned for polishing. Reduced oxide removed enables a high oxide removal rate on each polish platen, thus reducing polish time. Sequential polishing on multiple polish platens reduces polish time especially for high oxide removal in the range greater than 0.5 micrometer to greater than 1 micrometer. A higher polish rate and shorter polish time results in shorter polish pad conditioning time. Multiple polish platens coupled with more than one consecutive wafer-carrier head, each following the previous wafer-carrier head in completing sequential polishing, improves machine throughput by eliminating machine idle time caused by events other than actual oxide or metal polishing.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 28, 1997
    Date of Patent: October 6, 1998
    Assignee: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc.
    Inventor: Christy M.-C. Woo
  • Production worthy interconnect process for deep sub-half micrometer back-end-of-line technology
    Patent number: 5801095
    Abstract: The present invention is directed to improving the throughput of the process for fabricating multilayer interconnects. Tungsten plugs, formed in contact/via openings etched in an interlayer dielectric, have been widely used in industry to form interconnection between different metal layers. An adhesion layer comprising a Ti/TiN stack is typically employed to support the adhesion of the tungsten plug in the contact/via openings. The present invention is directed to a process involving the formation of a Ti/TiN landing pad at the base of contact/via openings prior to the deposition of the interlayer dielectric. The process of the present invention enables the removal of the Ti under-layer and the reduction of the TiN thickness in the Ti/TiN stack. The throughput of the process for fabricating multilayer interconnects is thus greatly improved while the integrity of the devices are maintained.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 10, 1996
    Date of Patent: September 1, 1998
    Assignee: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc.
    Inventors: Richard J. Huang, Christy M.-C. Woo
  • Production worthy interconnect process for deep sub-half micrometer back-end-of-line technology
    Patent number: 5686761
    Abstract: The present invention is directed to improving the throughput of the process for fabricating multilayer interconnects. Tungsten plugs, formed in contact/via openings etched in an interlayer dielectric, have been widely used in industry to form interconnection between different metal layers. An adhesion layer comprising a Ti/TiN stack is typically employed to support the adhesion of the tungsten plug in the contact/via openings. The present invention is directed to a process involving the formation of a Ti/TiN landing pad at the base of contact/via openings prior to the deposition of the interlayer dielectric. The process of the present invention enables the removal of the Ti under-layer and the reduction of the TiN thickness in the Ti/TiN stack. The throughput of the process for fabricating multilayer interconnects is thus greatly improved while the integrity of the devices are maintained.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 29, 1996
    Date of Patent: November 11, 1997
    Assignee: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc.
    Inventors: Richard J. Huang, Christy M.-C. Woo