Abstract: A method of fabricating a contact structure includes the following steps. An opening is formed in a dielectric layer. A conductive material layer is formed within the opening and on the dielectric layer, wherein the conductive material layer includes a bottom section having a first thickness and a top section having a second thickness, the second thickness is greater than the first thickness. A first treatment is performed on the conductive material layer to form a first oxide layer on the bottom section and on the top section of the conductive material layer. A second treatment is performed to remove at least portions of the first oxide layer and at least portions of the conductive material layer, wherein after performing the second treatment, the bottom section and the top section of the conductive material layer have substantially equal thickness.

Abstract: A semiconductor device may include one or more transistor structures that include a plurality of source/drain regions and a gate structure between the source/drain regions. The semiconductor device may further include one or more dielectric layers between a source/drain contact structure and a gate structure of the one or more of the transistor structures. The one or more dielectric layers may be manufactured using on oxidation treatment process to tune the dielectric constant of the one or more dielectric layers. The dielectric constant of the one or more dielectric layers may be tuned to reduce the parasitic capacitance between the source/drain contact structure and the gate structure (which are conductive structures). In particular, the dielectric constant of the one or more spacer dielectric may be tuned using the oxidation treatment process to lower the as-deposited dielectric constant of the one or more dielectric layers.

Abstract: Bond pad structures and semiconductor devices using the same. An exemplary semiconductor device comprises a substrate. An intermediate structure is formed over the substrate. A bond pad structure is formed over the intermediate structure. In one exemplary embodiment, the intermediate structure comprises a first metal layer neighboring and supporting the bond pad structure and a plurality of second metal layers underlying the intermediate structure, wherein one of the second metal layers functions as a power line.