Abstract: An capacitor is formed in an interlevel dielectric (ILD) layer of the integrated circuit (IC) by etching vertical trenches through the ILD and depositing conformal layers of a bottom electrode metal, a capacitor dielectric and a top electrode metal. The capacitor can attain a capacitance density of 20 nanofarads/mm2 in a 1 micron thick ILD, and is suitable for replacing external capacitors in a circuit containing the IC with external circuit elements. The disclosed fabrication methods are compatible with aluminum or copper interconnects.

Abstract: Methods are presented for fabricating transistor gate structures, wherein upper and lower metal suicides are formed above a gate dielectric. In one example, the lower silicide is formed by depositing a thin first silicon-containing material over the gate dielectric, which is implanted and then reacted with a first metal by annealing to form the lower silicide. A capping layer can be formed over the first metal prior to annealing, to prevent oxidation of the metal prior to silicidation, and a barrier layer can be formed over the lower silicide to prevent reaction with subsequently formed silicon material. In another example, the lower silicide is a multilayer silicide structure including a plurality of metal silicide sublayers.