US Patent 10395986 Fully aligned via employing selective metal deposition

A method is presented for creating a fully-aligned via (FAV) by employing selective metal deposition. The method includes forming metal lines within a first inter-layer dielectric (ILD) layer, forming a second ILD layer over the first ILD layer, forming a lithographic stack over the second ILD layer to define areas where via growth is prevented, recessing the lithographic stack to expose a top surface of the metal lines where via growth is permitted by the lithographic stack, and performing metal growth over the exposed top surface of the metal lines where via growth is permitted.