US Patent 7473634 Method for integrated substrate processing in copper metallization

A method of copper metallization includes providing a patterned substrate containing a via and a trench, and performing an integrated process on the patterned substrate. The integrated process includes depositing a first metal-containing layer over the patterned substrate, removing by sputter etching the first metal-containing layer from the bottom of the via and at least partially removing the first metal-containing layer from the bottom of the trench, depositing a conformal Ru layer onto the sputter etched first metal-containing layer, depositing a Cu alloying metal layer onto the conformal Ru layer, and plating Cu over the patterned substrate. According to one embodiment, the method can further include depositing a second metal-containing layer onto the sputter etched first metal-containing layer prior to depositing the conformal Ru layer. According to another embodiment, a Cu alloying metal may be deposited onto the plated Cu and the plated Cu annealed.