High-resistivity ruthenium oxide thin film fabrication and temperature sensor structure with high-resistivity ruthenium oxide thin film

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12398455-B1
Application number	US-202418421782-A
Country	US
Kind code	B1
Filing date	Jan 24, 2024
Priority date	Jan 24, 2024
Publication date	Aug 26, 2025
Grant date	Aug 26, 2025

Abstract

A high-resistivity N-doped ruthenium oxide thin film is formed on a substrate by flowing argon and nitrogen gases in a sputter chamber that includes a preconditioned ruthenium oxide sputter target. The method includes forming a plasma and sputter depositing a high-resistivity N-doped ruthenium oxide thin film with a N/Ru atomic ratio between 0.5 and 3.0 and resistivity greater than 0.01 Ω cm on the substrate in the substrate. A high-resistivity H-doped ruthenium oxide thin film is formed on a substrate by first forming an oxygen-rich ruthenium oxide thin film, followed by a hydrogen anneal. A temperature sensor structure includes a high-resistivity ruthenium oxide thin film that is doped with nitrogen or hydrogen and has a resistivity between 0.01 and 1 Ω cm.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A temperature sensor structure comprising:
a substrate comprising at least one transistor, a first back-end-of-line (BEOL) metal line, a second BEOL metal line, a first metallic pathway, a second metallic pathway, and an isolating dielectric;
a high-resistivity ruthenium oxide thin film directly on the substrate; and
a capping dielectric directly above the high-resistivity ruthenium oxide thin film;
wherein:
the resistivity of the high-resistivity ruthenium oxide thin film is in the range of 0.01 to 1 Ω cm;
the high-resistivity ruthenium oxide thin film is doped with nitrogen and/or or hydrogen;
the first metallic pathway connects a first portion of the high-resistivity ruthenium oxide thin film to the first BEOL metal line;
the second metallic pathway connects a second portion of the high-resistivity ruthenium oxide thin film to the second BEOL metal line;
the isolating dielectric is below at least a portion of the high-resistivity ruthenium oxide thin film; and
at least a portion of the isolating dielectric is between the first metallic pathway and the second metallic pathway.

2. The structure of claim 1 wherein the thickness of the high-resistivity ruthenium oxide thin film is in the range of 10 to 500 nm.

3. The structure of claim 1 wherein the O/Ru atomic ratio in the high-resistivity ruthenium oxide thin film is in the range of 2.01 to 4.82.

4. The structure of claim 1 wherein the high-resistivity ruthenium oxide thin film is N-doped and the phase is amorphous.

5. The structure of claim 1 wherein the high-resistivity ruthenium oxide thin film is N-doped with a N/Ru atomic ratio in the range of 0.5 to 3.

6. The structure of claim 1 wherein high-resistivity ruthenium oxide thin film is N-doped with a N/O atomic ratio in the range of 0.3 to 0.7.

7. The structure of claim 1 wherein the high-resistivity ruthenium oxide thin film is H-doped and the phase is crystalline.

8. The structure of claim 1 wherein the high-resistivity ruthenium oxide thin film has a rectangular shape in a plan-view image with a length to width aspect ratio greater than or equal to 2.

9. The structure of claim 8 wherein the first portion of the high-resistivity ruthenium oxide thin film and the second portion of the high-resistivity ruthenium oxide thin film are on opposite ends of the rectangular shape in the length direction.

Assignees

• Hrl Lab Llc

Inventors

• Son Kyung-Ah
• Patterson Pamela R
• Seo Hwa Chang
• Crowell Jack A
• Doria Joshua M
• Taboada Mariano J

Classifications

• C23C14/34

  Sputtering · CPC title

• C23C14/5846

  Reactive treatment · CPC title

• C23C14/08 Primary

  Oxides (C23C14/10 takes precedence) · CPC title

• C23C14/5806

  Thermal treatment · CPC title

• G01K7/02 Primary

  using thermoelectric elements, e.g. thermocouples · CPC title