Controlling and plasma- and process- induced damage

The progress on the problems and mechanisms involved with process-induced damage was reported at the 6 th International Symposium on Plasma- and Process-induced Damage held in Monterey, California. Introduction of new technologies such as copper, high-k and low-k dielectrics and the emergence of the importance of multiple-terminal devices were focussed as the new issues facing the issues. Researchers compared the nature and degree of damage in Al wires and Cu wires schemes. The damage was found to depend on the design of the overlaying metal.