1. A semiconductor device, comprising:
a substrate; and
a metallization system formed above said substrate, said metallization system comprising:
a metal line formed in a dielectric layer and having a top surface, and
a conductive cap layer formed on said top surface, said conductive cap layer being comprised of a ternary alloy including tungsten and at least one metal defined by a standard electrode potential that is less negative compared to a standard electrode potential of cobalt, wherein said at least one metal comprises at least one of aluminum, titanium, gold, silver and platinum.
2. The semiconductor device of claim 1, further comprising a dielectric etch stop layer formed on said conductive cap layer.
3. The semiconductor device of claim 1, further comprising a via formed in a second dielectric layer that is formed above said dielectric layer and said metal line, wherein said via connects to said conductive cap layer.
4. The semiconductor device of claim 3, wherein said via comprises a conductive barrier material that forms an interface with said conductive cap layer.
5. The semiconductor device of claim 1, wherein said ternary alloy comprises phosphorous.
6. The semiconductor device of claim 1, wherein said metal line is comprised of copper.
7. The semiconductor device of claim 1, further comprising transistor elements having a critical dimension of 50 nm or less.
8. The semiconductor device of claim 7, wherein said dielectric material comprises a low-k dielectric material.
9. A method, comprising:
forming an opening in a dielectric layer formed above a substrate of a semiconductor device;
filling said opening with a copper-containing metal to form a metal region; and
forming a cap layer comprised of a ternary alloy at least on a top surface of said metal region, said ternary alloy comprising tungsten and at least one metal having a standard electrode potential that is less negative than a standard electrode potential of cobalt, wherein said at least one metal comprises at least one of aluminum, titanium, gold, silver and platinum.
10. The method of claim 9, wherein said cap layer is formed by performing an electrochemical deposition process.
11. The method of claim 10, wherein said electrochemical deposition process includes an electroless deposition process.
12. The method of claim 9, further comprising cleaning said top surface by a wet chemical cleaning process prior to forming said cap layer.
13. The method of claim 12, further comprising cleaning said cap layer by a wet cleaning process.
14. The method of claim 9, further comprising forming a second dielectric layer above said dielectric layer and said cap layer, forming a via opening in said second dielectric layer that extends at least to said cap layer, and performing a wet chemical cleaning process.
15. The method of claim 14, further comprising depositing a conductive barrier layer in said via opening to form an interface with said ternary alloy of said cap layer.
16. The method of claim 14, wherein said wet chemical cleaning process is performed in the presence of a standard clean room atmosphere.
17. A method, comprising:
performing a plasma etch process to form a via opening in a metallization system of at least one first semiconductor device, said via opening connecting to a first copper-containing metal region in said metallization system;
identifying a wet chemical cleaning recipe designed for removing contaminants from above said first copper-containing metal region after forming said via opening using said plasma etch process;
determining an etch rate when applying said wet chemical cleaning recipe to one or more ternary alloys;
replacing a specified one of the species in said one or more ternary alloys by a substitute species having a less negative standard electrode potential compared to said specified one species when said etch rate is above a predefined threshold; and
for each of a plurality of second semiconductor devices, forming a conductive cap layer above a second copper-containing metal region formed in each of said plurality of second semiconductor devices, said conductive cap layer comprising one of said one or more ternary alloys comprising said substitute species.
18. The method of claim 17, wherein said ternary alloys comprise one of the following materials: a compound comprised of cobalt, tungsten and phosphorous (CoWP); a compound comprised of cobalt, tungsten and boron (CoWB); a compound comprised of nickel, molybdenum and boron (NiMoB); and a compound comprised of nickel, molybdenum and phosphorous (NiMoP).
19. A method, comprising:
forming an opening in a dielectric layer formed above a substrate of a semiconductor device;
filling said opening with a copper-containing metal to form a metal region; and
forming a cap layer comprising a first ternary alloy on at least a top surface of said metal region, wherein said first ternary alloy comprises tungsten and at least one additional metal, and said first ternary alloy has a greater etch resistivity to a wet chemical etch process than a second ternary alloy comprising tungsten and cobalt.
The claims below are in addition to those above.
All refrences to claim(s) which appear below refer to the numbering after this setence.
What is claimed as new and desired to be protected by Letters Patent is set forth in the appended claims.
1. A method of transmitting a position of a traffic information, in particular a traffic obstruction on a traffic way in digital coding messages, comprising the steps of using for coding and decoding of messages transmitter- and receiver- side location data banks; coding a rough position of a traffic information by referencing to the traffic way and at least one location contained in the location data bank and located on the traffic way; and additionally to the location, transmitting a section part between the position and the location.
2. A method as defined in claim 1; and further comprising referring the section part to a section between the coded location and a location on the traffic way which is spaced from the coded location by a measure.
3. A method as defined in claim 1; and further comprising referring the section part to a section between the coded location and a location provided on the same traffic way immediately adjoining the coded location in the data bank.
4. A method as defined in claim 1; and further comprising performing during a coding in accordance with ALERT-C protocol, performing the coding of the section part in Label 15.
5. A method as defined in claim 1; and further comprising during a coding in accordance with ALERT-C protocol, performing the coding of the section part in Label 12.
6. A method as defined in claim 1; and further comprising transmitting by means of the section portion a position of a beginning of a traffic obstruction; and calculating an end of the traffic obstruction from a length transmitted via Label 2.
7. A method as defined in claim 1; and further comprising transmitting by means of the section part a position of a beginning of a traffic obstruction; and calculating an end of the traffic obstruction from a transmitted event code.
8. A method as defined in claim 1; and further comprising when distance data in a location data bank of a receiver are not available, obtaining the distance data from a digital map associated with the receiver.