Reducing copper defects during wet-chemical cleaning of exposed copper surfaces in a metallization layer of a semiconductor device

摘要

By incorporating a wet chemical cleaning solution, such as hydrofluoric acid, in a pressurized inert gas environment prior to applying the solution to structured dielectric materials of semiconductor devices, the incorporation of oxygen into the liquid during storage and use can be significantly reduced. For example, by generating a substantially saturated state in the pressurized inert gas environment, a substantially supersaturated state can be achieved during application of the liquid in ambient air, thereby improving the efficiency of the treatment, for example by reducing the amount of material removed from exposed copper surfaces after trench structuring is reduced without requiring sophisticated modifications to process chambers.