2. MIM capabilities

The second ALD application put into production concerns analog and radio-frequency technologies, with the introduction of Metal/Isolvent/Metal (MIM) capacitors. These capacitors are introduced at the interconnection level, between two copper lines (figure 5 ). They are planar, as a trench structure would take the place of the interconnection lines, which is not desirable for the intended applications. High voltages are applied to this type of capacitor, of the order of 5 V (compared with 0.5 – 0.8 V applied in DRAM capacitors). The oxide layers must be sufficiently thick, on the order of 40-50 nm, for the electric fields present in the oxide...