MIM capacitor integration for mixed-signal/RF applications

The relentless drive toward high-speed and high-density silicon-based integrated circuits (ICs) has necessitated significant advances in processing technology. The entrance of copper metallization in IC manufacturing has resulted in new challenges in metal-insulator-metal (MIM) capacitor fabrication, one of the key building blocks in analog/mixed signal/RFCMOS circuits. The requirement to reduce passive chip space has led to active researches for MIM with high dielectric constant (κ) film. This paper provides an overview of MIM capacitor integration issues with the transition from AlCu backend of line (BEOL) to Cu BEOL. The key to MIM capacitor electrical properties can be achieved with optimized dielectrics. The different MIM capacitor architectures published are also described. Special emphasis is made on the properties of various MIM with high-κ dielectrics in the last section.