US Patent 7902062 Electrodepositing a metal in integrated circuit applications

A method is described in which a contact hole (18) to an interconnect (14) in an insulating layer (16) is fabricated. A barrier layer (20) is subsequently applied. Afterward, a photoresist layer (30) is applied, irradiated and developed. With the aid of a galvanic method, a copper contact (32) is then produced in the contact hole (18). Either the barrier layer (20) or an additional boundary electrode layer (22) serves as a boundary electrode in the galvanic process. Critical metal contaminations are minimized in production.