ALEXANDRIA, Va., Jan. 13 -- United States Patent no. 12,525,529, issued on Jan. 13, was assigned to International Business Machines Corp. (Armonk, N.Y.).
"Forming line end vias" was invented by Chanro Park (Clifton Park, N.Y.), Yann Mignot (Slingerlands, N.Y.), Nicholas Anthony Lanzillo (Wynantskill, N.Y.) and Chih-Chao Yang (Glenmont, N.Y.).
According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "An integrated circuit structure includes a metal line that has an upper surface defining a periphery; a dielectric spacer that is formed around the periphery of the upper surface of the metal line; and a metal via that contacts the metal line and the dielectric spacer adjacent to the periphery of the upper surface. A method f...