US Patent Issued to INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES on March 25 for "Top via patterning using metal as hard mask and via conductor" (New York Inventors)

ALEXANDRIA, Va., March 26 -- United States Patent no. 12,261,056, issued on March 25, was assigned to INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES Corp. (Armonk, N.Y.).

"Top via patterning using metal as hard mask and via conductor" was invented by Nicholas Anthony Lanzillo (Wynantskill, N.Y.), Huai Huang (Clifton Park, N.Y.), Hosadurga Shobha (Niskayuna, N.Y.), Lawrence A. Clevenger (Saratoga Springs, N.Y.) and Chanro Park (Clifton Park, N.Y.).

According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "A semiconductor structure comprising a substrate, a first metal layer on top of the substrate, a second metal layer on top of the first metal layer and a dielectric layer adjacent to the second metal layer and at least part of the firs...