ALEXANDRIA, Va., Aug. 20 -- United States Patent no. 12,394,717, issued on Aug. 19, was assigned to TAIWAN SEMICONDUCTOR MANUFACTURING COMPANY LTD. (Hsinchu, Taiwan).

"Graphite-based interconnects and methods of fabrication thereof" was invented by Shu-Cheng Chin (Hsinchu, Taiwan) and Chih-Chien Chi (Hsinchu, Taiwan).

According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "Barrier-free interconnects and methods of fabrication thereof are disclosed herein. An exemplary interconnect structure has a conductive line disposed over a conductive via. The conductive line has a first conductive plug disposed in a first dielectric layer, and the first conductive plug includes an electrically conductive non-metal material, such a...