titanium tungsten tiw titanium nitride tin or chromium cr among others the barrier layer 59 forms a strong mechanical and chemical bond between the conductive material which will be formed later and the insulating layer 54 to help prevent peeling of the formed conductive layer from the insulating layer in a preferred embodiment of the invention the barrier layer 59 is formed of sputtered tantalum in this embodiment tantalum is deposited to a thickness of about 5 nm to about 10 nm this layer may also be comprised of a ferromagnetic material deposited on the barrier or in place of the barrier for the purpose of field focusing next as illustrated in fig1 a conductive material layer 60 is formed over the barrier layer 59 and the insulating layer 54 to fill in the grooves 58 in a preferred embodiment the conductive material comprises copper cu however other conductive materials such as aluminum tungsten or gold among others may be used also further metal alloys may be employed also depending on desired characteristics of the ic device the conductive material layer 60 is formed over the barrier layer 59 by deposition for example and then excess material is removed to form metal lines 62 fig1 in.