Semiconductor devices are used in a variety of electronic applications, such as personal computers, cell phones, digital cameras, and other electronic equipment, as examples. The semiconductor industry continues to improve the integration density of various electronic components (e.g., transistors, diodes, resistors, capacitors, etc.) by continual reductions in minimum feature size, which allow more components to be integrated into a given area.
The word “interconnection” in integrated circuits means conductive lines which connect the various electronic components. The interconnecting conductive lines are separated from the substrate by insulating layers, except on the contact area. As feature densities increase, the widths of the conductive lines and the spacing between the conductive lines of interconnect structures also scale smaller.