| abstract |
A method of removing oxidized and discolored areas from a copper surface uses a mixture of a reactive gas, such as NH¶3¶, and a purge gas, such as N¶2¶, with a relatively low radio frequency power to remove essentially all of the copper oxide to remove from the surface. A silicon-containing cover layer is then preferably formed on the copper surface, the deposition process being able to be carried out immediately after the surface treatment without an additional transition step, since the process conditions which are required for the deposition already exist in the reaction chamber. |