US Patent Issued to INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES on April 7 for "Top via on subtractively etched conductive line" (New York, Vermont Inventors)

ALEXANDRIA, Va., April 7 -- United States Patent no. 12,598,970, issued on April 7, was assigned to INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES Corp. (Armonk, N.Y.).

"Top via on subtractively etched conductive line" was invented by Brent Anderson (Jericho, Vt.), Lawrence A. Clevenger (Saratoga Springs, N.Y.), Kisik Choi (Watervliet, N.Y.), Nicholas Anthony Lanzillo (Wynantskill, N.Y.), Christopher J. Penny (Saratoga Springs, N.Y.) and Robert Robison (Rexford, N.Y.).

According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "A method for fabricating a semiconductor device including a self-aligned top via includes subtractively etching a conductive layer to form at least a first conductive line on a substrate. After the subtractive etc...