Method of manufacturing capacitors integrated in microelectronic structure

Claim 1

A method of manufacturing capacitors integrated in a microelectronic structure at the surface of a semiconductor body, the plates of these capacitors being obtained from two metal layers which are superimposed, are insulated at least in part from the said semiconductor body and are mutually separated by a layer of insulating material, the dielectric of the said capacitors and their lateral insulation being formed by means of islands and vertical partition walls, respectively, obtained by local anodic oxidation of the lower metal layer, which method is characterized in that, after deposition of the said lower metal layer and of the layer of insulating material covering it, through a first series of apertures provided in the said layer of insulating material, local recesses are provided in this metal layer in order to form therein cavities, in which the dielectric layers in the form of islands of the capacitors are then formed, and in that then through a second series of apertures provided in this same layer of insulating material new recesses are provided in the lower metal layer, in which the vertical partition walls are formed, thus giving the lower plates of the capacitors their ultimate form by insulating them simultaneously electrically from each other.

Claim 2

A method of manufacturing capacitors integrated in a microelectronic structure at the surface of a semiconductor body, the plates of these capacitors being obtained from two metal layers which are superimposed, are insulated at least in part from the said semiconductor body and are mutually separated by a layer of insulating material, the dielectric of the said capacitors and their lateral insulation being formed by means of islands and vertical partition walls, respectively, obtained by local anodic oxidation of the lower metal layer, which method is characterized in that, after deposition of the said lower metal layer and of the layer of insulating material covering it, through a first series of apertures provided in the said layer of insulating material, local recesses are provided in this metal layer in order to form therein cavities, in which the dielectric layers in the form of islands of the capacitors are then formed, and in that then through a second series of apertures provided in this same layer of insulating material new recesses are provided in the lower metal layer, in which the vertical partition walls are formed, thus giving the lower plates of the capacitors their ultimate form by insulating them simultaneously electrically from each other.

Claim 5

A device obtained by the method claimed in any one of claims 1 to 3 and comprising an integrated structure of active and passive elements, at the surface of which a plurality of capacitors has been obtained, which are insulated from each other by vertical insulating partition walls and the plates of each of which are separated by a dielectric layer in the form of an island, the dielectric layer and the vertical insulating partition walls having been obtained by local anodic oxidation of a superficial layer of the lower plate of the said capacitors through apertures provided in a layer of insulating material covering the said plate, which device is characterized in that the outer surface of the local islands constituting the dielectric layer and that of the vertical insulating partition walls present at least in part a difference in level with respect to the surface of the lower plate of the capacitors, and in that the layer of insulating material covering the said plate is at right angles to the periphery of the recesses thus formed.