Wednesday, April 16, 2025

Applied Materials Unveils Industry-First Ruthenium-Cobalt Liner and Next-Gen Dielectrics to Enable 2nm Chip Wiring and Boost 3D Stacking for Energy-Efficient AI Computing

Applied Materials has announced new materials engineering breakthroughs aimed at improving energy efficiency in computing by enabling copper wiring to scale down to the 2nm node and beyond. Central to this innovation is the industry’s first high-volume use of ruthenium in a binary metal liner with cobalt (RuCo), which allows for thinner liners, improved copper fill, and up to 25% lower electrical resistance. This innovation, part of the new Endura™ Copper Barrier Seed IMS™ system, combines six process technologies in one high-vacuum system and is already being adopted by major logic chipmakers. These advances address the increasing challenges of interconnect resistance and mechanical weakness as chip feature sizes shrink.


Applied Materials’ new Endura™ Copper Barrier Seed IMS™ with Volta™ Ruthenium CVD combines six different technologies in one high-vacuum system, including an industry-first combination of materials that enables chipmakers to scale copper wiring to the 2nm node and beyond.

Complementing this, Applied also introduced an enhanced version of its long-standing Black Diamond™ low-k dielectric material, designed to reduce capacitance and reinforce chip strength — critical for advanced 3D stacking in logic and memory chips. These solutions help overcome scaling limitations associated with Moore’s Law and are critical for sustaining AI-driven computing advancements. As demand for high-performance, energy-efficient chips grows, Applied’s innovations are expanding its served market for interconnect technologies, which is projected to reach $7 billion per 100K wafer starts per month with the addition of backside power delivery.



With the semiconductor industry’s first use of ruthenium in high-volume production, Applied Materials' new binary metal combination of ruthenium and cobalt (RuCo) enables copper chip wiring to be scaled to the 2nm node and beyond and reduces electrical line resistance by as much as 25 percent.


Applied Materials today introduced an enhanced version of the company’s Producer™ Black Diamond™ PECVD dielectric film. This new material enables chip scaling to 2nm and below, while offering increased mechanical strength to help take 3D logic and memory stacking to new heights.



The new Producer™ Enhanced Black Diamond™ dielectric is a revolutionary product, enabling next-generation chips of the AI era. Enhanced Black Diamond™ addresses two key issues in leading-edge chips. As wires become closer together, parasitic capacitance increases. The phenomenon slows signals down, worsening performance and energy consumption. Additionally, damaging plasma manufacturing processes can cause the thinner insulating dielectric material between wires to fracture or collapse, potentially leading to chip failure (Embedded from Youtube : https://youtu.be/uJju9KNA-yE?si=ae-Eqc0Qaf5J8e0W).

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Photos accompanying this announcement are available at



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