Method of making a thin film resistor

1. A method of making a thin film resistor, comprising:

(a) forming a doped region in a semiconductor substrate;

(b) forming a first dielectric layer over the substrate;

(c) forming a thin film resistor having contacts over the first dielectric layer;

(d) forming a second dielectric layer over the thin film resistor;

(e) forming a contact hole in the first dielectric layer, wherein the contact hole exposes the doped region;

(f) forming a conductive liner on a sidewall and bottom portion of the contact hole;

(g) planarizing the second dielectric layer to expose contacts of the thin film resistor;

(h) performing a rapid thermal annealing on the thin film resistor and the conductive liner simultaneously;

(i) filling the contact hole with a conductive material; and

(j) forming a conductive contact connecting one of the contacts of the thin film resistor with the conductive material in the contact hole.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein no annealing step is performed between steps (c) and (e).

3. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the thin film resistor is not annealed until after step (e) is performed.

4. The method according to claim 3 , wherein the thin film resistor is annealed a single time.

5. The method according to claim 1 , wherein a thickness of the thin film resistor is about 200 {acute over (Å)} or less.

6. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the thin film resistor comprises a metal resistor.

7. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the thin film resistor comprises SiCr.

8. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the conductive liner comprises titanium nitride or tantalum nitride.

9. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the rapid thermal annealing raises a temperature of the thin film resistor to about 550 degrees C. or hotter.

10. A method of making a thin film resistor, comprising:

(a) forming a doped region in a semiconductor substrate;

(b) forming a first dielectric layer over the substrate;

(c) forming a thin film resistor having contacts over the first dielectric layer;

(d) forming a second dielectric layer over the thin film resistor;

(e) forming a contact hole in the first dielectric layer before annealing the thin film resistor, wherein the contact hole exposes a portion of the doped region;

(f) forming a conductive liner on a sidewall and bottom portion of the contact hole;

(g) planarizing the second dielectric layer to expose contacts of the thin film resistor;

(h) performing rapid thermal annealing on the thin film resistor after forming the contact hole;

(i) filling the contact hole with a conductive material; and

(j) forming a conductive contact connecting one of the contacts of the thin film resistor with the conductive material in the contact hole.

11. The method of claim 10 , wherein step (d) is performed after step (c), and no annealing step is performed on the thin film resistor between steps (c) and (e).

12. The method of claim 10 , wherein step (d) is performed after step (c), and no annealing step is performed on the thin film resistor before step (e).

13. The method according to claim 10 , wherein a thickness of the thin film resistor is about 200 {acute over (Å)} or less.

14. The method according to claim 10 , wherein the thin film resistor comprises a metal resistor.

15. The method according to claim 10 , wherein the thin film resistor comprises SiCr.

16. The method according to claim 10 , further comprising forming a conductive liner comprising titanium nitride or tantalum nitride after step (d), and step (e) includes simultaneously performing a rapid thermal annealing of the conductive liner and the thin film resistor.

17. The method according to claim 10 , wherein the rapid thermal annealing raises a temperature of the thin film resistor to about 550 degrees C. or hotter.