A method for forming the electrical interconnect levels and circuit elements
of
an integrated circuit is provided by the present invention. The method utilizes
a relatively thin layer of conductive material having a higher resistance than
the metal typically used to form electrical interconnections, such as titanium
nitride, to provide relatively short local interconnections between circuit elements
of the integrated circuit. In addition, this same thin layer of conductive material
is used to form macro elements such as capacitors, resistors, and fuses in the
integrated circuit. By allowing the removal of space consuming transverse electrical
interconnect lines from the interconnect levels, the present invention increases
the routing density of the electrical interconnect levels. Furthermore, by allowing
these local electrical interconnections to be produced during the same manufacturing
step as the macro elements of the integrated circuit, the method of the present
invention tends to reduce the number of steps required to produce an integrated circuit.
