Following the deposition of the Metal 7 Aluminum layer in the bond pad module, a top Ta-based liner must be deposited prior to photolithography P1.Unlike earlier Back-End-Of-Line (BEOL) Ta-based liner depositions in this flow (such as steps 155, 171, and 187), which serve as bottom and sidewall diffusion barriers for copper interconnects to prevent Cu drift into low-k dielectrics P2, this specific step functions primarily as a protective capping layer and anti-reflective coating (ARC) for the un