We disclose a method of applying a sculptured layer of material on a 
semiconductor feature surface using 
ion deposition 
sputtering, wherein a surface onto which the sculptured layer is applied is protected to 
resist erosion and 
contamination by impacting ions of a depositing layer, said method comprising the steps of: a) applying a first portion of a sculptured layer with sufficiently low substrate bias that a surface onto which said sculptured layer is applied is not eroded away or contaminated in an amount which is harmful to said 
semiconductor device performance or 
longevity; and b) applying a subsequent portion of said sculptured layer with sufficiently high substrate bias to sculpture a shape from said the first portion, while depositing additional layer material. The method is particularly applicable to the sculpturing of barrier 
layers, 
wetting layers, and conductive 
layers upon 
semiconductor feature surfaces and is especially helpful when the conductive layer is 
copper. In the application of a 
barrier layer, a first portion of 
barrier layer material is deposited on the 
substrate surface using standard 
sputtering techniques or using an 
ion deposition 
plasma, but in combination with sufficiently low 
substrate bias voltage (including at no applied substrate 
voltage) that the surfaces impacted by ions are not sputtered in an amount which is harmful to device performance or 
longevity. Subsequently, a second portion of barrier material is applied using 
ion deposition 
sputtering at increased 
substrate bias voltage which causes resputtering (sculpturing) of the first portion of 
barrier layer material, while enabling a more anisotropic deposition of newly depositing material. A conductive material, and particularly a 
copper seed layer applied to the feature may be accomplished using the same sculpturing technique as that described above with reference to the barrier layer.