Lam Research Corporation

Boris Volosskiy

Yang Pan

Jengyi Yu

Richard Stephan Wise

Hui-Jung Wu

Samantha S H Tan

Nader Shamma

Yu Jiang

Samantha SiamHwa Tan

Timothy William Weidman

Da Li

Sivananda K Kanakasabapathy

Seongjun Heo

Samantha Siamhwa Tan

Yiwen Fan

Chenghao Wu

Kevin Li Gu

Jeffrey S Marks

Artur Kolics

Richard Alan Gottscho

Wenbing Yang

Praveen Nalla

Taeseung Kim

Daniel Peter

Liu Yang

Novy Sastrawati Tjokro

Ge Yuan

Katie Lynn Nardi

Chen-Wei Liang

Andrew Liang

Development of resists are useful, for example, to form a patterning mask in the context of high-resolution patterning. Development can be accomplished using a halide-containing chemistry such as a hydrogen halide. A metal-containing resist film may be deposited on a semiconductor substrate using a dry or wet deposition technique. The resist film may be an EUV-sensitive organo-metal oxide or organo-metal-containing thin film resist. After exposure, the photopatterned metal-containing resist is developed using wet or dry development.

Photoresist development with halide chemistries

Disclosed herein are methods and apparatuses for exposing an organic metal-oxide film to a blanket UV treatment prior to a lithographic patterning operation. A blanket UV treatment may be used to shift a solubility curve of the film, such that a lower EUV dose may be used to pattern the film. Additionally, a blanket UV treatment may be used after development to further cure the film.

Pre-exposure photoresist curing to enhance EUV lithographic performance

A method of processing a substrate includes: providing a substrate having one or more mandrels comprising a mandrel material, wherein a layer of a spacer material coats horizontal surfaces and sidewalls of the one or more mandrels; and etching and completely removing the layer of the spacer material from the horizontal surfaces of the one or more mandrels and thereby exposing the mandrel material, without completely removing the spacer material residing at the sidewalls of the one or more mandrels. The etching includes exposing the substrate to a plasma formed using a mixture comprising a first gas and a polymer-forming gas, and wherein the etching comprises forming a polymer on the substrate. Polymer-forming gas may include carbon (C) and hydrogen (H).

Tin oxide films in semiconductor device manufacturing

Tin oxide film on a semiconductor substrate is etched selectively in a presence of photoresist by exposing the substrate to at least one of hydrogen-based chemistry and chlorine-based chemistry. In some implementations, a method of processing a semiconductor substrate starts by providing a semiconductor substrate having a patterned photoresist layer overlying a tin oxide layer. Next, openings are etched in the tin oxide layer using the patterned photoresist layer as a mask, and using at least one of a hydrogen-based etch chemistry and a chlorine-based etch chemistry. After the openings have been etched in the tin oxide layer, the photoresist layer is removed using an oxygen-based etch chemistry.

Dry development of resists can be useful, for example, to form a patterning mask in the context of high-resolution patterning. Dry development may be advantageously accomplished by a method of processing a semiconductor substrate including providing in a process chamber a photopatterned resist on a substrate layer on a semiconductor substrate, and dry developing the photopatterned resist by removing either an exposed portion or an unexposed portion of the resist by a dry development process comprising exposure to a chemical compound to form a resist mask. The resist may be an EUV-sensitive organo-metal oxide or organo-metal-containing thin film EUV resist.

Dry development of resists

Tin oxide films are used as mandrels in semiconductor device manufacturing. In one implementation the process starts by patterning a tin oxide layer using at least one of a hydrogen-based etch chemistry and a chlorine-based etch chemistry, and using patterned photoresist as a mask, thereby providing a substrate having a plurality of protruding tin oxide features (mandrels). Next, a conformal layer of spacer material is formed both on the horizontal surfaces and on the sidewalls of the mandrels. The spacer material is then removed from the horizontal surfaces exposing the tin oxide material of the mandrels, without fully removing the spacer material residing at the sidewalls of the mandrels. Next, mandrels are selectively removed (e.g., using hydrogen-based etch chemistry), while leaving the spacer material that resided at the sidewalls of the mandrels. The resulting spacers can be used for patterning underlying layers on the substrate.

Tin oxide mandrels in patterning

Tin oxide film on a semiconductor substrate is etched selectively with an etch selectivity of at least 10 in a presence of silicon (Si), carbon (C), or a carbon-containing material (e.g., photoresist) by exposing the substrate to a process gas comprising hydrogen (H) and a hydrocarbon (e.g., at a hydrogen/hydrocarbon ratio of at least 5), such that a carbon-containing polymer is formed on the substrate. In some embodiments an apparatus for processing a semiconductor substrate includes a process chamber configured for housing the semiconductor substrate and a controller having program instructions on a non-transitory medium for causing selective etching of a tin oxide layer on a substrate in a presence of silicon, carbon, or a carbon-containing material by exposing the substrate to a plasma formed in a process gas that includes Hand a hydrocarbon.

Provided herein are methods and systems for reducing roughness of an EUV resist and improving etched features. The methods involve descumming an EUV resist, filling divots of the EUV resist, and protecting EUV resists with a cap. The resulting EUV resist has smoother features and increased selectivity to an underlying layer, which improves the quality of etched features. Following etching of the underlying layer, the cap may be removed.

Atomic layer etch and selective deposition process for extreme ultraviolet lithography resist improvement

Tin oxide films are used as mandrels in semiconductor device manufacturing. In one implementation the process starts by providing a substrate having a plurality of protruding tin oxide features (mandrels) residing on an exposed etch stop layer. Next, a conformal layer of spacer material is formed both on the horizontal surfaces and on the sidewalls of the mandrels. The spacer material is then removed from the horizontal surfaces exposing the tin oxide material of the mandrels, without fully removing the spacer material residing at the sidewalls of the mandrel (e.g., leaving at least 50%, such as at least 90% of initial height at the sidewall). Next, mandrels are selectively removed (e.g., using hydrogen-based etch chemistry), while leaving the spacer material that resided at the sidewalls of the mandrels. The resulting spacers can be used for patterning the etch stop layer and underlying layers.

Tin oxide film on a semiconductor substrate is etched selectively in a presence of silicon (Si), carbon (C), or a carbon-containing material (e.g., photoresist) by exposing the substrate to a process gas comprising hydrogen (H) and a hydrocarbon. The hydrocarbon significantly improves the etch selectivity. In some embodiments an apparatus for processing a semiconductor substrate includes a process chamber configured for housing the semiconductor substrate and a controller having program instructions on a non-transitory medium for causing selective etching of a tin oxide layer on a substrate in a presence of silicon, carbon, or a carbon-containing material by exposing the substrate to a plasma formed in a process gas that includes Hand a hydrocarbon.

Tin oxide films are used as spacers and hardmasks in semiconductor device manufacturing. In one method, tin oxide layer is formed conformally over sidewalls and horizontal surfaces of protruding features on a substrate. A passivation layer is then formed over tin oxide on the sidewalls, and tin oxide is then removed from the horizontal surfaces of the protruding features without being removed at the sidewalls of the protruding features. The material of the protruding features is then removed while leaving the tin oxide that resided at the sidewalls of the protruding features, thereby forming tin oxide spacers. Hydrogen-based and chlorine-based dry etch chemistries are used to selectively etch tin oxide in a presence of a variety of materials. In another method a patterned tin oxide hardmask layer is formed on a substrate by forming a patterned layer over an unpatterned tin oxide and transferring the pattern to the tin oxide.

A method of depositing a metal seed for performing bottom-up gapfill of features of a substrate includes providing a substrate including a plurality of features; flowing a dilute metal precursor solution into the features, wherein the dilute metal precursor solution includes a metal precursor and a dilution liquid; evaporating the dilution liquid to locate the metal precursor at bottoms of the plurality of features; exposing the substrate to a plasma treatment to reduce the metal precursor to at least one of a metal or a metal alloy and to form a seed layer; performing a heat treatment on the substrate; and using a selective gapfill process to fill the features with a transition metal in contact with the seed layer.

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San Jose, CA, United States of America

Boris Volosskiy