Tokyo Ohka Kogyo Co., Ltd.

Etsuko Iguchi

Mitsuru Sato

Toshimasa Nakayama

Kiyoshi Ishikawa

Katsumi Oomori

Fumitake Kaneko

Masakazu Kobayashi

Kazumasa Wakiya

Kazufumi Sato

Kazuyuki Nitta

Akiyoshi Yamazaki

Takako Hirosaki

Yoshika Sakai

Takeshi Tanaka

Hiroshi Komano

Jun Koshiyama

Yoshiki Sugeta

Taiichiro Aoki

Yasumitsu Taira

Mitsuro Sato

The invention discloses a protective coating solution suitable for forming a resinous protective coating layer on a patterned resist layer in the manufacture of semiconductor devices having, in particular, crowdedly hole-patterned areas and areas of an isolated hole pattern. The essential ingredients of the solution are (A) a resinous compound such as an acrylic resin and (B) a crosslinking compound such as a triazine compound which are combined in such a proportion of 2:8 to 4:6 by weight that the overall weight-average molecular weight of the components (A) and (B) is in the range from 1300 to 4500. This inventive coating solution is advantageous in respect of evenness in the thickness of the coating layer even on a patterned resist layer having a crowdedly hole-patterned area and an isolatedly hole-patterned area and absence of unfilled voids within the hole patterns.

Protective coating composition for dual damascene process

A method for filling a fine hole, having a hole pattern diameter of less than or equal to 0.18 &mgr;m including steps of: (i) filling the fine hole with filler which is obtained by dissolving into an organic solvent a nitrogen-containing compound having mean molecular weight of less than or equal to 800 and containing at least one compound selected from melamine, benzoguanamine, acetoguanamine, glycol-uril, urea, thiourea, guanidine, alkyleneurea and succinylamide, in which hydrogen atoms of amino groups are substituted by at least one hydroxyalkyl group or an alkoxyalkyl groups or both hydroxyalkyl and alkoxyalkyl groups; (ii) drying the filler; and (iii) heating the filler at a temperature of 150-250&deg; C., whereby no bubbles are generated when the fine hole is filled.

Method for filling fine hole

Disclosed is an anti-reflective coating composition for forming an anti-reflective coating as an undercoating layer is provided, comprising a crosslinking agent, which is at least one compound selected from nitrogen-containing compounds having an amino group(s) and/or an imino group(s) at least two hydrogen atoms of which are substituted by a hydroxyalkyl group(s) and/or an alkoxyalkyl group(s), and an acidic compound, wherein the crosslinking agent is such that the proportion of its low-molecular-weight component not larger than a trimer is adjusted to be 15 wt % or less; a multilayer photoresist material using the composition; and a method for forming a pattern. According to the present invention, even in the formation of a hyperfine pattern, it is possible to provide a photoresist pattern having a rectangular cross-sectional profile in relation to the substrate without causing any undesirable phenomena, such as footing, undercutting, etc. at is bottom.

Anti-reflective coating composition, multilayer photoresist material using the same, and method for forming pattern

The invention discloses an improvement in the photolithographic patterning method of a photoresist layer formed on a substrate surface with intervention of an anti-reflection coating film, in which the refractive index and the light-absorption coefficient of the anti-reflection coating film are controlled in such a way that, in a graph prepared by plotting the thickness of the anti-reflection coating film taken as the abscissa values and the reflectivity of the light for patterning exposure at the interface between the anti-reflection coating film and the photoresist layer thereon taken as the ordinate values, the range of the variation in the film thickness corresponding to an increment of 0.01 in the reflectivity in the vicinity of the minimum point on the thickness vs. reflectivity curve does not exceed &plusmn;0.01 &mgr;m.

Method for forming a finely patterned photoresist layer

Undercoating composition for photolithographic resist

A method for forming a wiring structure on a semiconductor substrate, comprising the following steps: a step for forming a low dielectric constant dielectric film and an etching stopper, sequentially, on said semiconductor substrate; a step for forming a resist mask having a pattern for forming via-holes on the etching stopper film; a step for forming via-holes on the low dielectric constant dielectric film through said resist mask; a step for filling said via-holes with an embedding material and for heating the embedding material to harden; a step for maintaining the embedding material at a predetermined thickness on the bottoms of the via-holes by performing etching back on the embedding material being heated to be harden; a step for forming a resist mask having a pattern for forming trench holes on said etching stopper film; a step for forming the trench holes on said low dielectric film constant dielectric through said resist mask, while removing the embedding material remaining on the bottoms of said via-holes; and a step for embedding metal into said trench holes and said via-holes, wherein the embedding material mainly includes a thermo-bridge forming compound therein, thereby generating no bubbles even when said embedding material is being filled into gutters having a large aspect ratio thereof.

Electric wiring forming method with use of embedding material

Method for the formation of a planarizing coating film on substrate surface

The present invention provides a composition for forming an antireflective coating film which is not liable to intermixing between the resist composition layer and the antireflective coating layer and a method for forming a resist pattern having an excellent dimensional accuracy and section shape. The composition consists of (A) a compound which produces an acid upon irradiation with actinic rays, (B) a compound which undergoes crosslinking reaction in the presence of an acid, (C) a dye and (D) an organic solvent. The method for forming a resist pattern comprises applying the composition for forming an antireflective coating film to a semiconductor substrate, drying the composition coated, irradiating the entire surface of the coated material with actinic rays so that it undergoes crosslinking reaction to form an antireflective coating film thereon, applying a resist composition to the antireflective coating film, drying the coated material, and then subjecting the coated material to lithographic processing to form a resist pattern thereon.

Composition for forming antireflective coating film and method for forming resist pattern using same

Disclosed is an improved, chemically-amplifying positive resist composition for radiations, especially UV rays, deep-UV rays, excimer laser beams, X-rays, electron beams. The composition comprises (A) a resin component whose solubility in an alkaline aqueous solution is increased by the action of acids, (B) a compound which generates an acid when exposed to radiations, and (A) a resin component, (B) an acid-generating agent and (C) an organic carboxylic acid compound, in which said resin component (A) is a mixture comprising (a) a polyhydroxystyrene where from 10 to 60 mol % of the hydroxyl groups have been substituted by residues of a general formula (I): ##STR1## wherein R.sup.1 represents a hydrogen atom or a methyl group, R.sup.2 represents a methyl group or an ethyl group, and R.sup.3 represents a lower alkyl group having 1 to 4 carbon atoms; and (b) a polyhydroxystyrene where from 10 to 60 mol % of the hydroxyl groups have been substituted by tert-butoxy-carbonyloxy groups. The composition has a high sensitivity, a high resolution, high heat resistance, good width characteristic in focus depth and good post-exposure storage stability, has good storage stability as a resist solution, and gives resist patterns with good profiles, without depending on the substrate to which it is applied. The composition is useful for forming fine patterns in producing ultra-LSIs.

Positive resist composition

Proposed is a novel undercoating composition to form an undercoating layer interposed between the surface of a substrate and a photoresist layer with an object to decrease the adverse influences by the reflection of light on the substrate surface in the pattern-wise exposure of the photo-resist layer to ultraviolet light without the undesirable phenomena of intermixing between layers and notching along with a large selectivity ratio in the etching rates between the patterned resist layer and the undercoating layer in a dry-etching treatment. The undercoating composition comprises (A) an ultraviolet absorber which is a benzophenone compound or an aromatic azomethine compound each having at least one unsubstituted or alkyl-substituted amino group on the aryl groups and (B) a crosslinking agent which is preferably a melamine compound having at least two methylol groups or alkoxymethyl groups bonded to the nitrogen atoms in a molecule in a weight proportion (A):(B) in the range from 1:1 to 1:10.

A proposal is made for the photolithographic formation of a patterned resist layer on a substrate without the troubles due to reflection of the exposure light on the substrate surface. Thus, patterning is conducted on a photo-resist laminate comprising (a) a substrate; (b) a specific anti-reflection coating layer formed on one surface of the substrate; and (c) a photoresist layer formed on the anti-reflection coating layer from a specific negative-working chemical-sensitization photoresist composition. The patterning procedure comprises the steps of: (A) exposing, pattern-wise to actinic rays, the photoresist layer of the photoresist laminate; (B) subjecting the photoresist layer to a heat treatment; (C) subjecting the photoresist layer to a development treatment to dissolve away the photoresist layer in the areas unexposed to actinic rays in step (A) so as to expose bare the anti-reflection coating layer in the areas unexposed to the actinic rays leaving a patterned resist layer in the areas exposed to the actinic rays; and (D) removing the pattern-wise exposed anti-reflection coating layer by dry etching with the patterned photoresist layer as a mask.

Photoresist laminate and method for patterning using the same

The present invention provides a method for the formation of a pattern, which comprises applying an antireflective coating film-forming composition solution comprising (A) a compound which undergoes crosslinking reaction when irradiated with actinic rays and (B) a dye to a substrate to form a coating film thereon, entirely irradiating the coating film with actinic rays to form an antireflective coating film, applying a resist solution to the antireflective coating film, drying the coated material to form a resist layer, and then subjecting the coated material to lithographic treatment to form a resist pattern on the antireflective coating film. The method enables the formation of a resist pattern having an excellent dimensional accuracy and section shape without causing the formation of an intermixed layer between the resist composition and antireflective coating film.

Method for the formation of resist pattern

The present invention provides a chemical-amplification-type negative resist composition containing an alkali-soluble resin, a compound capable of generating an acid by irradiation and a crosslinking agent, and the resist composition of the present invention is characterized in that it further contains an organic carboxylic acid compound as an acidic compound and an organic amine compound as an alkaline compound. According to the content of such acidic and alkaline compounds, the negative resist composition achieves a negative resist pattern exhibiting improved definition and an excellent profile with a reduced dependency on the type of substrate as well as a minimized change in the sensitivety and film thickness with the passage of time and a satisfactory PEG margin, and therefore, the negative resist composition of the present invention can be used in the field of manufacturing electronic parts such as semiconductor devices and liquid-crystal display devices, where finer and more precise processing is increasingly required.

Chemical-amplification-type negative resist composition

An undercoating composition layer to intervene between the surface of a substrate, e.g., a silicon wafer, and a photoresist layer to prevent noxious reflection of exposure light on the substrate surface in the photolithographic patterning work for the manufacture of semiconductor devices comprising: (A) a nitrogen-containing organic compound, as a crosslinking agent, having, in a molecule, at least two amino groups each substituted by at least one substituent selected from the group consisting of hydroxyalkyl groups and alkoxyalkyl groups; and (B) a homopolymer of or a copolymer of a mixture of monomers of which one is a (meth)acrylic acid ester of an aromatic hydroxyl compound selected from the group consisting of bisphenylsulfone compounds having at least one hydroxyl group in a molecule and benzophenone compounds having at least one hydroxyl group in a molecule in a specified proportion.

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Machida, Japan

Etsuko Iguchi