Chartered Semiconductor Manufacturing Ltd (corporation)

Jian Hui Ye

Mei Sheng Zhou

Bo Yu

Qing Hua Zhong

Interconnects for integrated circuits, such as damascene structures are formed using a hard mask. The hard mask is formed from, for example, high-k dielectric material such as hafnium oxide or other materials having high etch selectivity to the interconnect dielectric material. This enables a thin mask to etch vias and trenches in the interconnect dielectric layer, avoiding the problems associated with the use of thick mask layers, such as contact hole striations and small depth of focus, which can result in shorts or opens.

Damascene contact structure for integrated circuits

A method for forming insulator filled, shallow trench isolation regions, with rounded corners, has been developed. The process features the use of a polymer coated opening, in an insulator layer, used as a mask to define the shallow trench region in silicon. After completion of the shallow trench formation the polymer spacers are removed, exposing a region of unetched semiconductor, that had been protected by the polymer spacers, during the shallow trench dry etching procedure. The sharp corner, at the intersection between the shallow trench and the unetched region of semiconductor, is then converted to a rounded corner, via thermal oxidation of exposed silicon surfaces. The polymer spacers also eliminate the top corner wraparound.

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Sunnyvale, CA, United States of America

Jian Hui Ye