Koninklijke Philips Corporation N.v.

Johannes Van Wingerden

Peter Dirksen

Dirk Maarten Knotter

Casparus Anthonius Henricus Juffermans

Madelon Gertruda Josephina Rovers

Jeroen Herman Lammers

David Van Steenwinckel

Peter Zandbergen

Yuri Aksenov

Petrus Maria Meijer

Walterus Theodorus Franciscus Maria De Laat

Robert Duncan Morton

Laurent Marinier

A method of irradiating to pattern a photosensitive layer such as a resist (L) immersed in a fluid (L), involves applying a removable transparent layer (L, L), projecting the radiation onto the resist through the immersion fluid and through the transparent layer, such that imperfections in the fluid are out of focus as projected on the surface, and subsequently removing the transparent layer. The transparent layer can help distance such imperfections from the focus of the radiation on the surface and so can reduce or eliminate shadowing. Hence the irradiation can be more complete, and defects reduced. It can be particularly effective for imperfections in the form of small bubbles or particles in the immersion fluid especially at the fluid/surface interface for example. The radiation can be for any purpose including inspection, processing, patterning and so on. The removal of the transparent layer can be combined with a step of developing the resist layer.

Removable pellicle for immersion lithography

For lithographically manufacturing a device with a very high density, a design mask pattern () is distributed on a number of sub-patterns () by means of a new method. The sub-patterns do not comprise 'forbidden' structures () and can be transferred by conventional apparatus to a substrate layer to be patterned. For the transfer, a new stack of layers is used, which comprise a pair of a processing layer () and an inorganic anti-reflection layer () for each sub-pattern. After a first processing layer () has been patterned with a first sub-pattern, it is coated with a new resist layer () which is exposed with a second sub-pattern, and a second processing layer () under the first processing layer is processed with the second sub-pattern.

Lithographic method of manufacturing a device

The invention relates to a method of manufacturing a semiconductor device, comprising the provision of a substrate with a layer of silicon thereon, an inorganic anti-reflective layer applied to the layer of silicon, and a resist mask applied to the inorganic anti-reflective layer, which method comprises the steps of:

Method of wet etching an inorganic antireflection layer

The invention relates to a method of manufacturing a semiconductor device comprising the step of removing a silicon and nitrogen containing material by means of wet etching with an aqueous solution comprising hydrofluoric acid in a low concentration, the aqueous solution being applied under elevated pressure to reach a temperature above 100&#xb0; C.

Method of wet etching a silicon and nitrogen containing material

The invention relates to a method of manufacturing a semiconductor device, comprising the provision of a substrate ( ) having a dielectric layer ( ) on this substrate ( ), a conductive layer ( ) on the dielectric layer ( ), an inorganic anti-reflection coating ( ) on the conductive layer ( ), and a resist mask ( ) on the inorganic anti-reflection coating ( ). The method further comprises the following steps: patterning the inorganic anti-reflection coating ( ) by means of the resist mask ( ), patterning the conductive layer ( ) by etching down to the dielectric layer ( ), removing the resist mask ( ), and removing the inorganic anti-reflection coating ( ). According to the invention, the inorganic anti-reflection coating ( ) is removed by means of a dry etch, using a polymerizing gas. It is achieved by this that no or hardly any changes in the critical dimension will occur.

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Leuven, Belgium

Johannes Van Wingerden