International Business Machines Corporation

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Benjamin Madon

Aakash Pushp

Brian Peter Hughes

Vincent Ouazan-Reboul

Forming a hardmask layer for reactive ion etching includes depositing a hardmask above an underlayer. The hardmask includes a layer of magnesium oxide having a thickness of up to 10 nm. A resist layer is deposited above the hardmask and developed to form a pattern that exposes portions of the hardmask. The pattern is transferred from the resist layer to the hardmask by rinsing exposed portions of the hardmask with a deionized water solution.

Magnesium oxide based hardmask for reactive ion etching

A titanium (Ti) seed layer is formed from a Ti source directly on a surface of a substrate, where the surface is substantially free of oxide and nitride, and a reactive nitrogen species is introduced from a nitrogen plasma source and additional Ti is introduced from the Ti source, wherein the nitrogen plasma: (a) reacts with the Ti seed layer to form TiN and (b) reacts with the additional Ti to form additional TiN. The TiN and additional TiN collectively form a TiN superconducting layer that directly contacts the surface of the substrate.

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San Jose, CA, United States of America

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