Lam Research Corporation

International Business Machines Corporation

Michael Goss

Bhaskar Nagabhirava

Stefan Schmitz

Prabhakara Gopaladasu

Peng Wang

Adarsh Basavalingappa

Phil Friddle

S M Reza Sadjadi

Randolph F Knarr

Helen H Zhu

James R Bowers

Yann Mignot

Dominik Metzler

David R Pirkle

Ji Soo Kim

Ian J Morey

Conan Chiang

Noel Sun

Si Yi Li

Daehan Choi

Naveed Ansari

Phillip Friddle

Jae Ho Lee

Wayne Babie

Changwoo Lee

Methods of patterning vias and trenches using a polymerization protective liner after forming a lower patterned mask layer used for etching trenches on a semiconductor substrate prior to forming an upper patterned mask layer used for etching vias are provided. Methods involve forming a polymerization protective liner either nonconformally or conformally using silicon tetrachloride and methane polymerization. Polymerization protective liners may be sacrificial.

Polymerization protective liner for reactive ion etch in patterning

A method for selectively etching an etch layer with respect to a mask is provided. An etch process is provided comprising a plurality of etch cycles, wherein each etch cycle comprises providing a deposition phase and an etch phase. The deposition phase comprises providing a flow of a deposition phase gas, comprising a fluorocarbon or hydrofluorocarbon containing gas and an oxygen containing gas with a fluorocarbon or hydrofluorocarbon to oxygen ratio, providing a RF power, which forms the deposition phase gas into a plasma, and stopping the deposition phase. The etch phase, comprises providing a flow of an etch phase gas, comprising a fluorocarbon or hydrofluorocarbon containing gas and an oxygen containing gas with a fluorocarbon or hydrofluorocarbon to oxygen ratio that is lower than the fluorocarbon or hydrofluorocarbon to oxygen ratio of the deposition phase gas, providing a RF power, and stopping the etch phase.

Method for selectively etching with reduced aspect ratio dependence

A method for selectively etching trenches in a silicon oxide containing layer with an organic planarization layer is provided. Processing the silicon oxide layer comprises a plurality of process cycles, wherein each etch cycle comprises a deposition phase, comprising providing a flow of a deposition phase gas comprising a fluorocarbon or hydrofluorocarbon containing gas with a fluorine to carbon ratio, providing a constant RF power, which forms the deposition phase gas into a plasma, and stopping the deposition phase and an etch phase, comprising providing a flow of an etch phase gas comprising a fluorocarbon or hydrofluorocarbon containing gas with a fluorine to carbon ratio that is higher than the fluorine to carbon ratio of the deposition phase gas, providing a pulsed RF power, which forms the etch phase gas into a plasma, and stopping the etch phase.

Method for selectively etching silicon oxide with respect to an organic mask

A method of performing a sidewall image transfer (SIT) process includes arranging a substrate within a substrate processing chamber, wherein the substrate includes a mandrel layer formed on the substrate and etching the mandrel layer to form a plurality of mandrels. The method further includes, without removing the substrate from within the substrate processing chamber and subsequent to etching the mandrel layer, depositing a thin spacer layer such that the thin spacer layer is formed on upper surfaces of the plurality of mandrels, sidewalls of the plurality of mandrels, and portions of the substrate between the sidewalls of the plurality of mandrels, subsequent to depositing the thin spacer layer, etching the thin spacer layer to remove the thin spacer layer from the upper surfaces of the mandrels and the portions of the substrate between the sidewalls of the plurality of mandrels such that only the thin spacer layer formed on the sidewalls of the plurality of mandrels remains, and, subsequent to etching the thin spacer layer from the upper surfaces of the mandrels and the portions of the substrate between the sidewalls of the plurality of mandrels, etching the plurality of mandrels to remove the plurality of mandrels from the substrate such that only the thin spacer layer formed on the sidewalls of the plurality of mandrels remains on the substrate.

Systems and methods for performing in-situ deposition of sidewall image transfer spacers

A method for forming semiconductor devices is provided. A gate stack is formed over a surface of a substrate. A plurality of cycles for forming polymer spacers on sides of the gate stack is provided, where each cycle comprises providing a deposition phase that deposits material on the sides of the polymer spacer and over the surface of the substrate, and providing a cleaning phase that removes polymer over the surface of the substrate and shapes a profile of the deposited material. Dopant is implanted into the substrate using the polymer spacers as a dopant mask. The polymer spacers are removed.

Removable spacer

Method for etching a feature in an integrated circuit wafer with minimized effect of micromasking. The method introduces a flow of etchant gas including a fluorocarbon gas to the wafer, and uses the etchant gas to form a plasma in proximity with at least a portion of the wafer. The plasma is used to etch at least a portion of the feature in the wafer. Disassociation of the fluorocarbon into fluorine and hydrocarbon species performs two functions. The fluorine species prevents or significantly reduces sputtered hardmask components from depositing on the floor of the etched feature during etching. The hydrocarbon species acts to form a passivation layer on the sidewalls of the feature.

Unique process chemistry for etching organic low-k materials

The invention provides a process for plasma etching silicon carbide with selectivity to an overlapping and/or underlying dielectric layer of material. The etching gas includes a hydrogen-containing fluorocarbon gas such as CH F, an oxygen-containing gas such as O and an optional carrier gas such as Ar. The dielectric material can comprise silicon dioxide, silicon nitride, silicon oxynitride or various low-k dielectric materials including organic low-k materials. In order to achieve a desired selectivity to such dielectric materials, the plasma etch gas chemistry is selected to achieve a desired etch rate of the silicon carbide while etching the dielectric material at a slower rate. The process can be used to selectively etch a hydrogenated silicon carbide etch stop layer or silicon carbide substrates.

Method of plasma etching of silicon carbide

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Holliston, MA, United States of America

Michael Goss