Globalfoundries Inc.

Mingmei Wang

Xiang Hu

Taejoon Han

Gabriel Padron Wells

Liu Huang

Jack Chao-Hsu Chang

Etching a feature of a structure by an etch system is facilitated by varying supply of radio frequency (RF) power pulses to the etch system. The varying provides at least one RF power pulse, of the supplied RF power pulses, that deviates from one or more other RF power pulses, of the supplied RF power pulses, by at least one characteristic.

Feature etching using varying supply of power pulses

Embodiments described herein provide approaches for interconnect formation in a semiconductor device using a sidewall mask layer. Specifically, a sidewall mask layer is deposited on a hard mask in a merged via region of the semiconductor device following removal of a planarization layer previously formed on the hard mask. The sidewall mask layer is conformally deposited on the hard mask, and acts like a sacrificial layer to protect the hard mask during a subsequent via etch. This reduces the via critical dimension (CD) and reduces the CD elongation along the hard mask line direction during the via etch.

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Clifton Park, NY, United States of America

Mingmei Wang