International Business Machines Corporation

Lam Research Corporation

Stmicroelectronics Gmbh

Zeon Corporation

Other

Globalfoundries Inc.

Tokyo Electron Limited

Freescale Semiconductor,inc.

Asml Netherlands B.v.

Globalfoundries Singapore Pte. Ltd.

Lan Research Corporation

Richard Stephan Wise

Jengyi Yu

Yang Pan

Hongwen Yan

Siddhartha Panda

Ravikumar Ramachandran

Mukta G Farooq

Emily R Kinser

Samantha SiamHwa Tan

Hui-Jung Wu

Kangguo Cheng

Sivananda K Kanakasabapathy

Ying Di Zhang

Xi Li

Lawrence Alfred Clevenger

Bart Jan Van Schravendijk

Wesley Charles Natzle

Patrick A Van Cleemput

David M Dobuzinsky

Yiheng Xu

David Charles Smith

Michael D Armacost

Carl John Radens

John H Zhang

Masahiro Nakamura

Nicholas C M Fuller

Sebastian Ulrich Engelmann

Richard Alan Gottscho

Ying Li

Arpan Pravin Mahorowala

Gregory Costrini

Ali Khakifirooz

Keith Kwong Hon Wong

Reinaldo Ariel Vega

Michael Patrick Chudzik

Andrew D Bailey, Iii

Renee Tong Mo

Unoh Kwon

Tze-Chiang Chen

Siddarth A Krishnan

Meikei Ieong

Rajarao Jammy

Chun-Yung Sung

Saravanapriyan Sriraman

Steven J Holmes

Judson Robert Holt

Adrien Lavoie

Qinghuang Lin

Zhengwen O Li

Thorsten B Lill

Dirk Pfeiffer

Alex Paterson

Bomy A Chen

Harmeet Singh

Jeffrey S Marks

Paul Charles Jamison

Michael P Belyansky

Huajie Chen

Kaushik Arun Kumar

Katherina E Babich

Meihua Shen

Vahid Vahedi

Naim Moumen

Yue Liang

Keren Jacobs Kanarik

Daniel A Corliss

Bruce Bennett Doris

David V Horak

Ramachandra Divakaruni

Vijay Narayanan

Dureseti Chidambarrao

Mark Charles Hakey

Johannes Catharinus Hubertus Mulkens

Timothy Joseph Dalton

Shreesh Narasimha

Sandra Guy Malhotra

Lee Chen

Rolf Weis

Eduard Albert Cartier

Terry Allen Spooner

Vamsi Krishna Paruchuri

Junjing Bao

Vincent James McGahay

Emre Alptekin

Hussein Ibrahim Hanafi

John Christopher Arnold

David Edward Kotecki

Nicole A Saulnier

Viraj Yashawant Sardesai

Girish Anant Dixit

Kathryn Turner Schonenberg

William K Henson

Scott David Halle

Brian L Ji

Diane Catherine Boyd

Xiang Hu

Ahmad D Katnani

Thomas Safron Kanarsky

Cung D Tran

Hari V Mallela

A method of processing a substrate includes: providing a substrate having one or more mandrels comprising a mandrel material, wherein a layer of a spacer material coats horizontal surfaces and sidewalls of the one or more mandrels; and etching and completely removing the layer of the spacer material from the horizontal surfaces of the one or more mandrels and thereby exposing the mandrel material, without completely removing the spacer material residing at the sidewalls of the one or more mandrels. The etching includes exposing the substrate to a plasma formed using a mixture comprising a first gas and a polymer-forming gas, and wherein the etching comprises forming a polymer on the substrate. Polymer-forming gas may include carbon (C) and hydrogen (H).

Tin oxide films in semiconductor device manufacturing

Tin oxide film on a semiconductor substrate is etched selectively in a presence of photoresist by exposing the substrate to at least one of hydrogen-based chemistry and chlorine-based chemistry. In some implementations, a method of processing a semiconductor substrate starts by providing a semiconductor substrate having a patterned photoresist layer overlying a tin oxide layer. Next, openings are etched in the tin oxide layer using the patterned photoresist layer as a mask, and using at least one of a hydrogen-based etch chemistry and a chlorine-based etch chemistry. After the openings have been etched in the tin oxide layer, the photoresist layer is removed using an oxygen-based etch chemistry.

Methods and apparatuses for performing cycles of aspect ratio dependent deposition and aspect ratio independent etching on lithographically patterned substrates are described herein. Methods are suitable for reducing variation of feature depths and/or aspect ratios between features formed and partially formed by lithography, some partially formed features being partially formed due to stochastic effects. Methods and apparatuses are suitable for processing a substrate having a photoresist after extreme ultraviolet lithography. Some methods involve cycles of deposition by plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition and directional etching by atomic layer etching.

Eliminating yield impact of stochastics in lithography

Methods for making thin-films on semiconductor substrates, which may be patterned using EUV, include: depositing the organometallic polymer-like material onto the surface of the semiconductor substrate, exposing the surface to EUV to form a pattern, and developing the pattern for later transfer to underlying layers. The depositing operations may be performed by chemical vapor deposition (CVD), atomic layer deposition (ALD), and ALD with a CVD component, such as a discontinuous, ALD-like process in which metal precursors and counter-reactants are separated in either time or space.

Integrated dry processes for patterning radiation photoresist patterning

Tin oxide films are used as mandrels in semiconductor device manufacturing. In one implementation the process starts by patterning a tin oxide layer using at least one of a hydrogen-based etch chemistry and a chlorine-based etch chemistry, and using patterned photoresist as a mask, thereby providing a substrate having a plurality of protruding tin oxide features (mandrels). Next, a conformal layer of spacer material is formed both on the horizontal surfaces and on the sidewalls of the mandrels. The spacer material is then removed from the horizontal surfaces exposing the tin oxide material of the mandrels, without fully removing the spacer material residing at the sidewalls of the mandrels. Next, mandrels are selectively removed (e.g., using hydrogen-based etch chemistry), while leaving the spacer material that resided at the sidewalls of the mandrels. The resulting spacers can be used for patterning underlying layers on the substrate.

Tin oxide mandrels in patterning

Tin oxide film on a semiconductor substrate is etched selectively with an etch selectivity of at least 10 in a presence of silicon (Si), carbon (C), or a carbon-containing material (e.g., photoresist) by exposing the substrate to a process gas comprising hydrogen (H) and a hydrocarbon (e.g., at a hydrogen/hydrocarbon ratio of at least 5), such that a carbon-containing polymer is formed on the substrate. In some embodiments an apparatus for processing a semiconductor substrate includes a process chamber configured for housing the semiconductor substrate and a controller having program instructions on a non-transitory medium for causing selective etching of a tin oxide layer on a substrate in a presence of silicon, carbon, or a carbon-containing material by exposing the substrate to a plasma formed in a process gas that includes Hand a hydrocarbon.

Provided herein are methods and systems for reducing roughness of an EUV resist and improving etched features. The methods involve descumming an EUV resist, filling divots of the EUV resist, and protecting EUV resists with a cap. The resulting EUV resist has smoother features and increased selectivity to an underlying layer, which improves the quality of etched features. Following etching of the underlying layer, the cap may be removed.

Atomic layer etch and selective deposition process for extreme ultraviolet lithography resist improvement

Thin tin oxide films are used as spacers in semiconductor device manufacturing. In one implementation, formation of spacers involves deposition of a tin oxide layer on a semiconductor substrate having multiple protruding features. The deposition is performed in a deposition apparatus having a controller with program instructions configured to cause sequential contacting of the semiconductor substrate with a tin-containing precursor and an oxygen-containing precursor such as to coat the semiconductor substrate having the protruding features with a tin oxide layer. Next, tin oxide film is removed from horizontal surfaces, without being completely removed from the sidewalls of the protruding features. Next, the material of protruding features is etched away, leaving tin oxide spacers on the semiconductor substrate.

Tin oxide thin film spacers in semiconductor device manufacturing

Methods and apparatuses for processing semiconductor substrates in an integration scheme to form chamferless vias are provided herein. Methods include bifurcating etching of dielectric by depositing a conformal removable sealant layer having properties for selective removal relative to dielectric material without damaging dielectric material. Some methods include forming an ashable conformal sealant layer. Methods also include forming hard masks including a Group IV metal and removing conformal removable sealant layers and hard masks in one operation using same etching chemistries.

Chamfer-less via integration scheme

Thin tin oxide films can be used in semiconductor device manufacturing. In one implementation, a method of processing a semiconductor substrate includes: providing a semiconductor substrate having a plurality of protruding features residing on an etch stop layer material, and an exposed tin oxide layer in contact with both the protruding features and the etch stop layer material, where the tin oxide layer covers both sidewalls and horizontal surfaces of the protruding features; and then completely removing the tin oxide layer from horizontal surfaces of the semiconductor substrate without completely removing the tin oxide layer residing at the sidewalls of the protruding features. Next, the protruding features can be removed without completely removing the tin oxide layer that resided at the sidewalls of the protruding features, thereby forming tin oxide spacers.

Tin oxide films are used as mandrels in semiconductor device manufacturing. In one implementation the process starts by providing a substrate having a plurality of protruding tin oxide features (mandrels) residing on an exposed etch stop layer. Next, a conformal layer of spacer material is formed both on the horizontal surfaces and on the sidewalls of the mandrels. The spacer material is then removed from the horizontal surfaces exposing the tin oxide material of the mandrels, without fully removing the spacer material residing at the sidewalls of the mandrel (e.g., leaving at least 50%, such as at least 90% of initial height at the sidewall). Next, mandrels are selectively removed (e.g., using hydrogen-based etch chemistry), while leaving the spacer material that resided at the sidewalls of the mandrels. The resulting spacers can be used for patterning the etch stop layer and underlying layers.

Tin oxide film on a semiconductor substrate is etched selectively in a presence of silicon (Si), carbon (C), or a carbon-containing material (e.g., photoresist) by exposing the substrate to a process gas comprising hydrogen (H) and a hydrocarbon. The hydrocarbon significantly improves the etch selectivity. In some embodiments an apparatus for processing a semiconductor substrate includes a process chamber configured for housing the semiconductor substrate and a controller having program instructions on a non-transitory medium for causing selective etching of a tin oxide layer on a substrate in a presence of silicon, carbon, or a carbon-containing material by exposing the substrate to a plasma formed in a process gas that includes Hand a hydrocarbon.

Thin tin oxide films are used as spacers in semiconductor device manufacturing. In one implementation, thin tin oxide film is conformally deposited onto a semiconductor substrate having an exposed layer of a first material (e.g., silicon oxide or silicon nitride) and a plurality of protruding features comprising a second material (e.g., silicon or carbon). For example, 10-100 nm thick tin oxide layer can be deposited using atomic layer deposition. Next, tin oxide film is removed from horizontal surfaces, without being completely removed from the sidewalls of the protruding features. Next, the material of protruding features is etched away, leaving tin oxide spacers on the substrate. This is followed by etching the unprotected portions of the first material, without removal of the spacers. Next, underlying layer is etched, and spacers are removed. Tin-containing particles can be removed from processing chambers by converting them to volatile tin hydride.

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Newburgh, NY, United States of America

Richard Stephan Wise