Applied Materials, Inc.

Shing-Li Sung

Shawming Ma

Judy Wang

Bryan Y Pu

Wonseok Lee

A plasma etch process for successively different layers, including an anti-reflection coating (ARC), an amorphous carbon layer (ACL) and a dielectric layer, with successively different etch chemistries is performed in a single plasma reactor chamber. A first transition step is performed after etching the ARC by replacing the fluorine-containing process gas used in the ARC etch step with an inert species process gas. A flush step is performed after etching the ACL by replacing the hydrogen-containing process gas used in the ACL etch step with argon gas.

Dielectric plasma etch process with in-situ amorphous carbon mask with improved critical dimension and etch selectivity

A method of opening a carbon-based hardmask layer composed of amorphous carbon containing preferably at least 60% carbon and between 10 and 40% hydrogen. The hardmask is opened by plasma etching using an etching gas composed of H, N, and CO. The etching is preferably performed in a plasma etch reactor having an HF biased pedestal electrode and a capacitively VHF biased showerhead.

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Campbell, CA, United States of America

Shing-Li Sung