Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Comp. Ltd.

Tsu-Yu Chu

Kun-Pi Cheng

Jui-Yu Chang

Yi-Tung Yen

Chai-Der Chang

I-Chung Chang

The two dimensional intensity profile of radiation applied to a semiconductor wafer during photolithography is controlled by passing the radiation beam through an attenuating member before the beam is imaged by a mask onto the wafer. The attenuating member is preferably ring shaped and is formed of a semi-transparent material such as Mo Bi Si O , or a material that is partially reflective of the radiation.

Method and apparatus for controlling the dose of radiations applied to a semiconductor wafer during photolithography

A method for making advanced guard rings in a stacked film on logic/merged DRAM circuits using a novel mask design is achieved. After forming a patterned amorphous silicon (a-Si) layer that has blanket portions over the logic region, a stacked film is deposited over the a-Si layer and extending over the edge and on the memory region. A first photoresist etch mask is used to pattern FET gate electrodes in the stacked film, and the etch mask includes a portion having a minimum width W over the edge of the a-Si layer to form a wide guard ring. This wide guard ring replaces a narrow guard ring that inadvertently forms during conventional processing and that is susceptible to peeling and particle contamination of the wafer. A second photoresist etch mask is used to pattern the a-Si layer to form FET gate electrodes over the logic region. The remaining process steps commonly practiced in the industry are carried out to complete the logic/merged DRAM circuit without the peeling and contamination that results from a narrow guard ring.

Method for making an advanced guard ring for stacked film using a novel mask design

A mask, which does not require additional reticles, and a method of using the mask for recovering alignment marks in a wafer after an inter-level dielectric layer has been planarized and a second layer of metal has been deposited on the planarized inter-level dielectric layer are described. An alignment mark protection pattern and a clearout window pattern are sub-divided so they can be formed from a first and a second mask element. These mask elements can be formed in the peripheral region of the reticle used to pattern the device region of the wafer. The mask elements are used to expose the alignment mark protection pattern in a first layer of photoresist and the clearout window pattern in a second layer of photoresist.

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Hsin-Chu, China

Tsu-Yu Chu