International Business Machines Corporation

Wendy Yan

Richard Stephan Wise

Peter D Hoh

Michael D Armacost

Arpan Pravin Mahorowala

Gregory Costrini

Sadanand Vinayak Deshpande

Soctt D Allen

A method for removing carbon from or stripping a TERA layer. The method includes exposing the TERA layer to a plasma containing an effective amount of nitrogen, and, optionally, oxygen or fluorine. The method is compatible with fluorine based etching systems, and may thus be performed in the same etching system as other etching steps. For example, the method may be performed in the same system as a fluorine based plasma etch for oxide or nitride. The invention includes the method of stripping a TERA layer, etching an oxide layer, and etching a nitride layer in situ in the same etching system. The method is performed at low ion energies to avoid damaging oxide or nitride layers under the TERA film and to provide good selectivity.

In-situ plasma etch for TERA hard mask materials

A method of etching an organic antireflective film layer underlying a patterned resist layer on a semiconductor substrate by contacting the exposed organic film with a fluorocarbon and nitrogen etchant in the presence of a plasma-generated energy and removing exposed areas of the organic film with the etchant. An oxide layer underlying the organic film layer is substantially undamaged after contact with the etchant. The plasma is a high density plasma and preferably contains argon, C F , and nitrogen.

Nitrogen-based highly polymerizing plasma process for etching of organic materials in semiconductor manufacturing

By providing a photoresist material with a protective polymer layer during the etching of an organic anti-reflective coating, undue damage to the photoresist material can be avoided during opening of the anti-reflective coating without the need for an oxidant. The preferred polymer chemistry system for producing such a result includes a fluorohydrocarbon-containing polymer mixture with a strong source of CF,, preferably C,F,. The etchant also includes a source of hydrogen selected from CH,F, C,HF,, or CH,F,, and a diluent selected from Ar, He or N,.

High-density plasma, organic anti-reflective coating etch system compatible with sensitive photoresist materials

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Wendy Yan