The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Jan. 28, 2020
Filed:
Feb. 12, 2018
Lam Research Corporation, Fremont, CA (US);
Jengyi Yu, San Ramon, CA (US);
Samantha Tan, Fremont, CA (US);
Yu Jiang, San Jose, CA (US);
Hui-Jung Wu, Pleasanton, CA (US);
Richard Wise, Los Gatos, CA (US);
Yang Pan, Los Altos, CA (US);
Nader Shamma, Cupertino, CA (US);
Boris Volosskiy, San Jose, CA (US);
Lam Research Corporation, Fremont, CA (US);
Abstract
Tin oxide films are used as spacers and hardmasks in semiconductor device manufacturing. In one method, tin oxide layer is formed conformally over sidewalls and horizontal surfaces of protruding features on a substrate. A passivation layer is then formed over tin oxide on the sidewalls, and tin oxide is then removed from the horizontal surfaces of the protruding features without being removed at the sidewalls of the protruding features. The material of the protruding features is then removed while leaving the tin oxide that resided at the sidewalls of the protruding features, thereby forming tin oxide spacers. Hydrogen-based and chlorine-based dry etch chemistries are used to selectively etch tin oxide in a presence of a variety of materials. In another method a patterned tin oxide hardmask layer is formed on a substrate by forming a patterned layer over an unpatterned tin oxide and transferring the pattern to the tin oxide.