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:
Jun. 22, 2021
Filed:
Dec. 18, 2019
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, Ltd., Hsin-Chu, TW;
Chih-Yuan Ting, Taipei, TW;
Chung-Wen Wu, Zhubei, TW;
Jeng-Shiou Chen, Kaohsiung, TW;
Jang-Shiang Tsai, Zhubei, TW;
Jyu-Horng Shieh, Hsin-Chu, TW;
TAIWAN SEMICONDUCTOR MANUFACTURING COMPANY, LTD., Hsinchu, TW;
Abstract
Methods are disclosed herein for forming conductive patterns having small pitches. An exemplary method includes forming a metal line in a first dielectric layer. The metal line has a first dimension along a first direction and a second dimension along a second direction that is different than the first direction. The method includes forming a patterned mask layer having an opening that exposes a portion of the metal line along an entirety of the second dimension and etching the portion of the metal line exposed by the opening of the patterned mask layer until reaching the first dielectric layer. The metal line is thus separated into a first metal feature and a second metal feature. After removing the patterned mask layer, a barrier layer is deposited over exposed surfaces of the first metal feature and the second metal feature and a second dielectric layer is deposited over the barrier layer.