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:
Dec. 31, 2024
Filed:
May. 13, 2021
Lam Research Corporation, Fremont, CA (US);
Jengyi Yu, San Ramon, CA (US);
Samantha S. H. Tan, Fremont, CA (US);
Seongjun Heo, Dublin, CA (US);
Boris Volosskiy, San Jose, CA (US);
Sivananda Krishnan Kanakasabapathy, Pleasanton, CA (US);
Richard Wise, Los Gatos, CA (US);
Yang Pan, Los Altos, CA (US);
Hui-Jung Wu, Pleasanton, CA (US);
Lam Research Corporation, Fremont, CA (US);
Abstract
Tin oxide films are used as mandrels in semiconductor device manufacturing. In one implementation the process starts by patterning a tin oxide layer using at least one of a hydrogen-based etch chemistry and a chlorine-based etch chemistry, and using patterned photoresist as a mask, thereby providing a substrate having a plurality of protruding tin oxide features (mandrels). Next, a conformal layer of spacer material is formed both on the horizontal surfaces and on the sidewalls of the mandrels. The spacer material is then removed from the horizontal surfaces exposing the tin oxide material of the mandrels, without fully removing the spacer material residing at the sidewalls of the mandrels. Next, mandrels are selectively removed (e.g., using hydrogen-based etch chemistry), while leaving the spacer material that resided at the sidewalls of the mandrels. The resulting spacers can be used for patterning underlying layers on the substrate.