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. 12, 2000
Filed:
May. 17, 1999
Yung-Hsiang Chen, Taichung, TW;
Yung-Dar Chen, Hsin-Chu, TW;
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, Hsin-Chu, TW;
Abstract
A method for developing a photoresist pattern on a semiconductor wafer using the puddle method is described, wherein the wafer is subjected to several periods of slow rotation while the puddle is in place on the wafer, The process also embraces an improved wafer-to-wafer uniformity of development. A step by step example of the process is given wherein a TMAH developer is used. Two developer puddle applications are used and each puddle undergoes three 2 second rotation periods at 20 rpm., each followed by a 4 second idle period. The intermittent puddle rotations improve the uniformity of development over the wafer thereby improving the uniformity and accuracy of critical dimensions in the resultant pattern. Although the process induced defect densities remain about the same, the sizes of the defects is reduced. In addition, the improved process reduces the overall development cycle time by about 34 percent.