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:
Apr. 30, 2002
Filed:
Aug. 27, 1998
Max Hineman, Boise, ID (US);
Brad Howard, Boise, ID (US);
Micron Technology, Inc., Boise, ID (US);
Abstract
A method of removing regions of an anti-reflective coating includes etching the anti-reflective coating with a fluorinated hydrocarbon-based plasma etch and etching the anti-reflective coating with an oxygen-based plasma etch. In some implementations, the oxygen-based plasma etch is performed following the fluorinated hydrocarbon-based etch. The technique can be used to remove regions of an anti-reflective coating so that a more uniform and controlled etch of an underlayer can subsequently be performed. The disclosed technique is particularly useful for etching organic or organometallic anti-reflective layers, but can be used to etch other anti-reflective layers as well. In addition, the techniques are particularly advantageous for etching anti-reflective coatings disposed on certain oxide and nitride layers, although the underlayer can be formed of other materials as well.