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:
Aug. 27, 2002
Filed:
Oct. 31, 2000
Chih Yuh Yang, San Jose, CA (US);
Christopher F. Lyons, Fremont, CA (US);
Harry J. Levinson, Saratoga, CA (US);
Khanh B. Nguyen, San Mateo, CA (US);
Fei Wang, San Jose, CA (US);
Scott A. Bell, San Jose, CA (US);
Advanced Micro Devices, Inc., Sunnyvale, CA (US);
Abstract
A method of forming a via structure is provided. In the method, a dielectric layer is formed on an anti-reflective coating (ARC) layer covering a first metal layer; and a transition metal layer is formed on the dielectric layer. An ultra-thin photoresist layer is formed on the transition metal layer, and the ultra-thin photoresist layer is patterned with short wavelength radiation to define a pattern for a via. The patterned ultra-thin photoresist layer is used as a mask during a first etch step to transfer the via pattern to the transition metal layer. The first etch step includes an etch chemistry that is selective to the transition metal layer over the ultra-thin photoresist layer and the dielectric layer. The transition metal layer is employed as a hard mask during a second etch step to form a contact hole corresponding to the via pattern by etching portions of the dielectric layer.