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:
Jul. 20, 2004
Filed:
Dec. 30, 2002
Douglas J. Bonser, Austin, TX (US);
Marina V. Plat, San Jose, CA (US);
Chih Yuh Yang, San Jose, CA (US);
Scott A. Bell, San Jose, CA (US);
Darin Chan, Campbell, CA (US);
Philip A. Fisher, Foster City, CA (US);
Christopher F. Lyons, Fremont, CA (US);
Mark S. Chang, Los Altos, CA (US);
Pei-Yuan Gao, San Jose, CA (US);
Marilyn I. Wright, Austin, TX (US);
Lu You, San Jose, CA (US);
Srikanteswara Dakshina-Murthy, Austin, TX (US);
Advanced Micro Devices, Inc., Sunnyvale, CA (US);
Abstract
A hardmask stack is comprised of alternating layers of doped amorphous carbon and undoped amorphous carbon. The undoped amorphous carbon layers serve as buffer layers that constrain the effects of compressive stress within the doped amorphous carbon layers to prevent delamination. The stack is provided with a top capping layer. The layer beneath the capping layer is preferably undoped amorphous carbon to reduce photoresist poisoning. An alternative hardmask stack is comprised of alternating layers of capping material and amorphous carbon. The amorphous carbon layers may be doped or undoped. The capping material layers serve as buffer layers that constrain the effects of compressive stress within the amorphous carbon layers to prevent delamination. The top layer of the stack is formed of a capping material. The layer beneath the top layer is preferably undoped amorphous carbon to reduce photoresist poisoning. The lowest layer of the hardmask stack is preferably amorphous carbon to facilitate easy removal of the hardmask stack from underlying materials by an ashing process.