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:
Mar. 15, 2005
Filed:
Jun. 22, 2000
Toshiharu Furukawa, Essex Junction, VT (US);
Mark C. Hakey, Fairfax, VT (US);
Steven J. Holmes, Milton, VT (US);
David V. Horak, Essex Junction, VT (US);
William H-l. MA, Fishkill, NY (US);
Toshiharu Furukawa, Essex Junction, VT (US);
Mark C. Hakey, Fairfax, VT (US);
Steven J. Holmes, Milton, VT (US);
David V. Horak, Essex Junction, VT (US);
William H-L. Ma, Fishkill, NY (US);
International Business Machines Corporation, Armonk, NY (US);
Abstract
An etching process using germanium hard mask () includes forming a dielectric layer () over a major surface () of a semiconductor substrate () and depositing a metallic germanium layer () over the dielectric layer (). The metallic germanium layer () is patterned through a photo resist () to form the germanium hard mask (). The dielectric layer () is selectively etched through the germanium hard mask () to form a dielectric hard mask (), through which the semiconductor substrate () is subsequently etched. After forming the dielectric hard mask (), the germanium hard mask () is stripped away by oxidizing the metallic germanium hard mask () to transform it into a layer () of germanium oxide and rinsing the semiconductor substrate () in water to remove the germanium oxide layer (). Preferably, the germanium hard mask () is removed before etching the semiconductor substrate ().