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:
Oct. 12, 2010
Filed:
Dec. 17, 2008
Zhenjiang Cui, San Jose, CA (US);
Mehul Naik, San Jose, CA (US);
Christopher D. Bencher, San Jose, CA (US);
Kenneth Macwilliams, Los Altos Hills, CA (US);
Zhenjiang Cui, San Jose, CA (US);
Mehul Naik, San Jose, CA (US);
Christopher D. Bencher, San Jose, CA (US);
Kenneth MacWilliams, Los Altos Hills, CA (US);
Applied Materials, Inc., Santa Clara, CA (US);
Abstract
Methods for patterning films and their resulting structures. In an embodiment, an amorphous carbon mask is formed over a substrate, such as a damascene layer. A spacer layer is deposited over the amorphous carbon mask and the spacer layer is etched to form a spacer and to expose the amorphous carbon mask. The amorphous carbon mask is removed selectively to the spacer to expose the substrate layer. A gap fill layer is deposited around the spacer to cover the substrate layer but expose the spacer. The spacer is removed selectively to form a gap fill mask over the substrate. The pattern of the gap fill mask is transferred, in one implementation, into a damascene layer to remove at least a portion of an IMD and form an air gap.