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:
Dec. 07, 2010
Filed:
Dec. 14, 2007
Masafumi Urakawa, Salem, MA (US);
Masafumi Urakawa, Salem, MA (US);
Tokyo Electron Limited, Tokyo, JP;
Abstract
A method of mitigating pattern defects, such as critical dimension (CD) bias and line-edge roughness (LER), during a pattern transfer process is described. The method comprises forming one or more layers on a substrate, forming a radiation sensitive mask layer on the one or more layers, and forming a pattern in the radiation sensitive mask layer using a lithographic process. Once the pattern is formed, the edges of the pattern are smoothed by exposing the pattern in the radiation sensitive mask layer to a fluorohydrocarbon-containing plasma. Thereafter, the smoothed pattern in the radiation sensitive mask layer is transferred to one or more of the one or more layers using one or more etching processes.