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. 21, 2012
Filed:
Dec. 04, 2009
Vishwanathan Rangarajan, Beaverton, OR (US);
George Andrew Antonelli, Portland, OR (US);
Ananda Banerji, West Linn, OR (US);
Bart Van Schravendijk, Sunnyvale, CA (US);
Vishwanathan Rangarajan, Beaverton, OR (US);
George Andrew Antonelli, Portland, OR (US);
Ananda Banerji, West Linn, OR (US);
Bart van Schravendijk, Sunnyvale, CA (US);
Novellus Systems, Inc., San Jose, CA (US);
Abstract
Hardmask films having high hardness and low stress are provided. In some embodiments a film has a stress of between about −600 MPa and 600 MPa and hardness of at least about 12 GPa. In some embodiments, a hardmask film is prepared by depositing multiple sub-layers of doped or undoped silicon carbide using multiple densifying plasma post-treatments in a PECVD process chamber. In some embodiments, a hardmask film includes a high-hardness boron-containing film selected from the group consisting of SiBC, SiBN, SiBCN, BC, and BN. In some embodiments, a hardmask film includes a germanium-rich GeNmaterial comprising at least about 60 atomic % of germanium. These hardmasks can be used in a number of back-end and front-end processing schemes in integrated circuit fabrication.