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. 23, 2014
Filed:
Jul. 31, 2012
Xiang HU, Clifton Park, NY (US);
Mingmei Wang, Ballston Lake, NY (US);
Liu Huang, Malta, NY (US);
GLOBALFOUNDRIES Inc., Grand Cayman, KY;
Abstract
Embodiments described herein provide approaches for interconnect formation in a semiconductor device using a sidewall mask layer. Specifically, a sidewall mask layer is deposited on a hard mask in a merged via region of the semiconductor device following removal of a planarization layer previously formed on the hard mask. The sidewall mask layer is conformally deposited on the hard mask, and acts like a sacrificial layer to protect the hard mask during a subsequent via etch. This reduces the via critical dimension (CD) and reduces the CD elongation along the hard mask line direction during the via etch.