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:
Sep. 27, 2016
Filed:
Jul. 03, 2014
Tokyo Electron Limited, Tokyo, JP;
Mark H Somervell, Austin, TX (US);
Benjamen M Rathsack, Austin, TX (US);
Ian J Brown, Austin, TX (US);
Steven Scheer, Houston, TX (US);
Joshua S Hooge, Austin, TX (US);
Tokyo Electron Limited, Tokyo, JP;
Abstract
Disclosed is a method and apparatus for mitigation of photoresist line pattern collapse in a photolithography process by applying a gap-fill material treatment after the post-development line pattern rinse step. The gap-fill material dries into a solid layer filling the inter-line spaces of the line pattern, thereby preventing line pattern collapse due to capillary forces during the post-rinse line pattern drying step. Once dried, the gap-fill material is depolymerized, volatilized, and removed from the line pattern by heating, illumination with ultraviolet light, by application of a catalyst chemistry, or by plasma etching.