Multiple etch method for forming residue free patterned hard mask layer
US6277752A · kind A · utility
Assignee
Inventor
Key dates
| Filing date | Jun 28, 1999 |
| Grant date | Aug 21, 2001 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Jun 28, 2019 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC H)Electricity
- CPC primaryH01L21/3081
- WIPO fieldSemiconductors
- WIPO sectorElectrical engineering
Abstract
A method for forming a patterned hard mask layer. There is first provided a substrate. There is then formed over the substrate a blanket hard mask layer formed of a hard mask material susceptible to etching within a first plasma etch method, where the first plasma etch method employs a first etchant gas composition which upon plasma activation forms an active fluorine containing etchant species. There is then formed over the blanket hard mask layer a patterned photoresist layer. There is then etched, while employing the first plasma etch method in conjunction with the patterned photoresist layer as a first etch mask layer, the blanket hard mask layer to form a patterned hard mask layer which defines a first aperture. The first plasma etch method also forms at the bottom of the first aperture defined by the patterned hard mask layer a residue. Finally, there is then etched, while employing a second etch method, the residue from the bottom of the first aperture. The patterned hard mask layer may then be employed for forming within a microelectronic layer, such as a semiconductor substrate, formed beneath the microelectronic layer, an aperture, such as an isolation trench, while emplo…
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.