Method of making sub-lithographic sized contact holes
US6777260B1 · kind B1 · utility
Assignee
Inventor
Key dates
| Filing date | Aug 14, 2003 |
| Grant date | Aug 17, 2004 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Aug 14, 2023 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC H)Electricity
- CPC primaryH01L21/76802
- WIPO fieldSemiconductors
- WIPO sectorElectrical engineering
Abstract
A method of forming sub-lithographic sized contact holes in semiconductor material, which includes forming layers of etch mask materials, and forming intersecting first and second trenches in the etch mask layers, where through-holes are formed completely through the etch mask layers only where the first and second trenches intersect. The first and second trenches are made by the formation and subsequent removal of very thin vertical layers of material. The width dimensions of the trenches, and therefore of the through-holes, are sub-lithographic because they are dictated by the thickness of the thin vertical layers of material, and not by conventional photo lithographic processes used to form those vertical layers of material. The sub-lithographic through-holes are then used to etch sub-lithographic sized contact holes in underlying semiconductor materials.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.