High fidelity patterning employing a fluorohydrocarbon-containing polymer

US8916054B2 · kind B2 · utility

Assignees

• International Business Machines Corporation · US
• ZEON CORPORATION · JP

Inventors

• Markus Brink · White Plains, US
• Sebastian U. Engelmann · White Plains, US
• Nicholas C. M. Fuller · Elmsford, US
• Michael A. Guillorn · Locke, US
• Hiroyuki Miyazoe · White Plains, US
• Masahiro Nakamura · Eastchester, US

Key dates

• Filing date: Oct 26, 2011
• Grant date: Dec 23, 2014
• Expiry date: Oct 9, 2032

Classification

• Technology area (CPC Y): Emerging Cross-Sectional Technologies
• CPC primary: Y10T428/24479
• WIPO field: Semiconductors
• WIPO sector: Electrical engineering

Abstract

A stack of a hard mask layer, a soft mask layer, and a photoresist is formed on a substrate. The photoresist is patterned to include at least one opening. The pattern is transferred into the soft mask layer by an anisotropic etch, which forms a carbon-rich polymer that includes more carbon than fluorine. The carbon-rich polymer can be formed by employing a fluorohydrocarbon-containing plasma generated with fluorohydrocarbon molecules including more hydrogen than fluorine. The carbon-rich polymer coats the sidewalls of the soft mask layer, and prevents widening of the pattern transferred into the soft mask. The photoresist is subsequently removed, and the pattern in the soft mask layer is transferred into the hard mask layer. Sidewalls of the hard mask layer are coated with the carbon-rich polymer to prevent widening of the pattern transferred into the hard mask.