Method of forming a plurality of gratings
AssigneeApplied Materials, Inc.
InventorsMorgan Evans, Joseph C. Olson, Rutger Meyer Timmerman Thijssen
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Abstract
Embodiments of the present application generally relate to methods for forming a plurality of gratings. The methods generally include depositing a material over one or more protected regions of a waveguide combiner disposed on a substrate, the material having a thickness inhibiting removal of a grating material disposed on the waveguide combiner when an ion beam is directed toward the substrate, and directing the ion beam toward the substrate. The methods disclosed herein allow for formation of a plurality of gratings in one or more unprotected regions, while no gratings are formed in the protected regions.
Claims20
A method of forming a first plurality of gratings, comprising:
- disposing a protective material between portions of a patterned hardmask on a grating material, the protective material having a thickness from a planar top surface of the grating material to an upper surface of the protective material, the thickness of the protective material varying along the planar top surface of the grating material;
- and
- etching the grating material to remove at least a portion of the grating material to form the first plurality of gratings in the grating material, the first plurality of gratings including:
- a depth profile that corresponds with the thickness of the protective material, wherein the protective material at least partially inhibits removal of the grating material such that at least two gratings of the first plurality of gratings have different depths than each other.
A method of forming a plurality of gratings, comprising:
- disposing a protective material between portions of a patterned hardmask on a first portion of a grating material adjacent to a second portion of the grating material, the protective material including a thickness from a planar top surface of the grating material to an upper surface of the protective material;
- and
- etching the first portion and the second portion of the grating material to remove at least a portion of the grating material to form a first plurality of gratings in the first portion and a second plurality of gratings in the second portion, the first plurality of gratings including:
- a first depth that is less than a second depth of the second plurality of gratings;
- and
- a depth profile that corresponds with the thickness of the protective material, wherein the protective material at least partially inhibits removal of the grating material in the first portion.
A method of forming a plurality of gratings, comprising:
- disposing a protective material between portions of a patterned hardmask on a first portion of a grating material and on a second portion of the grating material adjacent to the first portion, the protective material including:
- a first thickness from a planar top surface of the first portion to an upper surface of the protective material;
- and
- a second thickness from the planar top surface of the second portion to the upper surface of the protective material, wherein the first thickness is less than the second thickness;
- and
- etching the first portion and the second portion of the grating material to form a first plurality of gratings in the first portion, the first plurality of gratings including:
- a depth profile that corresponds with the first thickness of the protective material, wherein the protective material at least partially inhibits removal of the grating material in the first portion and completely inhibits removal of the grating material in the second portion.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.