Controlled degradation of a stimuli-responsive polymer film
AssigneeLam Research Corporation
InventorsStephen M. Sirard, Gregory Blachut, Diane Hymes
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Abstract
Removing a stimuli responsive polymer (SRP) from a substrate includes controlled degradation. In certain embodiments of the methods described herein, removing SRPs includes exposure to two reactants that react to form an acid or base that can trigger the degradation of the SRP. The exposure occurs sequentially to provide more precise top down control. In some embodiments, the methods involve diffusing a compound, or a reactant that reacts to form a compound, only to a top portion of the SRP. The top portion is then degraded and removed, leaving film the remaining SRP intact. The exposure and removal cycles are repeated.
Claims37
A method comprising:
- providing to a chamber a high aspect ratio (HAR) structure having a stimulus responsive polymer (SRP) in a high aspect ratio gap formed between features of the HAR structure, the high aspect ratio gap having an aspect ratio of at least 8 and a total thickness Ttotal;
- and
- performing one or more cycles of removing the SRP from the gap comprising, each cycle comprising:
- (a) pulsing a first reactant to the chamber such that the first reactant diffuses into the gap only to a depth less than Ttotal,
- (b) after (a), purging the chamber,
- (c) after (b), pulsing a second reactant to the chamber such that the second reactant diffuses into the gap only to a depth less than Ttotal;
- (d) reacting the first reactant and the second reactant to form a compound that degrades the SRP;
- (e) degrading a thickness of SRP that is less than Ttotal;
- and
- (f) removing the degraded SRP.
A method comprising:
- providing to a chamber a high aspect ratio (HAR) structure having a stimulus responsive polymer (SRP) in a high aspect ratio gap formed between features of the HAR structure, the high aspect ratio gap having an aspect ratio of at least 8 and the SRP having a total thickness Ttotal;
- and
- performing one or more cycles of removing the SRP from the gap comprising, each cycle comprising:
- (a) pulsing first reactant to the chamber such that the first reactant diffuses into the gap to a depth Dfirst reactant,
- (b) after (a), purging the chamber,
- (c) after (b), pulsing a second reactant to the chamber such that the second reactant diffuses into the gap only to a depth Dsecond reactant, wherein Dsecond reactant is less than Dfirst reactant,
- (d) reacting the first reactant and the second reactant to form a compound that degrades the SRP;
- (e) degrading the SRP to a depth Dsecond reactant;
- and
- (f) removing the degraded SRP.
A method comprising:
- providing a substrate having a stimulus responsive polymer (SRP) thereon;
- performing multiple removal cycles, each cycle comprising:
- exposing only a top portion of the SRP to a compound capable of degrading the SRP to thereby degrade the top portion of the SRP;
- and
- removing only the top portion of the SRP, wherein exposing the top portion of the SRP comprises sequential pulsing of a first reactant and a second reactant, wherein the first reactant and the second reactant react to form the compound.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.