Method of cutting conductive patterns
AssigneeTaiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, Ltd.
InventorsChin-Hsiung Hsu, Huang-Yu Chen, Tsong-Hua Ou, Wen-Hao Chen
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Abstract
A method includes: providing a first layout of a first layer over a substrate, the first layer having at least one metal pattern, and generating a second layout by placing a cut mask at a first position relative to the substrate to remove material from a first region of the at least one metal pattern to provide a first metal pattern and placing the cut mask at a second position relative to the first layer over the substrate to remove material from a second region of the at least one metal pattern to provide a second metal pattern.
Claims20
A method comprising:
- providing a first layout of a first layer over a substrate, the first layer having at least one metal pattern, and
- generating a second layout by placing a cut mask at a first position relative to the substrate to remove material from a first region of the at least one metal pattern to provide a first metal pattern and placing the cut mask at a second position relative to the first layer over the substrate to remove material from a second region of the at least one metal pattern to provide a second metal pattern,
- wherein the cut mask comprises a plurality of cut patterns, and at least one of the cut patterns is positioned so as to perform a dummy cut during a second cut patterning step.
A method comprising:
- (a) patterning a first layer over an integrated circuit (IC) substrate with a first photomask to form a first metal pattern;
- (b) patterning the first layer over the IC substrate with a second photomask to form a second metal pattern;
- (c) shifting the first photomask relative to the first metal pattern after step (a);
- and
- (d) patterning the first layer over the IC substrate with the first photomask after the shifting step to form a third metal pattern, wherein each of the first, second and third metal patterns comprises a plurality of metal lines.
A method comprising
- (a) patterning a first layer over a substrate with a first metal pattern using a first photomask;
- (b) using a first trim mask to perform a first cut patterning while the first trim mask is in a first position relative to the first layer for removing material from a first region within the first metal pattern;
- (c) patterning the first layer over the substrate with a second photomask in a double patterning process to form a second metal pattern having a second region;
- and
- (d) using the first trim mask to perform a second cut patterning while the first trim mask is in a second position relative to the first layer for removing material from the second region of the second metal pattern of the first layer over the substrate, wherein each of the first and second metal patterns comprises a plurality of metal lines.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.