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US 12,607,937 B2Granted
Photoresist top coating material for etching rate control
AssigneeTaiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, Ltd.
InventorsTzu-Yang Lin, Ching-Yu Chang, Chin-Hsiang Lin
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Abstract
A patterning stack is provided. The patterning stack includes a bottom anti-reflective coating (BARC) layer over a substrate, a photoresist layer having a first etching resistance over the BARC layer, and a top coating layer having a second etching resistance greater than the first etching resistance over the photoresist layer. The top coating layer includes a polymer having a polymer backbone including at least one functional unit of high etching resistance and one or more acid labile groups attacked to the polymer backbone or a silicon cage compound.
Claims20
A method for fabricating a semiconductor structure, comprising:
- depositing a first material layer over a substrate;
- depositing a second material layer over the first material layer;
- forming a photoresist layer having a first etching resistance over the second material layer, the photoresist layer comprising a polymer and one or more photoactive compounds;
- and
- forming a top coating layer having a second etching resistance greater than the first etching resistance over the photoresist layer, wherein the top coating layer comprises a silicon cage compound consisting of the following structure:
- wherein R, at each occurrence, is independently unsubstituted alkyl, unsubstituted cycloalkyl or unsubstituted alkoxy;
- exposing the top coating layer and the photoresist layer to a patterning radiation;
- developing the top coating layer and the photoresist layer to provide a patterned top coating layer and a patterned photoresist layer at the same time;
- and
- etching the second material layer using the patterned top coating layer and the patterned photoresist layer as an etch mask to provide a patterned second material layer.
7 more elements
A method for fabricating a semiconductor structure, comprising:
- depositing a bottom anti-reflective coating (BARC) layer over a substrate;
- applying a photoresist layer having a first etching resistance over the BARC layer, the photoresist layer including a negative tone photoresist;
- and
- forming a top coating layer having a second etching resistance greater than the first etching resistance over the photoresist layer, wherein the top coating layer comprises a silicon cage compound consisting of the following structure:
- wherein R, at each occurrence, is independently unsubstituted alkyl, unsubstituted cycloalkyl or unsubstituted alkoxy;
- patterning the top coating layer and the photoresist layer to provide a patterned top coating layer and a patterned photoresist layer, wherein patterning the top coating layer and the photoresist layer comprises:
- exposing the top coating layer and the photoresist layer to radiation;
- and
- developing the exposed top coating layer and the photoresist layer by a developer;
- etching the BARC layer by an etching gas using the patterned top coating layer and the patterned photoresist layer as an etch mask to provide a patterned BARC layer;
- and
- removing portions of the substrate not covered by the patterned BARC layer.
9 more elements
A method comprising:
- applying a bottom anti-reflective coating (BARC) layer on a substrate;
- forming a photoresist layer over the bottom anti-reflective coating (BARC) layer, the photoresist layer having a first etching resistance and a first thickness;
- forming a top coating layer over the photoresist layer, the top coating layer having a second etching resistance greater than the first etching resistance and a second thickness less than the first thickness, wherein the top coating layer is a silicon-rich layer comprising a silicon cage compound consisting of the following structure:
- wherein R, at each occurrence, is independently unsubstituted alkyl, unsubstituted cycloalkyl or unsubstituted alkoxy;
- exposing the photoresist layer and the top coating layer to radiation;
- developing the exposed top coating layer and the photoresist layer by a developer to form a patterning mask comprising a patterned top coating layer and a patterned photoresist layer;
- and
- etching the bottom anti-reflective coating (BARC) using an etching gas to remove portions of the bottom anti-reflective coating (BARC) layer that are not covered by the patterning mask.
5 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.