Fabricating semiconductor device

A method of fabricating a semiconductor device, the method comprising:

• loading a lower structure into a spinner;
• forming a photoresist layer on the lower structure;
• unloading a first substrate including the lower structure and the photoresist layer from the spinner;
• loading the first substrate into a scanner, after the unloading the first substrate;
• forming an exposed portion and a non-exposed portion in a first region and a second region of the photoresist layer using an exposure process, respectively, after the loading the first substrate into the scanner;
• unloading a second substrate including the lower structure and the photoresist layer having the exposed portion and the non-exposed portion from the scanner, after the forming the exposed portion and the non-exposed portion of the photoresist layer;
• loading the second substrate into the spinner, after the unloading the second substrate;
• while the second substrate is in the spinner, partially removing the photoresist layer on the second substrate to form a photoresist layer having a reduced thickness, after the loading the second substrate into the spinner;
• removing the non-exposed portion of the photoresist layer having the reduced thickness to form a pillar photoresist pattern;
• etching the lower structure using the pillar photoresist pattern as an etching mask;
• and
• removing the pillar photoresist pattern used as the etching mask.

A method of fabricating a semiconductor device, the method comprising:

• forming a substrate including active regions;
• forming word lines crossing the active regions on the substrate;
• forming bit lines intersecting the word lines and electrically connected to first impurity regions of the active regions;
• forming lower conductive patterns electrically connected to second impurity regions of the active regions and between the bit lines adjacent to each other;
• and
• forming upper conductive patterns electrically connected to the lower conductive patterns,
• wherein forming the upper conductive patterns includes
• forming an upper conductive layer covering the lower conductive patterns,
• forming a photoresist layer having a first thickness and on the upper conductive layer,
• forming an exposed portion and a non-exposed portion in a first region and a second region of the photoresist layer using an exposure process, respectively,
• removing a part of the photoresist layer such that the photoresist layer has a second thickness that is smaller than the first thickness,
• selectively removing the non-exposed portion of the photoresist layer to form a photoresist pattern,
• forming an opening separating the upper conductive layer into the upper conductive patterns using the photoresist pattern as an etching mask,
• removing the photoresist pattern used as the etching mask, and
• forming an insulating pattern in the opening.