Carbon-doped hard mask and method of passivating structures during semiconductor device fabrication
AssigneeLSI Logic Corporation
InventorsJohn Hu, Ana Ley, Philippe Schoenborn
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Abstract
A carbon-doped hard mask includes a dielectric material containing carbon which is released from the hard mask during a metal etching process. The released carbon is deposited on and bonds to sidewalls of the metal structure during the metal etching process to passivate the sidewalls of the metal structure and prevent lateral etching of the sidewalls during the metal etching process. The released carbon also prevents accumulation of metal residue in open fields.
Claims7
A carbon-doped hard mask for use in etching a substance to form a structure with an etching process during a semiconductor fabrication process, the structure having sidewalls formed during the etching process, the hard mask including:
- a dielectric material layer containing carbon which is released in sufficient quantities from the dielectric material layer during the etching process to passivate the sidewalls of the structure against lateral etching.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.