Method of forming a conductive pattern of a semiconductor device and method of manufacturing a non-volatile semiconductor memory device using the same

A method of manufacturing a non-volatile semiconductor memory device comprising:

• forming a structure including a floating gate on a substrate;
• forming a conductive layer on the substrate including over the structure;
• forming a polishing protection layer on the conductive layer, whereby the polishing protection layer presents a step between a portion of the polishing protection layer lying directly over the substrate and a portion of the polishing layer lying over the conductive layer;
• forming a step compensation layer on the polishing protection layer that reduces the step presented by the polishing protection layer;
• removing portions of the step compensation layer and the polishing protection layer to expose the conductive layer;
• and
• etching away part of the exposed conductive layer to form a conductive pattern on the substrate;
• forming an oxide layer on the conductive pattern;
• and
• etching the conductive pattern using the oxide layer as an etching mask to form a control gate adjacent the floating gate.