Nanocircuit and self-correcting etching method for fabricating same
AssigneeInternational Business Machines Corporation
InventorsOmer Dokumaci, Oleg Gluschenkov
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A self-correcting etching (SCORE) process for fabricating microstructure is provided. The SCORE process of the present invention is particularly useful for reducing preselected features of a hard mask without degrading the variation of the critical dimension (CD) within each wafer. Alternatively, the CD variation of the hard mask features' produced during printing can be substantially reduced by applying SCORE. Hence, ultra-sub-lithographic features (e.g., nanostructures) can be reliably fabricated. Consequently, the method of the present invention can be used to increase the circuit performance, while improving the manufacturing yield.
Claims20
A method of fabricating a microstructure comprising the steps of:
- providing a structure comprising a multi-layered stack located atop an etchable material, said multi-layered stack comprising a core material including at least one diffusing element located between top and bottom diffusion barrier layers;
- patterning the multi-layered stack to provide a plurality of patterned multi-layered stacks on the etchable material, each patterned multi-layered stack having etched facets;
- heating the patterned multi-layered stacks to cause lateral diffusion of the at least one diffusing element to the etched facets;
- removing the at least one diffusing element from the etched facets;
- and
- performing a self-correcting dopant-sensitive etching process on a plurality of exposed patterned multi-layered stack to provide patterned lines that have a substantially reduced line width and substantially reduced line width variation.
A microstructure comprising:
- a plurality of one-dimensional structures, each having a critical dimension L that it is less than a minimal feature size F obtainable by lithography, or any either patterning, etching, deposition or shaping technique, wherein the plurality of structures have a variation in critical dimension that is less than the ΔL·F/L, where ΔL is the range of critical dimension variation obtainable by lithography or any other patterning, etching, deposition, or shaping technique which forms microstructure with minimal feature size F.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.