Method for forming semiconductor structure
AssigneeTaiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, Ltd.
InventorsChia-Wei SU, Fu-Ting YEN, Teng-Chun TSAI
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A method includes forming a metal layer over a substrate; forming a dielectric layer over the metal layer; removing a first portion of the dielectric layer to expose a first portion of the metal layer, while a second portion of the dielectric layer remains on the metal layer; selectively forming a first inhibitor on the second portion of the dielectric layer, while the metal layer is free of coverage by the first inhibitor; and selectively depositing a first hard mask on the exposed first portion of the metal layer, while the first inhibitor is free of coverage by the first hard mask.
Claims20
A method, comprising:
- forming a metal layer over a substrate;
- forming a dielectric layer over the metal layer;
- removing a first portion of the dielectric layer to expose a first portion of the metal layer, while a second portion of the dielectric layer remains on the metal layer;
- selectively forming a first inhibitor on the second portion of the dielectric layer, while the metal layer is free of coverage by the first inhibitor;
- and
- selectively depositing a first hard mask on the exposed first portion of the metal layer, while the first inhibitor is free of coverage by the first hard mask.
A method, comprising:
- forming a metal layer over a substrate;
- forming a dielectric layer over the metal layer, the dielectric layer comprising a first portion and a second portion;
- treating the first portion of the dielectric layer with a plasma, while the second portion of the dielectric layer untreated;
- removing the untreated second portion to expose a portion of the metal layer;
- selectively forming an inhibitor on the exposed portion of the metal layer;
- and
- depositing a hard mask over the treated first portion of the dielectric layer, while the inhibitor is free of coverage by the hard mask.
A method, comprising:
- forming a metal gate structure between a plurality of gate spacers;
- forming a metal layer over a metal gate structure;
- forming a patterned dielectric layer on a first portion of the metal layer, wherein a second portion of the metal layer is exposed from the patterned dielectric layer;
- forming an inhibitor on the patterned dielectric layer and not on the exposed second portion of the metal layer;
- forming a hard mask on the exposed second portion of the metal layer and not on the inhibitor;
- removing the inhibitor, the patterned dielectric layer and the first portion of the metal layer to expose a portion of the metal gate structure;
- and
- replacing the exposed portion of the metal gate structure with a dielectric plug.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.