Methods for controlling an end-to-end distance in semiconductor device
AssigneeTaiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, Ltd.
InventorsYu-Lien HUANG, Tsai-Chun LI, Huan-Just LIN, Huang-Ming CHEN, Yang-Cheng WU, Cheng-Hua YANG
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Abstract
Embodiments of the present disclosure may be used for patterning a layer in a 5 nm node or beyond fabrication to achieve an end-to-end distance below 35 nm. Compared to the state of the art technology, embodiments of the present disclosure reduce cycle time and cost of production from three lithographic processes and four etching processes to one lithographic process and three etch processes.
Claims20
A method of patterning a layer on a substrate, comprising:
- forming a first mask layer over the layer;
- forming a second mask layer over the first mask layer;
- forming a photoresist layer over the second mask layer;
- patterning the photoresist layer using a photolithographic process;
- etching the second mask layer using the photoresist layer as a mask to form a feature in the second mask layer;
- performing an angled etch to modify the feature by increasing a length of the feature without changing a width of the feature;
- and
- etching the first mask layer using the second mask layer as a mask.
A method of forming a semiconductor device, comprising:
- forming an interlayer dielectric layer over gate structures of a FinFET structure;
- and
- patterning the interlayer dielectric layer to form a contact opening in the interlayer dielectric layer, comprising:
- patterning a hard mask layer over the interlayer dielectric layer to form a first pattern in the hard mask layer, wherein the first pattern includes two or more unidirectional features aligned along a line having an end-to-end distance at a first value;
- and
- performing an angled etch process to increase a length of the two or more unidirectional features without changing a width of the two or more unidirectional features, thereby, reducing the end-to-end distance from the first value to a second value.
A method for manufacturing a semiconductor device, comprising:
- forming a first pattern in a photoresist layer, wherein the first pattern includes unidirectional features;
- etching a mask layer below the photoresist layer using the photoresist layer as a mask to the first pattern in the mask layer;
- and
- directing an ion beam at an angle to increase lengths of the unidirectional features without enlarging a width of the unidirectional features.
The method of 18, wherein the ion beam is directed along a plane parallel to a plane of sidewalls of the unidirectional features along the length of the unidirectional features.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.