Methods of forming photonic devices
AssigneeTaiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, Ltd.
InventorsTao-Cheng LIU, Tsai-Hao HUNG, Shih-Chi KUO
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Abstract
A method includes: forming a first plurality of tiers that each comprises first and second dummy layers over a substrate, wherein within each tier, the second dummy layer is disposed above the first dummy layer; forming a second plurality of recessed regions in the first plurality of tiers, wherein at least one subgroup of the second plurality of recessed regions extend through respective different numbers of the second dummy layers; and performing an etching operation to concurrently forming a third plurality of trenches with respective different depths in the substrate through the at least one subgroup of the second plurality of recessed regions.
Claims20
A method, comprising:
- forming a plurality of tiers over a substrate, wherein each tier includes an etch stop layer and a mask layer formed over the etch stop layer;
- forming a first recessed region that extends through a first number (M) of first mask layers, wherein M is a positive integer;
- forming a second recessed region that extends through a second number (N) of first mask layers, wherein N is a positive integer greater than M;
- performing an etching process over the first and second recessed regions to form first and second trenches, wherein the first and second trenches extend into the substrate to first and second depths, respectively, and wherein the second depth is greater than the first depth.
A method of forming a semiconductor device, comprising:
- providing a substrate;
- forming a etch stop layer and a mask layer are formed over the substrate, wherein the mask layer is formed above the etch stop layer;
- forming a plurality of first recessed regions each partially extending through the mask layer;
- forming a plurality of second recessed regions each at least partially extending through the mask layer, wherein the plurality of second recessed regions extend further into the mask layer than the plurality of first recessed regions;
- and
- etching the substrate through the plurality of first and second recessed regions to form a plurality of trenches with different depths extending into the substrate.
A method of forming a semiconductor device, comprising:
- providing a substrate;
- forming an etch stop layer and a mask layer over the substrate, wherein the mask layer is formed above the etch stop layer;
- forming a plurality of first recessed regions each partially extending through the mask layer;
- forming a plurality of second recessed regions each at least partially extending through the mask layer, wherein the plurality of second recessed regions extend further into the mask layer than the plurality of first recessed regions;
- etching the substrate through the plurality of first and second recessed regions to form a plurality of trenches with different depths extending into the substrate, wherein the etching comprises an anisotropic etching process that uses remaining portions of the mask layer;
- forming a dielectric material over the substrate so as to fill the plurality of trenches that have different depths;
- and
- performing a polishing process to remove excess dielectric material formed above an upper boundary of the substrate and remaining portions of the etch stop and mask layers.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.