Plasma Pre-Treatment Method To Improve Etch Selectivity And Defectivity Margin

A method for processing a substrate, comprising:

• providing the substrate with at least one underlying layer;
• pre-treating the at least one underlying layer with a plasma to modify the at least one underlying layer, wherein the plasma is generated from one or more processing gases comprising hydrogen (H2), nitrogen (N2), borane (BH3), phosphine (PH3) and/or a noble gas, and wherein ions from the plasma are implanted into the at least one underlying layer to form a modified layer;
• providing an extreme ultraviolet (EUV) photoresist layer overlying the modified layer;
• using an EUV lithography technique to form an EUV photoresist pattern in the EUV photoresist layer;
• and
• etching portions of the modified layer exposed by the EUV photoresist pattern with a dry etch process to transfer the EUV photoresist pattern onto the modified layer,
• wherein the pre-treating the at least one underlying layer with the plasma increases an etch rate of the modified layer and improves dry etch selectivity over the EUV photoresist layer.

A method for processing a substrate, comprising:

• providing the substrate with at least one underlying layer, wherein the at least one underlying layer comprises a silicon-containing material;
• pre-treating the at least one underlying layer with a hydrogen (H2) plasma to modify the at least one underlying layer, wherein H and H2 ions from the hydrogen plasma are implanted into the at least one underlying layer to form a modified layer;
• providing a photoresist layer overlying the modified layer;
• using a lithography technique to form a photoresist pattern in the photoresist layer;
• and
• etching portions of the modified layer exposed by the photoresist pattern to transfer the photoresist pattern onto the modified layer and form a modified layer pattern,
• wherein the pre-treating the at least one underlying layer with the hydrogen plasma improves an etch selectivity during said etching and improves defectivity margin in the modified layer pattern.