Tin oxide and tin carbide materials for semiconductor patterning applications
AssigneeApplied Materials, Inc.
InventorsYung-chen LIN, Chi-I LANG, Ho-yung HWANG
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Abstract
A method and apparatus for patterning semiconductor materials using tin-based materials as mandrels, hardmasks, and liner materials are provided. One or more implementations of the present disclosure use tin-oxide and/or tin-carbide materials as hardmask materials, mandrel materials, and/or liner material during various patterning applications. Tin-oxide or tin-carbide materials are easy to strip relative to other high selectivity materials like metal oxides (e.g., TiO2, ZrO2, HfO2, Al2O3) to avoid influencing critical dimensions and generate defects. In addition, tin-oxide and tin-carbide have low refractive index, k-value, and are transparent under 663-nm for lithography overlay.
Claims20
A method of forming features on a substrate, comprising:
- forming a mandrel layer on a substrate, wherein the mandrel layer is a tin-carbide layer or a tin-oxide layer;
- patterning the mandrel layer;
- conformally forming a spacer layer on the patterned mandrel layer;
- and
- patterning the spacer layer.
A method of forming features on a substrate, comprising:
- forming a hardmask layer on a film stack formed over a substrate, wherein the hardmask layer comprises tin-oxide or tin carbide;
- supplying a first etching gas mixture to the substrate;
- and
- etching the hardmask layer to form a patterned hardmask layer.
A method of forming features on a substrate, comprising:
- forming a patterned hardmask layer on a film stack formed over a substrate, wherein the patterned hardmask layer comprises carbon;
- supplying a first etching gas mixture to the substrate;
- etching the film stack exposed by the hardmask layer to form a patterned film stack;
- and
- forming a liner layer on the patterned hardmask layer and the patterned film stack, wherein the liner layer comprises tin-oxide or tin-carbide.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.