Effect of substrate surface treatment on 193 NM resist processing

A method of processing a semiconductor structure comprising:

• providing a semiconductor substrate having a virgin silicon oxynitride layer formed thereon;
• exposing at least a portion of the silicon oxynitride layer to a first plasma treatment in order to mitigate surface interactions between the silicon oxynitride layer and a subsequently formed photoresist without substantially etching the silicon oxynitride layer, the first plasma containing oxygen and nitrogen;
• determining whether the silicon oxynitride layer has been treated by employing a monitor processor;
• exposing the silicon oxynitride layer to a second plasma treatment after the first plasma treatment is substantially completed and before a patterned photoresist layer is formed on the silicon oxynitride layer, the second plasma treatment comprising nitrogen and hydrogen;
• forming a the patterned photoresist layer over the treated silicon oxynitride layer using about 193 nm or less wavelength radiation, the photoresist layer being substantially free of line-edge roughness;
• and
• etching the plasma treated silicon oxynitride layer through the patterned photoresist layer to form a semiconductor feature.

A method of processing a semiconductor structure comprising:

• providing a semiconductor substrate having a virgin silicon oxynitride layer formed thereon;
• exposing at least a portion of the silicon oxynitride layer to a first plasma treatment in order to mitigate surface interactions between the silicon oxynitride layer and a subsequently formed photoresist without substantially etching the silicon oxynitride layer, the first plasma containing oxygen and nitrogen, the first plasma treatment comprising from about 94% to about 97% oxygen by volume and from about 3% to about 6% nitrogen by volume;
• determining whether the silicon oxynitride layer has been treated by employing a monitor processor;
• exposing the silicon oxynitride layer to a second plasma treatment after the first plasma treatment is substantially completed and before a patterned photoresist layer is formed on the silicon oxynitride layer, the second plasma treatment comprising nitrogen and hydrogen;
• forming the patterned photoresist layer over the treated silicon oxynitride layer using about 193 nm or less wavelength radiation, the photoresist layer being substantially free of line-edge roughness;
• and
• etching the plasma treated silicon oxynitride layer through the patterned photoresist layer to form a semiconductor feature.