Structure applied to a photolithographic process and method for fabricating a semiconductor device

A method of fabricating a semiconductor device, comprising the steps of:

• providing a substrate having at least a film layer, an optical isolation layer, an anti-reflection coating and a photoresist layer sequentially formed thereon;
• performing a photolithographic process to pattern the photoresist layer so that a portion of the anti-reflection coating is exposed;
• performing an etching operation using the patterned photoresist layer as a mask to pattern the anti-reflection coating, the optical isolation layer and the film layer to form an opening in the film layer, wherein the film layer has an etching rate greater than the optical isolation layer;
• removing the patterned photoresist layer and the anti-reflection coating;
• forming a material layer over the substrate covering the optical isolation layer and completely filling the opening;
• and
• performing a chemical-mechanical polishing operation using the optical isolation layer as a polishing stop layer to remove the material layer over the optical isolation layer.

A method of fabricating a semiconductor device, comprising the steps of:

• providing a substrate having at least a film layer, an optical isolation layer, an anti-reflection coating and a photoresist layer sequentially formed thereon, wherein the optical isolation layer has a light absorption coefficient greater than 1.8;
• performing a photolithographic process to pattern the photoresist layer so that a portion of the anti-reflection coating is exposed;
• patterning the and-reflection coating, the optical isolation layer and the film layer to form an opening in the film layer;
• removing the patterned photoresist layer and the anti-reflection coating;
• forming a material layer over the substrate covering the optical isolation layer and completely filling the opening;
• and
• performing a chemical-mechanical polishing operation using the optical isolation layer as a polishing stop layer to remove the material layer over the optical isolation layer.