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US 8,569,173 B2Granted
Methods of protecting elevated polysilicon structures during etching processes
AssigneeGlobalfoundries Singapore Pte. Ltd.
InventorsLiang Li, Huang Liu, Alex See, Soh Yun Siah, Xue Song Rao, Peng Zhou
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Abstract
Disclosed herein are various methods of protecting elevated polysilicon structures during etching processes. In one example, the method includes forming a layer stack above a semiconducting substrate for a memory device, forming a protective mask layer above the layer stack of the memory device and performing at least one etching process to define a gate electrode for a transistor while the protective mask is in position above the layer stack for the memory device.
Claims12
A method, comprising:
- forming a layer stack above a semiconducting substrate for a memory device;
- forming a protective mask layer above said layer stack of said memory device;
- positioning said substrate in a process chamber and thereafter performing at least one etching process in said process chamber to define a gate electrode for a transistor while said protective mask is in position above said layer stack for said memory device;
- and
- after performing said at least one etching process in said process chamber, removing said protective mask layer from above said layer stack of said memory device by performing a process operation in said process chamber before removing said substrate from said process chamber.
2 more elements
A method, comprising:
- forming a layer stack above a semiconducting substrate for a memory device;
- forming a layer of gate electrode material for a transistor;
- forming a protective mask layer above said layer stack for said memory device and above said layer of gate electrode material;
- performing at least one etching process to remove said protective mask layer from above layer of gate electrode material to thereby define a protective mask positioned above said layer stack for said memory device;
- performing at least one etching process on said layer of gate electrode material to define a gate electrode for a transistor while said protective mask is in position above said layer stack for said memory device;
- and
- after performing said at least one etching process on said layer of gate electrode material to define said gate electrode for said transistor, removing said protective mask from above said layer stack of said memory device by:
- forming a patterned mask layer above said substrate that exposes said protective mask;
- and
- performing an etching process through said patterned mask layer to remove said protective mask.
7 more elements
A method, comprising:
- forming a layer stack above a semiconducting substrate for a memory device;
- forming a protective mask layer above said layer stack of said memory device;
- performing at least one etching process to define a gate electrode for a transistor while said protective mask is in position above said layer stack for said memory device;
- and
- after performing said at least one etching process, removing said protective mask layer from above said layer stack of said memory device by:
- forming a patterned mask layer above said substrate that exposes said protective mask layer;
- and
- performing an etching process through said patterned mask layer to remove said protective mask layer.
5 more elements
A method, comprising:
- forming a layer stack above a semiconducting substrate for a memory device;
- forming a layer of gate electrode material for a transistor;
- forming a protective mask layer above said layer stack for said memory device and above said layer of gate electrode material;
- performing at least one etching process to remove said protective mask layer from above said layer of gate electrode material to thereby define a protective mask positioned above said layer stack for said memory device;
- positioning said substrate in a process chamber and thereafter performing at least one etching process on said layer of gate electrode material to define a gate electrode for a transistor while said protective mask is in position above said layer stack for said memory device;
- and
- after performing said at least one etching process on said layer of gate electrode material to define said gate electrode for said transistor in said process chamber, removing said protective mask from above said layer stack of said memory device by performing a process operation in said process chamber before removing said substrate from said process chamber.
4 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.