Unlocking layer and method
AssigneeTaiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, Ltd.
InventorsChen-Yu Liu, Ching-Yu Chang
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Abstract
A system and method for anti-reflective layers is provided. In an embodiment the anti-reflective layer comprises a polymer resin which has repeating units within it. At least one of the repeating units comprises a locked unit which has a cyclic structure and a lock within the unit. After the anti-reflective layer has been applied and baked, irregularities such as voids and step heights differences that have occurred may be handled by unlocking the lock within the locked unit. This unlocking breaks the cyclic structure, allowing the polymer to take up more volume and causing the anti-reflective layer to self-expand, filling the voids and reducing the step-height. The unlocking may be performed by exposure or thermal treatments.
Claims20
A method for manufacturing a semiconductor device, the method comprising:
- applying an anti-reflective coating layer onto a substrate, the anti-reflective coating layer comprising a resin with a locked monomer;
- and
- expanding a volume of the anti-reflective coating layer by unlocking the locked monomer.
A method of manufacturing a semiconductor device, the method comprising:
- applying an anti-reflective coating to a substrate, the anti-reflective coating comprising a polymer resin with repeating units, wherein at least one of the repeating units comprises a lock located within a cyclic structure;
- and
- generating a chemically reactive species from a catalyst within the anti-reflective coating, the chemically reactive species cleaving the lock to break the cyclic structure.
A method of manufacturing a semiconductor device, the method comprising:
- applying a bottom anti-reflective coating onto a substrate, the bottom anti-reflective coating comprising a polymer resin, the polymer resin comprising a cyclic structure;
- and
- modifying the cyclic structure into at least a partial linear structure.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.