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US 9,996,004 B2Granted
EUV photopatterning of vapor-deposited metal oxide-containing hardmasks
AssigneeLam Research Corporation
InventorsDavid Smith, Dennis M. Hausmann
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A vacuum-integrated metal oxide-containing hardmask formation process and related vacuum-integrated hardware that combine steps of film formation by vapor deposition and optical lithography results in direct photopatterning of metal oxide-containing hardmasks at substantially reduced cost relative to current approaches.
Claims20
A method of forming a metal oxide-containing hardmask, comprising:
- depositing on a semiconductor substrate by a vapor-based deposition process a EUV-sensitive metalorganic oxide film, wherein the depositing comprises reaction of an organotin oxide precursor with carbon monoxide or dioxide in a RF plasma;
- exposing a portion of the metalorganic oxide film to EUV to form a pattern in the metalorganic oxide film;
- developing the pattern in the metalorganic oxide film to remove one of the exposed or an unexposed portion of the metalorganic oxide film to form the metal oxide-containing hardmask.
An apparatus for conducting metal oxide-containing hardmask formation, the apparatus comprising:
- a metalorganic oxide film vapor-based deposition module;
- a metalorganic oxide film patterning module;
- a vacuum transfer module connecting the deposition module and the patterning module;
- and
- a controller including instructions for conducting metal oxide-containing hardmask formation, the instructions comprising code for:
- in the metal oxide-containing film vapor-based deposition module, depositing on a semiconductor substrate by a vapor-based deposition process a EUV-sensitive metalorganic oxide film, wherein the depositing comprises reaction of an organotin oxide precursor with carbon monoxide or dioxide in a RF plasma;
- transferring the substrate under vacuum to the metal oxide-containing film patterning module;
- in the metal oxide-containing film patterning module, patterning the metalorganic oxide film directly by EUV exposure in a vacuum ambient to form a pattern;
- and
- developing the pattern to form the metal oxide-containing hardmask.
7 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.