METHODS FOR FABRICATING HIGH-DENSITY INTEGRATED CIRCUIT DEVICES
First Claim
1. An article of manufacture comprising:
- a machine readable data storage medium storing a design entry for an integrated circuit, the design entry including;
a layout comprising a plurality of lines to be formed in a material layer during fabrication of an integrated circuit device; and
a mask layer to be formed overlying the material layer during fabrication of the plurality of lines, the mask layer specifying an intermediate mask element having a single edge for fabricating the entire plurality of lines.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
An integrated circuit device having a plurality of lines is described in which the widths of the lines, and the spacing between adjacent lines, vary within a small range which is independent of variations due to photolithographic processes, or other patterning processes, involved in manufacturing the device. A sequential sidewall spacer formation process is described for forming an etch mask for the lines, which results in first and second sets of sidewall spacers arranged in an alternating fashion. As a result of this sequential sidewall spacer process, the variation in the widths of the lines across the plurality of lines, and the spacing between adjacent lines, depends on the variations in the dimensions of the sidewall spacers. These variations are independent of, and can be controlled over a distribution much less than, the variation in the size of the intermediate mask element caused by the patterning process.
25 Citations
20 Claims
-
1. An article of manufacture comprising:
a machine readable data storage medium storing a design entry for an integrated circuit, the design entry including; a layout comprising a plurality of lines to be formed in a material layer during fabrication of an integrated circuit device; and a mask layer to be formed overlying the material layer during fabrication of the plurality of lines, the mask layer specifying an intermediate mask element having a single edge for fabricating the entire plurality of lines. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7)
-
8. A method for manufacturing an integrated circuit device, the method comprising:
-
providing a material layer; forming a first set of sidewall spacers and a second set of sidewalls spacers on the material layer, the first and second sets of sidewall spacers arranged in an alternating fashion, so that adjacent sidewall spacers in the first set are separated by a single sidewall spacer in the second set, and adjacent sidewall spacers in the second set are separated by a single sidewall spacer in the first set; and processing the first and second sets of sidewall spacers to form a plurality of lines at locations defined by the first set of sidewall spacers. - View Dependent Claims (9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19)
-
-
20. An integrated circuit device comprising:
-
a first plurality of lines separated from a second plurality of lines by a minimum spacing at least twice a width of a particular line in the first plurality of lines; each line in the first plurality of lines having a first line width roughness and a first line edge roughness less than the first line width roughness; each line in the second plurality of lines having a second line width roughness and a second line edge roughness less than the second line width roughness; and all the lines in the first plurality of lines having a longitudinal curvature different from each of the lines in the second plurality of lines.
-
Specification