Cyclic oxide spacer etch process
First Claim
1. A method of patterning a substrate, comprising:
- biasing a substrate in a processing chamber, the substrate having mandrel structures and silicon oxide spacer material formed thereon;
exposing the silicon oxide spacer material to an inert plasma to implant ions in one or more regions of the silicon oxide spacer material at a first pressure;
exposing the implanted regions of the silicon oxide spacer material to an etchant plasma to remove a portion of the silicon oxide spacer material in the processing chamber at a second pressure, wherein the second pressure is at least about three orders of magnitude greater than the first pressure;
repeating the exposing the silicon oxide spacer material to an inert plasma and the exposing the implanted regions of the silicon oxide spacer material to an etchant plasma until the mandrel structures are exposed;
removing the mandrel structures; and
repeating the exposing the silicon oxide spacer material to an inert plasma and the exposing the implanted regions of the silicon oxide spacer material to an etchant plasma until a uniform silicon oxide spacer material top surface profile is achieved.
1 Assignment
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Accused Products
Abstract
Embodiments described herein relate to methods for etching a substrate. Patterning processes, such as double patterning and quadruple patterning processes, may benefit from the embodiments described herein which include performing an inert plasma treatment to implant ions into a spacer material, performing an etching process on an implanted region of the spacer material, and repeating the inert plasma treatment and the etching process to form a predominantly flat top spacer profile. The inert plasma treatment process may be a biased process and the etching process may be an unbiased process. Various processing parameters, such as pressure, may be controlled to influence a desired spacer profile.
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Citations
20 Claims
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1. A method of patterning a substrate, comprising:
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biasing a substrate in a processing chamber, the substrate having mandrel structures and silicon oxide spacer material formed thereon; exposing the silicon oxide spacer material to an inert plasma to implant ions in one or more regions of the silicon oxide spacer material at a first pressure; exposing the implanted regions of the silicon oxide spacer material to an etchant plasma to remove a portion of the silicon oxide spacer material in the processing chamber at a second pressure, wherein the second pressure is at least about three orders of magnitude greater than the first pressure; repeating the exposing the silicon oxide spacer material to an inert plasma and the exposing the implanted regions of the silicon oxide spacer material to an etchant plasma until the mandrel structures are exposed; removing the mandrel structures; and repeating the exposing the silicon oxide spacer material to an inert plasma and the exposing the implanted regions of the silicon oxide spacer material to an etchant plasma until a uniform silicon oxide spacer material top surface profile is achieved. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
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11. A method of patterning a substrate, comprising:
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biasing the substrate in a processing chamber, the substrate having one or more silicon mandrel structures and a silicon oxide spacer material formed thereon; exposing the silicon oxide spacer material to a hydrogen plasma to implant hydrogen ions in one or more regions of the silicon oxide spacer material; exposing the implanted regions of the silicon oxide spacer material to a fluorine etchant plasma to remove a portion of the silicon oxide spacer material in the processing chamber at a pressure of between about 2 Torr and about 4 Torr; removing the silicon mandrel structures; and repeating the exposing the silicon oxide spacer material to a hydrogen plasma and the exposing the implanted regions of the silicon oxide spacer material to an etchant plasma until a uniform silicon oxide spacer material top surface profile is achieved. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13, 14, 15)
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16. A method of patterning a substrate, comprising:
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biasing the substrate in a processing chamber, the substrate having one or more silicon mandrel structures and a silicon dioxide spacer material formed thereon; exposing the silicon dioxide spacer material to an unbiased hydrogen plasma to implant hydrogen ions at an angle normal to a top surface of the silicon dioxide spacer material in one or more regions of the silicon dioxide spacer material; exposing the implanted regions of the silicon dioxide spacer material to a fluorine etchant plasma generated by a remote plasma source to remove a portion of the silicon dioxide spacer material in the processing chamber; removing the silicon mandrel structures; and repeating the exposing the silicon dioxide spacer material to a hydrogen plasma and the exposing the implanted regions of the silicon dioxide spacer material to an etchant plasma until a uniform silicon dioxide spacer material top surface profile is achieved. - View Dependent Claims (17, 18, 19, 20)
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Specification