Abstract: A semiconductor device formed on a semiconductor substrate having an active region and a method of making the same is disclosed. The semiconductor device includes a dielectric layer interposed between a gate electrode and the semiconductor substrate. Further, the semiconductor device includes graded dielectric constant spacers formed on sidewalls of the dielectric layer, sidewalls of the gate electrode and portions of an upper surface of the semiconductor substrate. The dielectric constant of the graded dielectric constant spacers decreases in a direction away from the sidewalls of the dielectric layer.

Abstract: An amorphous carbon layer is implanted with one or more dopants that enhance the etch resistivity of the amorphous carbon to etchants such as chlorine and HBr that are typically used to etch polysilicon. Such a layer may be pattern to form a handmask for etching polysilicon that provides improved pattern transfer accuracy compared to conventional undoped amorphous carbon.

Abstract: In one embodiment, the present invention relates to a method of forming a shallow trench, involving the steps of providing a semiconductor substrate comprising a barrier oxide layer over at the semiconductor substrate and a nitride layer over the barrier oxide layer; depositing an ultra-thin photoresist over the nitride layer, the ultra-thin photoresist having a thickness of about 2,000 Å or less; patterning the ultra-thin photoresist to expose a portion of the nitride layer and to define a pattern for the shallow trench; etching the exposed portion of the nitride layer with an etchant having a nitride:photoresist selectivity of at least about 10:1 to expose a portion of the barrier oxide layer; etching the exposed portion of the barrier oxide layer to expose a portion of the semiconductor substrate; and etching the exposed portion of the semiconductor substrate to provide the shallow trench.

Abstract: To reduce the width of a MOSFET gate, the gate is formed with a hardmask formed thereupon. An isotropic etch is then performed to trim the gate in order to reduce the width of the gate. The resulting gate may be formed with a width that is narrower than a minimum width achievable solely through conventional projection lithography techniques.

Abstract: A hardmask stack is comprised of alternating layers of doped amorphous carbon and undoped amorphous carbon. The undoped amorphous carbon layers serve as buffer layers that constrain the effects of compressive stress within the doped amorphous carbon layers to prevent delamination. The stack is provided with a top capping layer. The layer beneath the capping layer is preferably undoped amorphous carbon to reduce photoresist poisoning. An alternative hardmask stack is comprised of alternating layers of capping material and amorphous carbon. The amorphous carbon layers may be doped or undoped. The capping material layers serve as buffer layers that constrain the effects of compressive stress within the amorphous carbon layers to prevent delamination. The top layer of the stack is formed of a capping material. The layer beneath the top layer is preferably undoped amorphous carbon to reduce photoresist poisoning.

Abstract: A BARC comprising materials having a lower pinhole density than that of silicon oxynitride and materials having a coefficient of thermal expansion that is closer to the coefficient of thermal expansion of polysilicon than that of amorphous carbon is employed to reduce deformation of a pattern to be formed in a patternable layer. The patternable layer is formed over a substrate. A multi-layered anti-reflective coating is formed over the patternable layer. A photoresist pattern is formed on the coating. The coating may comprise an amorphous carbon layer formed over the patternable layer and a SiC layer having a lower pinhole density than the pinhole density of SiON formed over the amorphous carbon layer. The coating may also be formed over a polysilicon layer and comprise a thermal expansion buffer layer having a coefficient of thermal expansion that is closer to the coefficient of thermal expansion of polysilicon than that of amorphous carbon.

Abstract: A process for forming sub-lithographic features in an integrated circuit is disclosed herein. A process for enhancing the etch trimmability and the etch stability of features patterned on a photoresist layer is also disclosed herein. The process includes curing a photoresist layer after patterning and development but before an etch process is performed thereon. By controlling the formation of the cured portions of the features patterned on the photoresist layer, the features can be trimmed to sub-lithographic critical dimensions without pattern deformation or occurrence of other failure mechanisms.

Abstract: A method for forming a fin in a semiconductor device that includes a substrate, an insulating layer formed on the substrate, and a conductive layer formed on the insulating layer, includes forming a carbon layer over the conductive layer and forming a mask over the carbon layer. The method further includes etching the mask and carbon layer to form at least one structure, where the structure has a first width, reducing the width of the carbon layer in the at least one structure to a second width, depositing an oxide layer to surround the at least one structure, removing a portion of the oxide layer and the mask, removing the carbon layer to form an opening in a remaining portion of the oxide layer for each of the at least one structure, filling the at least one opening with conductive material, and removing the remaining portion of the oxide layer and a portion of the conductive layer to form the fin.

Abstract: A process for forming sub-lithographic features in an integrated circuit is disclosed herein. The process includes modifying a photoresist layer after patterning and development but before it is utilized to pattern the underlying layers. The modified photoresist layer has different etch rates in the vertical and horizontal directions. The modified photoresist layer is trimmed with a plasma etch. A feature included in the trimmed photoresist layer has a sub-lithographic lateral dimension.

Abstract: In the present method of trimming photoresist to form a mask for a layer of a semiconductor device, which layer may include polysilicon and/or nitride, the method is practiced substantially in accordance with: wmin=(h0−Rvtmax)/ARmax where w1=minimum width of trimmed photoresist; h0=height of photoresist prior to trim; Rv=resist vertical etch rate; tmax=maximum etch time to reach resist vertical etch limit; ARmax=maximum allowable aspect ratio of trimmed photoresist.

Abstract: The invention provides a method of selecting an anti reflective layer thickness for patterning a thin film silicon gate layer over a high K dielectric layer. The method comprises selecting a trial anti reflective layer thickness. A first coherent illumination intensity reflected from an interface between the photoresist layer and the anti reflective layer is calculated at the lithography wavelength. A second coherent illumination intensity reflected from an interface between the anti reflective layer and the polysilicon layer is calculated at the lithography wavelength. And, a third coherent illumination intensity reflected from an interface between the polysilicon layer and the high K dielectric layer is calculated at the lithography wavelength. A total coherent illumination intensity that comprises the sum of the first coherent illumination intensity, the second coherent illumination intensity, and the third coherent illumination intensity is calculated and compared to a predetermined threshold.

Abstract: A process for preventing deformation of patterned photoresist features during integrated circuit fabrication is disclosed herein. The process includes stabilizing the patterned photoresist features by a flood electron beam before one or more etch processes. The stabilized patterned photoresist features resist pattern bending, breaking, collapsing, or deforming during a given etch process. The electron beam stabilization can be applied to the patterned photoresist features a plurality of times as desired.

Abstract: The invention provides a method of small geometry gate formation on the surface of a high-k gate dielectric wherein process complexity and processing costs are reduced while throughput and overall process efficiency is improved. The method may utilize photolithography illumination of 157 nm, 193 nm, 248 nm, or other suitable wavelengths to mask a gate region. An aggressive mask trim may be used to reduce the mask size such that it masks a narrow gate region. A hard mask is then fabricated over the narrow gate region and the gate and high-k dielectric are etched to expose the silicon substrate. The entire etch sequence can be performed in-situ within a single gate etch chamber.

Abstract: The invention provides an integrated circuit fabricated on a semiconductor substrate. The integrated circuit comprises a first field effect transistor and a second field effect transistor. The first field effect transistor comprises a first polysilicon gate positioned above a first channel region of the substrate and isolated from the first channel region by a first dielectric layer extending the entire length of the first polysilicon gate. The first dielectric layer comprises a first dielectric material with a first dielectric constant. The second field effect transistor comprises a second polysilicon gate positioned above a second channel region on the substrate and isolated from the second channel region by a second dielectric layer extending the entire length of the second polysilicon gate. The second dielectric layer comprises a second dielectric material with a second dielectric constant.

Abstract: A method of forming a conductor pattern on a base with uneven topography includes placing conductor material on the base, placing a hard mask material on the conductor material, planarizing an exposed surface of the hard mask material, and placing a layer of resist on the hard mask material. The resist is patterned and the patterned resist is used in selectively etching the hard mask material, with the hard mask material used in selectively etching the underlying conductor material. By planarizing the hard mask material prior to placing a layer of resist thereupon, uniformity of the resist coating is enhanced and depth of focus problems in exposing the resist are reduced.

Abstract: A method is provided herein for trim etching a resist line in a plasma etch apparatus. The method provides a reduced rate of vertical direction etching of the resist, and an increased rate of horizontal direction etching of the resist, by applying a lower biasing power to the plasma etch apparatus that is conventionally used. The resulting resist has an increased height in relation to its width which adds to the structural integrity of the resist line and significantly reduces problems of discontinuity in the resist line.

Abstract: A process for forming sub-lithographic features in an integrated circuit is disclosed herein. The process includes modifying a photoresist layer after patterning and development but before it is utilized to pattern the underlying layers. The modified photoresist layer has different etch rates in the vertical and horizontal directions. The modified photoresist layer is trimmed with a plasma etch. A feature included in the trimmed photoresist layer has a sub-lithographic lateral dimension.

Abstract: A process for forming sub-lithographic features in an integrated circuit is disclosed herein. A process for enhancing the etch trimmability and the etch stability of features patterned on a photoresist layer is also disclosed herein. The process includes curing a photoresist layer after patterning and development but before an etch process is performed thereon. By controlling the formation of the cured portions of the features patterned on the photoresist layer, the features can be trimmed to sub-lithographic critical dimensions without pattern deformation or occurrence of other failure mechanisms.

Abstract: The present invention relates to a process of fabricating a semiconductor device, including steps of providing a first semiconductor wafer; depositing on the first semiconductor wafer a layer comprising a high-K dielectric material layer; depositing on the layer comprising a high-K dielectric material a polysilicon or polysilicon-germanium layer; and forming a gate stack by plasma etching both a portion of the polysilicon or polysilicon-germanium layer and a portion of the layer comprising a high-K dielectric material in a single chamber. In one embodiment, the step of plasma etching is carried out without moving the first wafer from the chamber. In another embodiment an unwanted residual high-K dielectric material is removed by applying a low power plasma treatment.

Abstract: A method of forming a via structure is provided. In the method, a dielectric layer is formed on an anti-reflective coating (ARC) layer covering a first metal layer; and a transition metal layer is formed on the dielectric layer. An ultra-thin photoresist layer is formed on the transition metal layer, and the ultra-thin photoresist layer is patterned with short wavelength radiation to define a pattern for a via. The patterned ultra-thin photoresist layer is used as a mask during a first etch step to transfer the via pattern to the transition metal layer. The first etch step includes an etch chemistry that is selective to the transition metal layer over the ultra-thin photoresist layer and the dielectric layer. The transition metal layer is employed as a hard mask during a second etch step to form a contact hole corresponding to the via pattern by etching portions of the dielectric layer.