Applied Materials, Inc.
High lateral to vertical ratio etch process for device manufacturing

Abstract:

A layer stack over a substrate is etched using a photoresist pattern deposited on the layer stack as a first mask. The photoresist pattern is in-situ cured using plasma. At least a portion of the photoresist pattern can be modified by curing. In one embodiment, silicon by-products are formed on the photoresist pattern from the plasma. In another embodiment, a carbon from the plasma is embedded into the photoresist pattern. In yet another embodiment, the plasma produces an ultraviolet light to cure the photoresist pattern. The cured photoresist pattern is slimmed. The layer stack is etched using the slimmed photoresist pattern as a second mask.