Patent ID: 11961735
Assignee: TOKYO ELECTRON LIMITED
Field: Semiconductors (Electrical engineering)
Classification: CPC C  H | IPC C  H

Claim 0:
1. A method for processing a substrate, the method comprising:
performing a cyclic plasma process comprising a plurality of cycles, each cycle of the plurality of cycles comprising
purging a plasma processing chamber comprising the substrate with a first deposition gas comprising methane, ethane, or ethylene, the substrate comprising a silicon-containing hardmask layer and a metal oxide layer, the silicon-containing hardmask layer comprising a first outer surface and the metal oxide layer comprising a second outer surface;
exposing the first and the second outer surfaces to a first plasma generated from the first deposition gas to selectively deposit a first polymeric film over the silicon-containing hardmask layer relative to the metal oxide layer;
stopping the exposing to the first plasma and purging the plasma processing chamber with an etch gas comprising fluorine; and
exposing the substrate to a second plasma generated from the etch gas to etch the metal oxide layer, the first polymeric film protecting the silicon-containing hardmask layer from being etched by the second plasma.