Patent ID: 11961738
Assignee: TAIWAN SEMICONDUCTOR MANUFACTURING COMPANY LTD.
Field: Semiconductors (Electrical engineering)
Classification: CPC H | IPC H

Claim 8:
9. A method of forming a pattern, comprising:
forming a target layer to be patterned over a substrate;
forming a bottom antireflective coating (BARC) layer over the target layer;
forming a photo resist pattern over the BARC layer, the photo resist pattern including a resist scum;
forming a hard mask layer over the photo resist pattern,
wherein a seam or a void is formed in the hard mask layer extending in a first direction between adjacent patterns of the photo resist pattern and a recess is formed at an end of the seam or void along the first direction,
wherein the recess is located at a greater distance from the BARC layer along the first direction than an uppermost surface of the photo resist pattern;

performing a planarization operation to expose the photo resist pattern without exposing the resist scum;
forming a hard mask pattern by removing the photo resist pattern while the resist scum is covered by the hard mask layer;
patterning the BARC layer using the hard mask pattern as an etching mask; and
patterning the target layer by using the patterned BARC layer and the hard mask pattern as an etching mask,
wherein the hard mask pattern includes one or more of silicon nitride, SiON, SiOC, SiOCN, SiCN, aluminum oxide, aluminum nitride, aluminum oxynitride, amorphous silicon and polysilicon.