Patent ID: 9576812
Date: 2017-02-21
CPC Classifications: H01J,H01L

Claim:
1. A method of creating structure profiles on a substrate using faceting and passivation layers, the method comprising: providing the substrate in a process chamber of an etch system, the substrate comprising a structure wherein the structure is a patterned hard mask with an underlying stop layer, the patterned hard mask being a dielectric hard mask, the structure above the patterned hard mask having a structure height; performing a first plasma etch process generating a faceted sidewall on the substrate, the etch process etching around the pattern hard mask down to a desired inflection point; performing a second plasma etch process using an oxygen, nitrogen, or combined oxygen and nitrogen plasma, the second plasma etch process generating a passivation layer; performing a third plasma etch process using operating variables of an etch chemistry on the faceted sidewall and the passivation layer to induce differential etch rates to achieve a breakthrough on near-horizontal surfaces of the structure, wherein the third plasma etch used is configured to produce a target sidewall profile on the substrate down to the underlying stop layer; wherein use of a faceting technique and a passivation layer are combined to achieve target sidewall profile objectives for the structure.