Patent ID: 9620381
Date: 2017-04-11
CPC Classifications: H01L

Claim:
1. A method comprising: facilitating fabricating a circuit structure, the facilitating comprising: providing a circuit structure having a film layer thereover, the film layer being non-metal and disposed over planar and non-planar areas of the circuit structure, the film layer having a non-amorphous crystalline lattice structure; modifying an etch property of an upper portion of an entirety of the film layer, the modifying comprising implanting at least one species of element or molecule into the upper portion of the film layer, wherein the etch property of the film layer remains unmodified beneath the upper portion thereof, and wherein the modifying further comprises controlling the implanting to prevent amorphization of the non-amorphous crystalline lattice structure of the film layer including the upper portion thereof; and subjecting the structure comprising the film layer with the modified etch property to at least one etching process, wherein the modified etch property of the upper portion of the film layer facilitates fabrication of the circuit structure using, in part, the etching process, and wherein the modified etch property of the upper portion of the film layer prevents removal of a lower portion of the film layer by the at least one etching process.