Patent ID: 7344953

Claim:
A process for patterning process surfaces of a substrate with a relief, the process surfaces being disposed within trenches and further being vertical and/or inclined with respect to a horizontal substrate surface and extending from the substrate surface down to a relief depth, wherein a coverage depth for each trench is defined at a selected location between the substrate surface and the relief depth for the trench, the method comprising: producing a covering layer via an ALD deposition process in a process chamber, the covering layer being built up from the substrate surface, in a direction of the relief depth, from precursor materials, wherein the covering layer is deposited on upper sections of the process surfaces disposed between the substrate surface and the coverage depth, with a thickness of the covering layer being substantially uniform until the covering layer reaches a transition region defined proximate the coverage depth, and the covering layer is further restricted from completely covering the process surfaces by providing suitable parameters of the deposition process such that substantially no deposition of the covering layer occurs between the coverage depth and the relief depth.