Patent ID: 7737021

Claim:
A method, comprising: forming a layer of dielectric material; forming a cap layer above said layer of dielectric material; forming a layer of photoresist above said cap layer; defining a photoresist feature in said layer of photoresist, said feature having a first size; reducing the first size of said photoresist feature to produce a reduced size photoresist feature defining an area having at least one dimension corresponding to the reduced first size of the reduced size photoresist feature; forming an opening having at least one dimension corresponding to the reduced first size of the reduced size photoresist feature in said dielectric layer in said area defined by said reduced size photoresist feature, wherein forming the opening comprises: partially etching said cap layer to define a plurality of recesses in said cap layer adjacent said reduced size photoresist feature; forming a hard mask layer in the plurality of recesses in said partially etched layer of dielectric material; etching said dielectric layer in an area defined by the hard mask to form the opening in said layer of dielectric material; and forming a conductive material in said opening.