Patent ID: 8083962

Claim:
A method for forming a minute pattern on a semiconductor substrate, the method comprising: depositing a material layer on the semiconductor substrate having a conductive region; forming a first mask layer on the material layer; forming a recess region and an upper region in the first mask layer; performing layer processing to form a first metal mask pattern in the recess region, the upper region being above the first metal mask pattern; and etching the material layer using the first metal mask pattern as an etch mask to form a material layer pattern of the minute pattern after removing at least the upper region of the first mask layer, the first metal mask pattern forming an upper electrode and the conductive region forming an underlying lower electrode of the minute pattern, wherein: forming the first metal mask pattern includes forming a plurality of sub mask-layer-patterns, each sub mask-layer pattern being formed by alternating formation of a sub mask-layer and etching a portion of the sub mask-layer, formation of each sub mask-layer includes at least forming the sub mask-layer along inner surfaces of the upper region and the recess region, and etching each sub mask-layer includes etching the inner surfaces of the upper region, and the inner surfaces of the recess region remain substantially unetched.