Patent ID: 7972959

Claim:
A method of forming patterned metal features on a substrate, the method comprising: forming a layer of sacrificial structural material on the substrate; patterning the layer of sacrificial structural material using a photolithography process to form a plurality of cores with first linewidths separated by first trenches and spaced according to a first pitch; forming a conformal layer of a dielectric spacer material over the plurality of cores without completely filling the first trenches there between; anisotropically etching the conformal layer to expose the plurality of patterned sacrificial structures thereby forming a plurality of exposed cores; stripping away the plurality exposed of cores leaving a plurality of non-sacrificial dielectric spacers separated by second trenches and spaced according to a second pitch that is approximately half the first pitch; filling the trenches between the plurality of non-sacrificial dielectric spacers by forming a metal layer over the non-sacrificial spacers; and planarizing the substrate to create a substantially planar surface comprising areas of dielectric spacer material and areas of metal defining the patterned metal features.