Patent ID: 7368390

Claim:
A process for photolithographic production of patterns in a substrate, comprising: applying a carbon hard mask layer to the substrate by a plasma-enhanced deposition process, the deposition being carried out such that the carbon hard mask layer, in at least one layer thickness section, has a hardness comparable to that of diamond; patterning the carbon hard mask layer; and transferring the pattern of the carbon hard mask layer to the substrate, wherein in the applying process, the plasma-enhanced deposition process is a high density plasma deposition process, one or more of the gases CH 4 , C 2 H 6 , C 2 H 4 , C 2 H 2 and C 3 H 6 are used as carbon precursors, and hydrogen and one or both of the gases argon and neon are supplied, wherein during the production of the diamond-like layer thickness section, the content of the supplied hydrogen and the other parameters used for deposition are set such that hydrogen content in the produced carbon hard mask layer is below 5%.