Patent ID: 7253113

Claim:
A method for forming a semiconductor device, the method comprising: providing a substrate; forming a material layer over the substrate; forming a photoresist layer over the material layer; exposing a top surface of the photoresist layer to a treatment radiation to generate separate photoresist structures having first distances between corresponding points of the separate photoresist structures defining a first pitch; performing an ultraviolet radiation exposure to reduce a cross-linked polymer state of the separate photoresist structures: forming a protectant layer over the separate photoresist structures using a diffusion silylation process; removing a portion of the protectant layer to expose an underlying portion of The photoresist layer; removing the photoresist layer to form at least part of the protectant layer into separate protectant structures having second distances between corresponding points of the separate protectant structures defining a second pitch, the second pitch being less than the first pitch; and removing portions of the material layer using the separate protectant structures as a mask.