Patent Document

TECHNICAL FIELD 
     This disclosure relates generally to integrated circuit fabrication methods, and more particular to a method of fabricating a semiconductor structure. 
     BACKGROUND 
     Integrated circuits are commonly used to make a wide variety of electronic devices, such as memory chips. One aim in production is to reduce the size of integrated circuits, so as to increase the density of the individual components and consequently enhance the functionality of an integrated circuit. The minimum pitch on an integrated circuit (the minimum distance between the same points of two adjacent structures of the same type, e.g., two adjacent gate conductors) is often used as a representative measure of the circuit&#39;s density. Increases in circuit density often are limited by the resolution of the available photolithographic equipment. The minimum size of features and spaces that a given piece of photolithographic equipment can produce is related to its resolution capability. 
     Some attempts have been made to try to reduce the pitch of an integrated circuit device below that of the minimum pitch produced lithographically. Generally, multiple exposure and multiple patterning schemes have been used to achieve pitch reduction in semiconductor structures. However, lithographic methods based on multiple exposure and patterning schemes require using complicated multiple layer stacks, and require numerous exposure and etching steps. For example, for the litho-etch-litho-etch (LELE) double patterning process, complicated tri-layer lithographic stack is used. The exposure, etching, re-exposure, and re-etching steps in the LELE scheme produce critical dimension bias and significantly increase the chance for creating defects. In sum, the conventional method of using multiple exposure and patterning schemes to reduce pitch in a semiconductor device are difficult to control and show varying results. It is therefore necessary to provide a simpler, and more reliable method that can reduce the pitch in a semiconductor device. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       Exemplary embodiments will be described with reference to the accompanying figures. It should be understood that the drawings are for illustrative purposes and are therefore not drawn to scale. 
         FIGS. 1 to 7  are cross-sectional views showing various stages during fabrication of a structure according to the one embodiment for the present disclosure. 
         FIG. 8  illustrates the relationship between the amount of ion-implantation in the polysilicon layer and the rate of wet etching in TMAH. 
         FIGS. 9 to 17  are cross-sectional views showing various stages during fabrication of a structure according to another embodiment for the present disclosure. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     The making and using of illustrative embodiments are discussed in detail below. It should be appreciated, however, that the disclosure provides many applicable inventive concepts that can be embodied in a wide variety of specific contexts. The specific embodiments discussed are merely illustrative and do not limit the scope of the invention. 
     It will be understood that when an element as a layer, region or substrate is referred to as being “over” another element, it can be directly on the other element or intervening elements may also be present. In contrast, when an element is referred to as being “directly on” or “directly over” another element, there are no intervening elements present. It will also be understood that when an element is referred to as being “beneath” or “under” another element, it can be directly beneath or under the other element, or intervening elements may be present. In contrast, when an element is referred to as being “directly beneath” or “directly under” another element, there are no intervening elements present. 
     As used herein, a particular patterned layer is “used as a mask” for a particular process step if it is the top layer present when the particular process step is performed, and also if it is only an intermediate layer present when the particular process step is performed, as long as any superposing layers are patterned the same as or more narrowly than the particular layer. In other words, as used herein, if the structure includes two patterned layers, then each of them individually, as well as both of them together, are all considered herein to act as a “mask” for the particular process step. The presence of a superposing layer having the same or narrower pattern as the particular layer does not prevent the particular layer from being “used as a mask” for the particular process step. 
       FIGS. 1 to 7  are cross-sectional views of a semiconductor structuring during the various process stages according to one embodiment of this invention. The term “substrate” as described herein, refers to a semiconductor substrate on which various layers and integrated circuit components are formed. The substrate may comprise silicon or a compound semiconductor, such as GaAs, InP, Si/Ge, or SiC. Examples of layers may include dielectric layers, doped layers, metal layers, polysilicon layers and via plugs that may connect one layer to one or more layers. Examples of integrated circuit components may include transistors, resistors, and/or capacitors. The substrate may be part of a wafer that includes a plurality of semiconductor dies fabricated on the surface of the substrate, wherein each die comprises one or more integrated circuits. The semiconductor dies are divided by scribe lines between adjacent dies. The following process steps will be performed on each of semiconductor dies on the surface of the substrate. 
     Referring to the drawings,  FIGS. 1 to 7  depict a first embodiment of the integrated circuit pitch reduction method of the present invention. 
     Referring to  FIG. 1 , it illustrates the initial step in the first method. In the embodiment depicted in  FIG. 1 , a semiconductor wafer  100  is shown. Semiconductor wafer  100  is provided with a silicon substrate  102 . The term “substrate” as described herein, refers to a semiconductor substrate on which various layers and integrated circuit components are formed. The substrate may comprise silicon or a compound semiconductor, such as GaAs, InP, Si/Ge, or SiC. 
     Placing directly on the silicon substrate  102  is a gate dielectric layer  103 . The gate dielectric layer  103  is formed directly over the substrate  102  by any suitable process to any suitable thickness. In various embodiments, the gate dielectric layer  103  may comprise silicon oxide, silicon oxynitride, silicon nitride, other suitable dielectric materials, a high-k dielectric layer comprising hafnium oxide (HfO 2 ), hafnium silicon oxide (HfSiO), hafnium silicon oxynitride (HfSiON), hafnium tantalum oxide (HfTaO), hafnium titanium oxide (HfTiO), hafnium zirconium oxide (HfZrO), metal oxides, metal nitrides, metal silicates, transition metal-oxides, transition metal-nitrides, transition metal-silicates, oxynitrides of metals, metal aluminates, zirconium silicate, zirconium aluminate, zirconium oxide, titanium oxide, aluminum oxide, hafnium dioxide-alumina (HfO 2 —Al 2 O 3 ) alloy, other suitable high-k dielectric materials, and/or combinations thereof. 
     A silicon-containing material, such as a polysilicon layer  104 , is deposited on the gate dielectric layer  103 . The polysilicon layer  104  can be deposited in any known and suitable manner, and is typically deposited with a CVD process from a precursor material such as disilane. 
     Thereafter, a masking layer over the polysilicon layer  104  is formed. In this embodiment, the masking layer comprises a photoresist layer  105 . Alternatively, the masking layer could comprise other patternable materials, which are impermeable to implanted ions. Suitable alternatives include patterned layers formed from a nitride or oxide of silicon and photosensitive polyimide. The process of forming the photoresist layer  105  may include photoresist coating (e.g., spin-on coating), soft baking, mask aligning, exposure, post-exposure baking, developing the photoresist, rinsing, drying (e.g., hard baking), other suitable processes, and/or combinations thereof. 
     The photoresist layer  105  is formed in such a manner as to cover and mask a selected region of polysilicon layer  104  that has the approximate desired horizontal dimensions of the shaped opening to be formed. Specifically, the patterned first photoresist layer  105  comprises a plurality of first features  106  over the polysilicon layer  104 . A pitch P 1  is the minimum distance between the same points of two adjacent first features  106 . The pitch P 1  equals a width W 1  of the first feature  106  plus a space S 1  between the adjacent first features  106 . The region or regions of polysilicon layer  104  that are intended to remain are left unmasked. 
       FIG. 2  illustrates the next step in the first method. As shown in  FIG. 2 , once the polysilicon layer  104  is covered with photoresist mask  105 , ions  107  are implanted into the unmasked regions of polysilicon layer  104 . The ion implantation operation is conducted with conventional ion implantation methods and the implantation parameters can be varied as discussed more in greater detail below. The ion-implantation can be done using conventional ion implantation apparatus comprising a vacuum chamber and an ion source mounted within the chamber or outside the chamber. A beam of ions can be directed at the targeted area from various directions. In this embodiment, ions  107  are implanted vertically into the polysilicon layer  14 . Due to the presence of the photoresist mask layer  105 , the ion implantation affects only the portions of the polysilicon layer  104  that is unmasked. Therefore, as  FIG. 2  shows, the implantation operation forms evenly spaced ion-implanted features  108  in the polysilicon layer  104 ; each ion-implanted feature  108  has a width equals to S 1 . 
     Referring to  FIG. 3 , once this first ion implantation operation has been conducted, the photoresist mask layer  105  is removed. 
     Thereafter, as  FIG. 4  shows, a second photoresist mask layer  109  is deposited onto the polysilicon layer  104 . Again, this deposition processes may include photoresist coating (e.g., spin-on coating), soft baking, mask aligning, exposure, post-exposure baking, developing the photoresist, rinsing, drying (e.g., hard baking), and/or combinations thereof in various embodiments. 
     The second photoresist layer  109  is then patterned in a similar fashion to the first photoresist layer  105  to form a plurality of second features  110 . The patterned second photoresist layer  109  comprises a plurality of second features  110  over the polysilicon layer  104 . Each of the adjacent second features  110  has the pitch P 2 , the width W 2 , and the space S 2 . In this embodiment, the pitch P 2  and the first pitch P 1  in the previous photoresist layer are substantially equal. In this embodiment, the pitch P 2  equals the width W 2  of the second feature  110  plus the space S 2  between the adjacent second features  110 . Also, in this embodiment, spaces S 2  of the second photoresist layer  109  expose the portions of the polysilicon layer  104 —the portions of the polysilicon layer  104  that will be subject to the second ion-implantation. In other words, the width of space S 2  determines the width of the portion of polysilicon layer  104  to be implanted for the second time. 
     Also, the positioning of the second features  110  in the second photoresist layer  109  is important, because it has a direct impact on the sizing and spacing of the resulting polysilicon features. In this embodiment, the width W 2  of the second photoresist feature  110  is set at three times the width S 2 , and the photoresist feature  110  is positioned on the polysilicon layer  104  such that the widths of the photoresist feature  110  on either side of the previously implanted polysilicon feature  106  in the first photoresist layer  105  are the same. This configuration ensures that all of the resultant implantation-features in the resultant polysilicon layer  14 , after two implantation operations, are evenly spaced. 
     Next, as  FIG. 5  shows, the second ion-implantation operation is conducted. The second ion-implantation operation creates a set of second ion-implanted features  111  in the polysilicon layer  104 . Due to the careful positioning of the second features  110  in the second photoresist layer and the sizing of the photoresist features  110  described above, the second ion-implanted features  111  should have identical widths (S 2 ) and all of the first and second ion-implanted features  108  and  111  should be spaced evenly apart at a distance equals to one third of W 2 . 
     Next, as  FIG. 6  shows, the second photoresist layer  109  is then removed, leaving the evenly and alternately spaced ion-implanted features  108  and  111  on the polysilicon layer  104 . 
     Finally in this embodiment, as  FIG. 7  shows, a selective-etching process is conducted to selectively remove the non-implanted portions of the polysilicon layer  104 . Specifically, the etching process etches away portions of the volume of silicon-containing material in the polysilicon layer  104  having less than an implanted ion threshold concentration. During this etching process, the etching process does not substantially remove portions of the polysilicon layer  104  implanted with ions above the threshold concentration, such as ion-implanted features  108  and  111 . At the same time, however, the portions of the polysilicon layer  104  that have not been implanted with ions, or were implanted to less than the threshold concentration are substantially removed. 
     As an example, the selective etching of the implanted polysilicon layer  104  is done using tetramethyl ammonium hydroxide (TMAH) wet etch. The TMAH wet etch is preferably administered as an etchant solution into which the entire semiconductor wafer  100  is immersed. 
     The TMAH etchant solution can be made from various mixtures, including KOH and other alkaline Si solutions. The exemplary concentrations of the TMAH etchant solution comprise from about 2.38 weight percent TMAH in a deionized water solution and higher. In another example, a concentration from about 1 to about 25 weight percent TMAH in a solution, and more preferably about 20 weight percent TMAH in a solution can be used as the TMAH etchant solution. The TMAH wet etching process is preferably done at a temperature in a range from about 10 C to about 90 C, and more preferably, in a range from about 25 C to about 70 C. 
     In one embodiment, the ion-implanted portions of the polysilicon layer  104  is implanted with a concentration of ions in a range above 1E20 ions per cm3 of the polysilicon layer  104  More specifically, the ion-implantation concentration is in a range above 1E21 per cm3 of polysilicon layer  104 . The unimplanted portions of the polysilicon layer  104  should be substantially free of the implanted ions. 
       FIG. 8  illustrates the relationship between the amount of ion-implantation in the polysilicon layer and the rate of wet etching using TMAH. The X-axis in  FIG. 8  represents the ion implantation concentration, which is given in ions per cm3. The Y-axis in  FIG. 8  represents the etching rate of implanted polysilicon layer given in angstroms per minute.  FIG. 8  shows that, at or around a concentration of 3E20 ions per cm3 of polysilicon layer, the wet etching rate using TMAH begins to drop drastically from 8000 A/min to 150 A/min. Therefore, it is clear that a high implanted ion concentration will result in a higher wet etch removal rate than a low or non-implanted ion concentration. 
     When conducting TMAH wet etch, conventional dopant ions that are known to change the electrical properties of the polysilicon layer  104  can be used in the ion implantation operation. For example, the dopant ions can be boron, arsenic, phosphorous, nitrogen, helium, carbon, or difluoroborane. Silicon ions can also be used as ion implantation dopants. 
     Referring to  FIGS. 9 to 15 , they depict a second embodiment of the semiconductor structure manufacturing method of the present invention. 
     In this embodiment, a semiconductor wafer  200  is shown in  FIG. 9 . Just like the previous embodiment, the semiconductor wafer  200  is provided with a silicon substrate  212 , and a gate dielectric layer  213  and a polysilicon layer  214  are subsequently formed on the substrate. Thereafter, an imaging layer  215  is formed on the polysilicon layer  214 . 
     In this embodiment, the imaging layer  215  comprises at least three layers—a bottom layer  216 , a middle layer  217 , and an upper layer  218 . The bottom layer  216  is formed on the hardmask layer and underlying the middle layer  217 . The middle layer  217  is formed over the bottom layer  216  and underlying the upper layer  218 . The upper layer  218  is formed over the middle layer  217 . The bottom, middle, and upper layer  216 ,  217 ,  218  comprise various organic and/or inorganic materials. 
     In this embodiment, bottom layer  216  comprises an organic layer, middle layer  217  comprises an inorganic layer, and upper layer  218  comprises an organic layer. The bottom organic layer may comprise a photoresist material, an anti-reflective coating (ARC) material, a polymer material, and/or other suitable materials. The middle inorganic layer may comprise an oxide layer, such as a low temperature CVD oxide, an oxide derived from TEOS (tetraethylorthosilicate), silicon oxide, or silane oxide. Another example includes the middle layer as a Si-containing anti-reflective coating (ARC) material, such as a 42% Si-containing ARC layer. The upper organic layer may comprise an organic photoresist material. Further, the imaging layers  213 ,  215 ,  217  comprise any suitable thickness. In one example, the bottom layer  213  comprises a thickness of approximately 600 to 1000 Å. The middle layer  217  comprises a thickness of approximately 100 to 500 Å. The upper layer  218  comprises a thickness of approximately 550 to 950 Å. 
     Referring to  FIG. 10 , upper layer  218  of the first imaging layer  215  is patterned by photolithography patterning processes. The processes may include exposure, post-exposure baking, developing the photoresist, rinsing, drying (e.g., hard baking), other suitable processes, and/or combinations thereof. The patterned upper layer  218  comprises a plurality of first features  219  directly over the middle layer  217 . A pitch P 1  on each of the first features  219  is the minimum distance between the same points of two adjacent first features  219 . The pitch P 1  equals a width W 1  of the first feature  219  plus a space S 1  between adjacent the first features  219 . 
     Referring to  FIG. 11 , the middle layer  217  and the bottom layer  216  are patterned by using the upper layer  218  as a mask. The first features  219  are transferred into the middle layer  217  and the bottom layer  216 . In one embodiment, an inorganic Si-containing ARC layer is used as the middle layer  217 . An organic bottom anti-reflective coating layer (BARC) is used as the bottom layer  216 . The middle layer  217  is etched with a plasma process in a CF 4  ambient environment. Then, the bottom layer  216  is etched with a plasma process in a HBr/O 2  ambient environment. In one embodiment, the upper layer  218  is consumed and removed during the bottom layer  216  etching process. 
     Next, as shown in  FIG. 12 , once the three layers,  216 ,  217 , and  218  have been patterned as described above, they form features  219  in the patterned first image layer  219 . Next, ions  207  are implanted into the unmasked regions of polysilicon layer  214 . In this embodiment, ions  207  are implanted vertically into the polysilicon layer  214 . The ion implantation operation is conducted with conventional ion implantation methods and the implantation parameters can be varied as discussed above. Due to the presence of the first tri-layer image layer  215 , the ion implantation affects only the portions of the polysilicon layer  214  that is unmasked. Therefore, as  FIG. 12  shows, the implantation operation forms evenly spaced implanted features  220  in the polysilicon layer  214 ; each implanted feature  220  has a width of S 1 . Referring to  FIG. 13 , once the ion implantation operation has been conducted, the first tri-layer image layer  215  is removed. 
     Next, as  FIG. 14  shows, a second image layer  221  is deposited onto the polysilicon layer  214 . The second image layer  221  also has three layers same as the first image layer  215 . The second image layer  221  is also patterned in much the same way as the first image layer  215 , forming second features  222  in the second image layer  221 . 
     Each of the adjacent second features  222  has the pitch P 2 , the width W 2 , and the space S 2 . In this embodiment, the pitch P 2  and the first pitch P 1  in the previous image layer are substantially equal. In this embodiment, the pitch P 2  equals the width W 2  of the second feature  222  plus the space S 2  between the adjacent second features  222 . Also, in this embodiment, spaces S 2  of the second photoresist layer  221  expose the portions of the polysilicon layer  214 —the portions of the polysilicon layer  214  that will be subject to the second ion-implantation. In other words, the width of space S 2  determines the width of the portion of polysilicon layer  214  to be implanted for the second time. 
     Again, same as the previous embodiment, the positioning of the second features  222  in the second image photoresist layer  221  is important, because it has a direct impact on the sizing and spacing of the resulting polysilicon features. In this embodiment, the width W 2  of the second photoresist feature  222  is again set at three times the width S 2 , and the photoresist feature  222  is positioned on the polysilicon layer  214  such that the amount of a photoresist feature  222  on either side of the previously implanted polysilicon feature  216  in the first photoresist layer  215  is the same. This configuration ensures that all of the resultant implantation-features in the resultant polysilicon layer  214 , after two implantation operations, are evenly spaced. 
     Next, as  FIG. 15  shows, the second ion-implantation operation is conducted. The second ion-implantation operation creates a set of second ion-implanted features  223  in the polysilicon layer  214 . Just like the previous embodiment, due to the careful positioning of the second features  222  in the second photoresist layer and the sizing of the photoresist features  222  described above, the second ion-implanted features  223  should have identical widths (S 2 ) and all of the first and second ion-implanted features  220  and  223  should be spaced evenly apart at a distance equals to one third of W 2 . Finally, as  FIG. 16  shows, the second image layer is removed and the non-implanted portions of the polysilicon layer  214  is etched away using TMAH (see  FIG. 17 ). 
     Although the embodiments and its advantages have been described in detail, it should be understood that various changes, substitutions and alterations can be made herein without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims. Moreover, the scope of the present application is not intended to be limited to the particular embodiments of the process, machine, manufacture, and composition of matter, means, methods and steps described in the specification. As one of ordinary skill in the art will readily appreciate from the disclosure of the present invention, processes, machines, manufacture, compositions of matter, means, methods, or steps, presently existing or later to be developed, that perform substantially the same function or achieve substantially the same result as the corresponding embodiments described herein may be utilized according to the present invention. Accordingly, the appended claims are intended to include within their scope such processes, machines, manufacture, compositions of matter, means, methods, or steps.

Technology Category: h