Method of improving line roughness in substrate processing

摘要

Provided is a method for processing a semiconductor substrate to reduce line roughness, the method comprising: positioning a substrate in a film-forming system, the film-forming system comprising a chuck having a clamping mechanism configured to hold the substrate in a processing chamber and flex the substrate by displacing a center of the substrate relative to a peripheral edge of the substrate so as to create a concave surface during processing; coating the substrate with a layer of material; performing a post apply bake process; flexing the substrate to create the concave surface either during the post apply bake or following the post apply bake process, wherein the concave surface has a degree of concavity measured at the center of the substrate that exceeds a base number of microns; and unflexing the substrate and inducing tensile stress in the layer of material on the substrate.

主权项

1. A method of preparing a thin film, comprising: receiving a substrate having a layer of photoresist applied on the substrate; performing a post application bake process; flexing the substrate to create a concave surface either during the post application bake process or following the post application bake process, wherein the concave surface has a degree of concavity measured at the center of the substrate that exceeds a target, non-zero deflection; and unflexing the substrate and inducing tensile stress in the layer of photoresist on the substrate.