PARTIAL ETCH MEMORIZATION VIA FLASH ADDITION

摘要

Provided is a method of creating structure profiles on a substrate using faceting and passivation layers. A first plasma etch process performed generating a faceted sidewall and a desired inflection point; a second plasma etch process is performed using an oxygen, nitrogen, or combined oxygen and nitrogen plasma, generating a passivation layer; and a third plasma etch process using operating variables of an etch chemistry on the faceted sidewall and the passivation layer to induce differential etch rates to achieve a breakthrough on near-horizontal surfaces of the structure, wherein the third plasma etch used is configured to produce a target sidewall profile on the substrate down to the underlying stop layer. Selected two or more plasma etch variables are controlled in the performance of the first plasma etch process, the second plasma etch process, and/or the third plasma etch process in order to achieve target sidewall profile objectives.

主权项

1. A method of creating structure profiles on a substrate using faceting and passivation layers, the method comprising:
providing the substrate in a process chamber of an etch system, the substrate comprising a structure wherein the structure is a patterned hard mask with an underlying stop layer, the patterned hard mask being a dielectric hard mask, the structure above the patterned hard mask having a structure height; performing a first plasma etch process generating a faceted sidewall on the substrate, the etch process etching around the pattern hard mask down to a desired inflection point; performing a second plasma etch process using an oxygen, nitrogen, or combined oxygen and nitrogen plasma, the second plasma etch process generating a passivation layer; performing a third plasma etch process using operating variables of an etch chemistry on the faceted sidewall and the passivation layer to induce differential etch rates to achieve a breakthrough on near-horizontal surfaces of the structure, wherein the third plasma etch used is configured to produce a target sidewall profile on the substrate down to the underlying stop layer; wherein use of a faceting technique and a passivation layer are combined to achieve target sidewall profile objectives for the structure.