METHOD OF ETCHING USING A MULTILAYER MASKING STRUCTURE

摘要

The method of etching a target layer comprises the formation, on the target layer (1), of a multilayer structure (2) having an inorganic hard mask layer (4) which is placed on said target layer (1) and is itself covered by a mask (5) having an array of nanoscale features. The inorganic hard mask layer (4) comprises a thin metal oxide film with a thickness of 10 nm or less. The array of nanoscale features is transferred from the mask (5) to the thin metal oxide film (4) by first plasma etching under weak ion bombardment conditions.