Method for cleaning substrate, method for manufacturing photomask and method for cleaning photomask

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11209736-B2
Application number	US-201916276468-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Feb 14, 2019
Priority date	Oct 25, 2018
Publication date	Dec 28, 2021
Grant date	Dec 28, 2021

Abstract

A method for manufacturing a photomask is provided. The method includes: receiving a substrate having a hard mask disposed thereover; forming a patterned photoresist over the hard mask; patterning the hard mask using the patterned photoresist as a mask; and removing the patterned photoresist. The removing of the patterned photoresist includes: oxidizing organic materials over the substrate; applying an alkaline solution onto the patterned photoresist; and removing the patterned photoresist by mechanical impact. A method for cleaning a substrate and a photomask are also provided.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method, comprising:
receiving a substrate having a surface;
applying tetramethylammonium hydroxide (TMAH) to the surface, thereby altering molecular bonding of polymeric materials on the surface; and
providing mechanical impact to the polymeric materials on the surface of the substrate.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the TMAH alters the molecular bonding of the polymeric materials by breaking crosslinked polymer chains.

3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
oxidizing polymeric materials over the surface prior to applying the TMAH.

4. The method of claim 3 , further comprising:
rinsing the first surface with deionized water after oxidizing the organic materials and prior to applying the TMAH.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the providing of mechanical impact to the first surface comprises:
applying megasonic cleaning to the substrate.

6. A method, comprising:
receiving a substrate having a hard mask disposed thereover;
forming a patterned photoresist over the hard mask;
patterning the hard mask using the patterned photoresist as a mask; and
removing the patterned photoresist, comprising:
oxidizing organic materials over the substrate;
applying an alkaline solution onto the patterned photoresist after oxidizing the organic materials over the substrate; and
removing the patterned photoresist by mechanical impact.

7. The method of claim 6 , further comprising:
patterning a target layer over the substrate using the patterned hard mask as a mask.

8. The method of claim 7 , wherein the target layer comprises molybdenum silicide.

9. The method of claim 7 , wherein the hard mask comprises chromium.

10. The method of claim 7 , wherein the patterned photoresist comprises a positive resist.

11. The method of claim 6 , wherein the hard mask includes a hard mask layer and a sacrificial hard layer stacked on the hard mask layer, and the forming of the patterned photoresist and the patterning of the hard mask comprise:
forming a first patterned photoresist layer over the sacrificial hard layer;
patterning the sacrificial hard layer using the first patterned photoresist layer as a mask, thereby forming a patterned sacrificial hard layer; and
patterning the hard mask layer using the patterned sacrificial hard layer as a mask, thereby forming a patterned hard mask layer.

12. The method of claim 11 , wherein the removing of the patterned photoresist is performed after the patterning of the hard mask layer to remove the first patterned photoresist layer.

13. The method of claim 11 , further comprising:
patterning a target layer using the patterned hard mask layer as a mask.

14. The method of claim 11 , wherein the forming of the patterned photoresist and the patterning of the hard mask further comprise:
forming a second patterned photoresist layer over the patterned hard mask layer; and
patterning the patterned hard mask layer using the second patterned photoresist layer as a mask.

15. The method of claim 14 , further comprising removing the second patterned photoresist, wherein the removing of the second patterned photoresist comprises:
oxidizing polymeric materials over the substrate;
applying an alkaline solution onto the second patterned photoresist layer after oxidizing the polymeric materials over the substrate; and
removing the second patterned photoresist layer by mechanical impact.

16. The method of claim 14 , wherein the first patterned photoresist layer and the second patterned photoresist layer are negative resists.

17. The method of claim 6 , wherein the removing of the patterned photoresist further comprises:
rinsing the substrate by deionized water prior to applying the alkaline solution.

18. The method of claim 6 , wherein the alkaline solution comprises tetramethylammonium hydroxide.

19. The method of claim 6 , wherein a portion of the hard mask is exposed from the patterned photoresist subsequent to the mechanical impact.

20. A method comprising:
forming a sacrificial layer over a substrate;
forming a polymeric material layer over the sacrificial layer;
applying an ozonated deionized water over the polymeric material layer;
applying tetramethylammonium hydroxide (TMAH) over the polymeric material layer subsequent to applying the ozonated deionized water, thereby altering molecular bonding of polymeric material layer; and
providing mechanical impact to the polymeric material layer above of the substrate, wherein a portion of a top surface of the sacrificial layer is exposed subsequent to the mechanical impact.

Assignees

• Taiwan Semiconductor Mfg Co Ltd

Inventors

• Hsu Yu-Hsin
• Chang Hao-Ming
• Wei Shao-Chi
• Hsu Sheng-Chang
• Lin Cheng-Ming

Classifications

• H10P76/2041

  Photolithographic processes · CPC title

• H10P76/40

  of masks comprising inorganic materials · CPC title

• H10P70/60

  Cleaning only by mechanical processes · CPC title

• H10P70/23 Primary

  during, before or after processing of insulating materials · CPC title

• G03F7/423

  containing mineral acids or salts thereof, containing mineral oxidizing substances, e.g. peroxy compounds · CPC title