Method of forming non-continuous line pattern and non-continuous line pattern structure

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2016343567-A1
Application number	US-201514753019-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Jun 29, 2015
Priority date	May 20, 2015
Publication date	Nov 24, 2016
Grant date	—

Abstract

A method of forming a non-continuous line pattern includes forming a DSA material layer on a substrate, performing a phase separation of the DSA material layer to form an ordered periodic pattern including a plurality of first polymer structures and the second polymer structures arranged alternately, forming a first mask to cover a first portion of the ordered periodic pattern, performing a first etching process to remove a portion of the first polymer structures exposed by the first mask, removing the first mask, forming a second mask to cover a second portion of the ordered periodic pattern, with an interval to the first portion of the ordered periodic pattern, performing a second etching process to remove a portion of the second polymer structures exposed by the second mask, and removing the second mask. The remaining first polymer structures and the remaining second polymer structures are not connected to each other.

First claim

1 . A method of forming a non-continuous line pattern, comprising:
providing a substrate; forming a directed self-assembly (DSA) material layer on the substrate; performing a phase separation process of the DSA material layer to form an ordered periodic pattern that includes a plurality of first polymer structures and a plurality of second polymer structures arranged alternately; forming a first mask to cover a first portion of the ordered periodic pattern; performing a first etching process to remove a portion of the first polymer structures exposed by the first mask; removing the first mask; forming a second mask to cover a second portion of the ordered periodic pattern, wherein an interval exits between adjacent boundaries of the second portion and the first portion of the ordered periodic pattern; performing a second etching process to remove a portion of the second polymer structures exposed by the second mask; and removing the second mask, wherein the remaining first polymer structures and the remaining second polymer structures are not connected to each other.

2 . The method of forming the non-continuous line pattern according to claim 1 , further comprising forming a hard mask layer on the substrate before forming the DSA material layer.

3 . The method of forming the non-continuous line pattern according to claim 2 , further comprising:
after removing the second mask, transferring a pattern of the remaining first polymer structures and the remaining second polymer structures to the hard mask layer for forming a patterned hard mask; and performing a third etching process to the substrate to remove a portion of the substrate exposed by the patterned hard mask.

4 . The method of forming the non-continuous line pattern according to claim 3 , further comprising removing the remaining first polymer structures and the remaining second polymer structures before performing the third etching process.

5 . The method of forming the non-continuous line pattern according to claim 1 , wherein the phase separation process of the DSA material layer is carried out through an annealing process.

6 . The method of forming the non-continuous line pattern according to claim 1 , further comprising forming a neutral bottom layer on the substrate before forming the DSA material layer.

7 . The method of forming the non-continuous line pattern according to claim 1 , wherein the DSA material layer comprises block co-polymer (BCP).

8 . The method of forming the non-continuous line pattern according to claim 1 , wherein the first polymer structures are hydrophilic, and the second polymer structures are hydrophobic.

9 . The method of forming the non-continuous line pattern according to claim 1 , wherein patterns of the first mask and the second mask are respectively defined through a photolithography process by using a krypton fluoride (KrF) laser tool.

10 . The method of forming the non-continuous line pattern according to claim 1 , wherein a width of the interval is about 10 nm to about 100 nm.

11 . The method of forming the non-continuous line pattern according to claim 1 , wherein the first portion and the second portion of the ordered periodic pattern are not overlapped with each other.

12 . A non-continuous line pattern structure on a semiconductor integrated circuit (IC) substrate, comprising:
a plurality of first line pattern segments parallel to a first direction disposed on the semiconductor IC substrate, any two adjacent first line pattern segments of the first line pattern segments having a first line spacing disposed between the two adjacent first line pattern segments; and a plurality of second line pattern segments parallel to the first direction disposed on the semiconductor IC substrate, any two adjacent second line pattern segments of the second line pattern segments having a second line spacing disposed between the two adjacent second line pattern segments,
wherein the first line pattern segments and the second line pattern segments are arranged alternately along a second direction perpendicular to the first direction, and the first line pattern segments and the second line pattern segments are not overlapped with each other along the second direction and are not connected to each other.

13 . The non-continuous line pattern structure on the semiconductor IC substrate according to claim 12 , wherein each of the first line pattern segments has a first end adjacent to the second line pattern segments, each of the second line pattern segments has a second end adjacent to the first line pattern segments, and the first ends and the second ends have an interval along the first direction.

14 . The non-continuous line pattern structure on the semiconductor IC substrate according to claim 13 , wherein a width of the interval is about 10 nm to about 100 nm.

15 . The non-continuous line pattern structure on the semiconductor IC substrate according to claim 12 , wherein the first spacing is equal to a line width of the second line pattern segments, and the second spacing is equal to a line width of the first line pattern segments.

16 . The non-continuous line pattern structure on the semiconductor IC substrate according to claim 15 , wherein the first line pattern segments and the second line pattern segments have the same line widths.

17 . The non-continuous line pattern structure on the semiconductor IC substrate according to claim 12 , wherein the first line pattern segments are composed of a plurality of first polymer structures respectively, and the second line pattern segments are composed of a plurality of second polymer structures respectively.

18 . The non-continuous line pattern structure on the semiconductor IC substrate according to claim 17 , wherein the first polymer structures and the second polymer structures comprise DSA material.

19 . The non-continuous line pattern structure on the semiconductor IC substrate according to claim 18 , wherein the DSA material comprises block co-polymer.

20 . The non-continuous line pattern structure on the semiconductor IC substrate according to claim 18 , wherein the first polymer structures are hydrophilic, and the second polymer structures are hydrophobic.

Assignees

• United Microelectronics Corp

Inventors

• Chen Yu-Te
• Liou En-Chiuan
• Tseng Chia-Hsun
• Su Shin-Feng
• Hung Yu-Ting
• Tsai Meng-Lin

Classifications

• H10P76/2042

  using lasers · CPC title

• H10P76/408

  characterised by their sizes, orientations, dispositions, behaviours or shapes · CPC title

• H10P76/405

  characterised by their composition, e.g. multilayer masks · CPC title

• H10P76/20

  of masks comprising organic materials · CPC title

• H10P50/286

  of organic materials · CPC title