Method for forming opening in a semiconductor device

Details Method for forming opening in a semiconductor device Method for forming opening in a semiconductor device

1999-10-28

2001-04-10

Niebling, John F. (Department: 2812)

Semiconductor device manufacturing: process

Coating of substrate containing semiconductor region or of...

Insulative material deposited upon semiconductive substrate

C438S963000, C438S291000, C438S305000

Reexamination Certificate

active

06214747

ABSTRACT:

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates to a method for forming a semiconductor device. More particularly, the present invention relates to a method for forming an opening in a semiconductor device.
2. Description of Related Art
The conventional method for forming an opening in a semiconductor device includes the following steps. A photoresist layer is formed on a material layer. Then, the photoresist layer is patterned by the photolithographic process. An etching process is performed to form an opening in the material layer with the patterned photoresist layer.
As the shrinkage in the size of the semiconductor device, the control of critical dimension (CD) in the photolithographic process is the bottleneck in the process due to the limitation of light resolution and depth of focus (DOF). This bottleneck in the photolithographic process limits the formation of a small-size opening. Even with some advance technology such as phase shift mask (PSM), it is still difficult to form a small-size opening.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The invention provides a method for forming an opening in a semiconductor device to form a small-size opening.
As embodied and broadly described herein, the invention provides a method for forming an opening in a semiconductor device. A silicon-oxy-nitride layer is formed on a dielectric layer, and then a photoresist layer with a first opening is formed on the silicon-oxy-nitride layer. A polymer film is formed on sidewalls of the first opening. A second opening narrower than the first opening is formed in the dielectric layer with the photoresist layer and the polymer film as a mask.
In accordance with the aspect of this invention, a method for forming an opening in a semiconductor device is provided. A silicon-oxy-nitride layer is formed on a dielectric layer and then a photoresist layer with a first opening is formed on the silicon-oxy-nitride layer. By utilizing a gas etchant including C
4
F
8
, CO, Ar and O
2
, a polymer film is formed on sidewalls of the first opening. Next, a second opening is formed in the dielectric layer by using the photoresist layer and the polymer film as a mask; the second opening is narrower than the first opening.
In this invention, the silicon-oxy-nitride layer is formed on the dielectric layer to be a stop layer; thus, the polymer film can be formed on the sidewalls of the first opening. The second opening is formed by using the photoresist layer and the polymer film as a mask. So that the second opening is narrower than the first opening. A small-size opening is obtained.
It is to be understood that both the foregoing general description and the following detailed description are exemplary, and are intended to provide further explanation of the invention as claimed.


REFERENCES:
patent: 5933759 (1999-09-01), Nguyen et al.
patent: 5942803 (1999-08-01), Shim et al.
patent: 5965463 (1999-10-01), Cui et al.

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