Assist features for contact hole mask patterns

An assist feature is formed on a lithographic reticle or mask using a hybrid resist and an exposure dose such that only an annular area is effectively exposed having a width that is potentially less than the minimum feature size that can be resolved by the mask exposure tool to simultaneously or seq...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors BULA OREST, HIBBS MICHAEL S, HOLMES STEVEN J, RABIDOUX PAUL A
Format Patent
LanguageEnglish
Published 30.09.2003
Edition7
Subjects
APPARATUS SPECIALLY ADAPTED THEREFOR
CINEMATOGRAPHY
ELECTROGRAPHY
HOLOGRAPHY
MATERIALS THEREFOR
ORIGINALS THEREFOR
PHOTOGRAPHY
PHOTOMECHANICAL PRODUCTION OF TEXTURED OR PATTERNED SURFACES,e.g. FOR PRINTING, FOR PROCESSING OF SEMICONDUCTORDEVICES
PHYSICS
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Summary:An assist feature is formed on a lithographic reticle or mask using a hybrid resist and an exposure dose such that only an annular area is effectively exposed having a width that is potentially less than the minimum feature size that can be resolved by the mask exposure tool to simultaneously or sequentially form both a feature of interest and an assist feature for enhancing imaging of the feature of interest when the feature is printed to a wafer. Since the assist feature can be imaged simultaneously with the feature of interest or multiple assist features imaged concurrently, possibly between closely spaced features, data volume and mask writing time are greatly reduced. The invention is particularly applicable to the scaling of contact holes for connections to active devices in extremely high density integrated circuits.
Bibliography:Application Number: US20010901241