Hun Sang Kim - San Ramon CA, US Hyungje Woo - Cupertino CA, US Shinichi Koseki - Palo Alto CA, US Eda Tuncel - Menlo Park CA, US Chung Liu - San Jose CA, US
Assignee:
Applied Materials, Inc. - Santa Clara CA
International Classification:
H01L 21/302
US Classification:
438736, 438714, 438725, 438735
Abstract:
A selective self-aligned dual patterning method. The method includes performing a single lithography operation to form a patterned mask having a narrow feature in a region of a substrate that is to a have pitch-reduced feature and a wide feature in a region of the substrate that is to have a non-pitch-reduced feature. Using the patterned mask, a template mask is formed with a first etch and the patterned mask is then removed from the narrow feature while being retained over the wide feature. The template mask is then thinned with a second etch to introduce a thickness delta in the template mask between the narrow and wide features. A spacer mask is then formed and the thinned narrow template mask is removed to leave a pitch double spacer mask while the thick wide template mask feature is retained to leave a non-pitch reduced mask.