A Novel Graded Antireflective Coating with Built-in Hardmask Properties Enabling 65nm and Below CMOS Device Patterning

Novel silicon carbide (Si:C) and silicon oxycarbide (Si:C:O) based materials, prepared by plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD), have been developed with dual anti-reflective (ARC) and hardmask properties thus enabling the use of thin resists for high resolution device pattering. High quality 25nm polysilicon gates and ultra-high aspect ratio (>65:1) 8μm deep trench (DT) features in Si have been fabricated with this ARC/hardmask technology.