Planarized spin-on carbon hardmask

In the multilayer patterning process, underlayer material is often used to enable device size shrinkage for advanced integrated circuit manufacturing. This underlayer material, spin on carbon (SOC), with high etch resistance plays an important role in both gap fill and process of transferring high aspect ratio patterns. Good global planarization (PL) performance over various pattern topographies not only impacts on the following lithography process window but also boosts the overall device integration yield (Figure 1). As critical dimension (CD) size decreases in the advanced nodes such as 10 nm and beyond with multiple patterning steps, long range planarizing SOC material is needed to control the CD uniformity. During the single coat and single bake process, thermal flow ability of these carbon rich materials is one of the key property to achieve long range planarization performance. In addition, our strategy for designing long distance thermal flow polymers will be applied to both low/high thermal stability SOC materials. Herein, we report the development of a novel planarized SOC materials with good Fab drain line compatibility. As for material global planarization performance, the observation of flow ability can be monitored through the various cure conditions. Other key performance such as gap fill, etch rate toward various gases, solvent strip resistance and cured film thermal stability will be also highlighted in this paper.