EP0018653A2
Expired / Lapsed
EP
⏱️ 0.0 years remaining
Process for the production of photo-resist structures
Assignee: AT&T Inc
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Filing: 1980-05-02
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Granted: —
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Expires: 2000-05-02
Abstract
Abstract This invention relates to lithographic patterning, particularly in fabrication of integrated circuitry, which is based on the photoinduced migration of silver into germanium selenide or other glassy material of appropriate absorption cross section for a chosen actinic radiation. Resists which are negative-acting yield high resolution attributed to initial introduction of the silver in chemically combined form chosen so as to result in formation of a silver compound with a glass component with the compound serving as silver source. Removal of excess silver-containing material is engineered on the basis of the form of silver introduction and results in conversion to a water solubile form. The developed, patterned resist may be used as a mask in a subsequent treatment of exposed portions of an underlying surface, such as etching, metallization, etc. An embodiment in which the now developed patterned resist serves as a dry etching mask during delineation of a relatively thick underlying layer or organic material is also commercially feasible. This procedure is particularly advantageous for use on partially processed circuitry in which prior operations have resulted in surface steps.
Inventors
- 👤 A. Heller
- 👤 King Lien Tai
- 👤 Richard George Vadimsky
Bibliographic Details
Application Number
—
Jurisdiction
EP
Data Source
google_patents
Last Synchronized
2026-11-09 03:49
CPC Classifications
G; G03; G03F; G03F7/00; G03F7/004; G03F7/0042; G03F7/0044; H; H10; H10P; H10P14/00; H10P14/60
Claims Analysis
Total Claims: 24
Claim 1
Independent Claim
200 words
Process for fabrication of an article, comprising an operation during which the article undergoing fabrication comprises an article surface and an overlying actinic processing layer, said processing layer consisting essentially of a chacogenide glass and silver-containing material, the silver-containing material being largely concentrated to essentially uniform depth in the vicinity of a surface of the said layer, including the steps of (1) selectively exposing portions of the said processing layer to actinic radiation so as to induce migration of silver in a direction from the said surface into the body of said layer within such exposed portions thereby defining a pattern of material of reduced solubility in a developing agent; (2) stripping so as to remove silver-containing material unaffected by radiation; (3) treating the said processing layer with said developing agent to selectively remove material-within unexposed portions to produce a now patterned processing layer, CHARACTERIZED IN THAT silver-containing material consists essentially 6f at least one chemical compound consisting of the reaction product of combined silver and at least one component of the glassy-material, and said stripping comprises reaction resulting in a water-soluble silver compound which reaction may be regarded as comprising conversion of silver halide to said water-soluble silver compound.
Claim 2
Dependent Claim
200 words
Process for fabrication of an article, comprising an operation during which the article undergoing fabrication comprises an article surface and an overlying actinic processing layer, said processing layer consisting essentially of a chacogenide glass and silver-containing material, the silver-containing material being largely concentrated to essentially uniform depth in the vicinity of a surface of the said layer, including the steps of (1) selectively exposing portions of the said processing layer to actinic radiation so as to induce migration of silver in a direction from the said surface into the body of said layer within such exposed portions thereby defining a pattern of material of reduced solubility in a developing agent; (2) stripping so as to remove silver-containing material unaffected by radiation; (3) treating the said processing layer with said developing agent to selectively remove material-within unexposed portions to produce a now patterned processing layer, CHARACTERIZED IN THAT silver-containing material consists essentially 6f at least one chemical compound consisting of the reaction product of combined silver and at least one component of the glassy-material, and said stripping comprises reaction resulting in a water-soluble silver compound which reaction may be regarded as comprising conversion of silver halide to said water-soluble silver compound.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim
43 words
Process according to claim 1 CHARACTERIZED IN THAT the said silver-containing material is the reaction product of the said component of the glassy material together with a compound in which silver is included in anionic form as a part of a complex anion.
Claim 4
Dependent Claim
16 words
Process according to claim 2, CHARACTERIZED IN THAT the said anion consists essentially of silver cyanide.
Claim 5
Dependent Claim
14 words
Process according to claim 3, CHARACTERIZED BY silver is introduced as KAg(CN) 2 .
Claim 6
Dependent Claim
37 words
Process according to claim 1, CHARACTERIZED IN THAT stripping comprises reaction which may be regarded as conversion of silver halide to a water soluble silver compound by reaction of the said halide with an alkali metal cyanide.
Claim 7
Dependent Claim
35 words
Process according to claim 1, CHARACTERIZED IN THAT stripping comprises reaction which may be regarded as conversion of silver halide to a water soluble silver compound by reaction of the said halide with a halide.
Claim 8
Dependent Claim
17 words
Process according to claim 6, CHARACTERIZED IN THAT the said silver halide consists essentially of silver chloride.
Claim 9
Dependent Claim
37 words
Process according to claim 1, CHARACTERIZED IN THAT the said silver containing material is a non-halide and in which stripping comprises reaction which may be regarded as comprising conversion of the said silver-containing material to silver halide.
Claim 10
Dependent Claim
40 words
Process according to claim 8, CHARACTERIZED IN THAT the stripping comprises reaction carried out in two chemically distinct steps, the first resulting in silver halide, the second resulting in conversion of the said halide to a water soluble silver compound.
Claim 11
Dependent Claim
29 words
Process according to claim 8, CHARACTERIZED IN THAT the stripping comprises reaction in of a single step which may be regarded as producing silver halide as an intermediate product.
Claim 12
Dependent Claim
30 words
Process according to claim 10, CHARACTERIZED IN THAT the stripping reaction involves reaction between the said silver-containing material and a solution of an alkali metal halide together with elemental halogen.
Claim 13
Dependent Claim
16 words
Process according to claim 11, CHARACTERIZED IN THAT the alkali metal halide consists of potassium halide.
Claim 14
Dependent Claim
23 words
Process according to claim 12, CHARACTERIZED IN THAT the alkali metal halide consists of potassium iodide and the said halogen consists of iodine.
Claim 15
Dependent Claim
29 words
Process according to any one of preceding claims 1-13, CHARACTERIZED IN THAT a sacrificial layer may be positioned intermediate the said actinic processing layer and the said article surface.
Claim 16
Dependent Claim
53 words
Process according to claim 14, CHARACTERIZED IN THAT the said sacrificial layer is processed so as to result in a replica pattern by exposing the article product resulting from processing in accordance with claim 1 to an agent which selectively attacks portions of the said sacrificial layer'bared during patterning of the processing layer.
Claim 17
Dependent Claim
17 words
Process according to claim 15, CHARACTERIZED IN THAT the said sacrificial layer is of a polymeric material.
Claim 18
Dependent Claim
22 words
Process according to claim 16, CHARACTERIZED IN THAT the said agent is a plasma-produced species resulting from discharge within an oxygen ambient.
Claim 19
Dependent Claim
22 words
Process according to claim 17, CHARACTERIZED IN THAT the replica pattern in the said sacrificial layer is produced by reactive ion etching.
Claim 20
Dependent Claim
45 words
Process according to any one of preceding claims 1-18, CHARACTERIZED IN THAT the said article surface is patterned selectively within regions bared by the patterned processing layer by reaction with a fabrication agent, thereby resulting in a device-significant local alteration of the said article surface.
Claim 21
Dependent Claim
32 words
Process according to any one of preceding claims 1-18, CHARACTERIZED IN THAT the said chalcogenide glass contains at least one chalcogen element selected from the group consisting of selenium, sulphur, and tellurium.
Claim 22
Dependent Claim
50 words
Process according to claim 20, CHARACTERIZED IN THAT the amount of the said chalcogen element is in excess of the amount indicated by a stoichiometric compound formed with another constituent of the said glass and in which the said developing agent includes a solvent specific to the said chalcogen element.
Claim 23
Dependent Claim
15 words
Process according to claim 21, CHARACTERIZED IN THAT the said excess chalcogen element is selenium.
Claim 24
Dependent Claim
27 words
Process according to claim 22, CHARACTERIZED IN THAT the said specific solvent is selected from the group consisting of at least one compound sulfide and a borohydride.
References Cited (Backward Citations)
No citation records indexed.
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