US Patent Application 18230968. EUV PHOTO MASKS AND MANUFACTURING METHOD THEREOF simplified abstract

EUV PHOTO MASKS AND MANUFACTURING METHOD THEREOF

Organization Name

TAIWAN SEMICONDUCTOR MANUFACTURING COMPANY, LTD.

Inventor(s)

Pei-Cheng Hsu of Taipei (TW)

Ta-Cheng Lien of Cyonglin Township (TW)

Hsin-Chang Lee of Zhubei City (TW)

EUV PHOTO MASKS AND MANUFACTURING METHOD THEREOF - A simplified explanation of the abstract

This abstract first appeared for US patent application 18230968 titled 'EUV PHOTO MASKS AND MANUFACTURING METHOD THEREOF

Simplified Explanation

The patent application describes a method for manufacturing a reflective mask used in semiconductor manufacturing.

• The mask blank consists of several layers including a substrate, a reflective multilayer, a capping layer, an absorber layer, and a hard mask layer.
• The absorber layer is made of Cr, CrO, or CrON.
• A photo resist layer is applied over the mask blank and patterned.
• The patterned photo resist layer is used to pattern the hard mask layer.
• The patterned hard mask layer is used to pattern the absorber layer.
• An additional element is introduced into the patterned absorber layer to create a converted absorber layer.

Original Abstract Submitted

In a method of manufacturing a reflective mask, a photo resist layer is formed over a mask blank. The mask blank includes a substrate, a reflective multilayer on the substrate, a capping layer on the reflective multilayer, an absorber layer on the capping layer and a hard mask layer, and the absorber layer is made of Cr, CrO or CrON. The photo resist layer is patterned, the hard mask layer is patterned by using the patterned photo resist layer, the absorber layer is patterned by using the patterned hard mask layer, and an additional element is introduced into the patterned absorber layer to form a converted absorber layer.