A semiconductor structure is disclosed. The semiconductor structure includes a staircase structure disposed over a substrate. The staircase structure includes a plurality of layer stacks, where each layer stack is made of a first material layer over a portion of a second material layer. The staircase structure further includes a plurality of landing pads, where each landing pad is disposed over another portion of the second material layer of a respective layer stack.

Provided are a substrate processing apparatus and a substrate processing method capable of achieving uniform trimming throughout an entire surface of a substrate. The substrate processing apparatus includes a gas channel including a center gas inlet and an additional gas inlet spaced apart from the center gas inlet, and a shower plate including a plurality of holes connected to the center gas inlet and the additional gas inlet, wherein a gas flow channel is formed having a clearance defined by a lower surface of the gas channel and an upper surface of the shower plate, the lower surface and the upper surface being substantially parallel.

A method of microfabrication includes depositing a photoresist film on a working surface of a semiconductor wafer, the photoresist film being sensitive to extreme ultraviolet radiation; exposing the photoresist film to a pattern of extreme ultraviolet radiation; performing a hybrid develop of the photoresist film. The hybrid develop includes executing a first development process to remove a first portion of the photoresist film; stopping the development of the photoresist film after the first development process, the photo resist film including a structure having a first critical dimension larger than a target critical dimension after the stopping; and after stopping the development, executing a second development process to remove a second portion of the photoresist film and shrinking the critical dimension of the structure from the first critical dimension to a second critical dimension that is less than the first critical dimension.

An apparatus for perform metal etching and plasma ashing includes: a processing chamber having an enclosed area; an electrostatic chuck disposed in the enclosed area and configured to secure a wafer, the electrostatic chuck connected with a bias power; at least one coil connected with a source power; a etchant conduit configured provide an etchant to a metal of the wafer within the processing chamber in accordance with a photoresist mask of the wafer; and a gas intake conduit connected with a gas source, wherein the gas intake conduit is configured to supply the processing chamber with a gas from the gas source during performance of plasma ashing within the processing chamber.

A semiconductor structure, a method for manufacturing the same and a memory are provided. The semiconductor structure at least includes two photolithography layers which are arranged in sequence and at least one blocking layer. Each photolithography layer includes a functional pattern and an overlay mark, and the photolithography layers include a first photolithography layer and a second photolithography layer. The first photolithography layer includes a first functional pattern and a first overlay mark, and the second photolithography layer includes a second functional pattern and a second overlay mark; and at least one blocking layer. The blocking layer is located between the first functional pattern and the second functional pattern, and a vertical distance between the first functional pattern and the second functional pattern is greater than a vertical distance between the first and second overlay marks, in a stacking direction of the photolithography layers.

A method of manufacturing a semiconductor device, the method including forming a lower film on a substrate; forming a metal-containing photoresist material film on the lower film; patterning the metal-containing photoresist material film to form a photoresist pattern including openings therein such that a scum remains on the lower film; performing a descum operation to remove the scum from the lower film; and etching the lower film using the photoresist pattern, wherein performing the descum operation includes providing the substrate to a processing chamber; generating oxygen plasma; and reacting the scum with the oxygen plasma.

A method of fabricating a semiconductor device and a device fabricated thereby, the method including sequentially stacking an interlayer insulating layer, a porous dielectric layer, a first mask layer, and a second mask layer on a substrate; etching the second mask layer to form preliminary mask patterns; etching the preliminary mask patterns to form second mask patterns; etching the first mask layer using the second mask patterns as an etch mask to form first mask patterns; etching the porous dielectric layer using the first mask patterns as an etch mask to form grooves; and forming interconnection patterns in the grooves, respectively, wherein the porous dielectric layer includes SiOCH, and the first mask layer includes carbon-free silicon oxide (SiO.sub.2).

Provided is a method of producing a cured product pattern, including: a first step (arranging step) of arranging a layer formed of a curable composition (α1′) that is the components of the curable composition (α1) except the component (D) serving as a solvent on a substrate; and a second step (applying step) of applying droplets of a curable composition (α2) discretely onto the layer formed of the curable composition (α1), the curable composition (α1) having a number concentration of particles each having a particle diameter of 0.07 μm or more of less than 2,021 particles/mL, and the curable composition (α1′) having a surface tension larger than that of the curable composition (α2).

An imprint apparatus includes a deforming mechanism for deforming a pattern region of a mold, and performs, after first processing for applying a first deformation amount, second processing for curing an imprint material in a state where the imprint material and the pattern region are in contact with each other and where a second deformation amount is given to the mold by the deforming mechanism to reduce an overlay error between each shot region and the pattern region. A magnitude relation between a driving force of the deforming mechanism required to set a deformation amount of the mold to the first deformation amount and a driving force of the deforming mechanism required to set the deformation amount of the mold to the second deformation amount varies depending on a magnitude of the driving force of the deforming mechanism for setting the deformation amount to the second deformation amount.

A semiconductor device is made by: forming an ohmic electrode including Al on a semiconductor substrate; forming a SiN film covering the ohmic electrode; forming a first photoresist on the SiN film, the first photoresist having an opening pattern overlapping the ohmic electrode; performing ultraviolet curing of the first photoresist; forming an opening in the SiN film exposed through the opening pattern and causing a surface of the ohmic electrode to be exposed inside the opening; forming a barrier metal layer on the first photoresist and on the ohmic electrode exposed through the opening; forming a second photoresist in the opening pattern; performing a heat treatment on the second photoresist and covering the barrier metal layer overlapping the opening with the second photoresist; and etching the barrier metal layer using the second photoresist.