First lithography and etching are carried out on a semiconductor structure to provide a first intermediate semiconductor structure having a first set of surface features corresponding to a first portion of desired fin formation mandrels. Second lithography and etching are carried out on the first intermediate structure, using a second mask, to provide a second intermediate semiconductor structure having a second set of surface features corresponding to a second portion of the mandrels. The second set of surface features are unequally spaced from the first set of surface features and/or the features have different pitch. The fin formation mandrels are formed in the second intermediate semiconductor structure using the first and second sets of surface features; spacer material is deposited over the mandrels and is etched back to form a third intermediate semiconductor structure having a fin pattern. Etching is carried out on same to produce the fin pattern.

A method for preparing precise pattern of integrated circuits, which comprises the following steps: (S1) preparing a large pitch trench or circular through-hole structure with a hard mask in a first dielectric layer by lithography and etching; (S2) forming micro trench on the hard mask of the second dielectric layer at the bottom side wall of the trench or circular through-hole structure by plasma etching process; (S3) removing the first dielectric layer; (S4) opening the hard mask of the second dielectric layer at the micro trench formed on the hard mask of the second dielectric layer by plasma etching process; (S5) small pitch trench or circular through holes are prepared in the second dielectric layer.

An initial semiconductor structure includes an underlying substrate, a hard mask stack, an organic planarization layer (OPL), a first complementary material, and a patterned photoresist layer patterned into a plurality of photoresist pillars defining a plurality of photoresist trenches. The first material is partially etched inward of the trenches, to provide trench regions, and the photoresist is removed. The trench regions are filled with a second complementary material, preferentially etchable with respect to the first material. A polymer brush is grafted on the second material but not the first material, to form polymer brush regions with intermediate regions not covered by the brush. The first material is anisotropically etched the at the intermediate regions but not the brush regions. The OPL is etched inward of the intermediate regions, to provide a plurality of OPL pillars defining a plurality of OPL trenches inverted with respect to the photoresist pillars.

A semiconductor structure includes: a first gate structure and a second gate structure extending in a first direction; a first base level metal interconnect (M0) pattern extending in a second direction perpendicular to the first direction; a second M0 pattern extending in the second direction; a third M0 pattern located between the first and second gate structures and extending in the first direction, two ends of the third M0 pattern connected to the first M0 pattern and the second M0 pattern, respectively; a fourth M0 pattern and a fifth M0 pattern located between the first and second M0 patterns and extending in the second direction. A distance between the fourth M0 pattern and the first M0 pattern in the first direction is equal to a minimum M0 pattern pitch, and a distance between the fourth M0 pattern and the second M0 pattern is equal to the minimum M0 pattern pitch.

In an example, a method includes depositing a first sidewall spacer layer over a substrate having a layer stack including alternating layers of a nanosheet and a sacrificial layer, and a dummy gate formed over the layer stack, the first sidewall spacer layer formed over the dummy gate. The method includes depositing a metal-containing liner over the first sidewall spacer layer; forming a first sidewall spacer along the dummy gate by anisotropically etching the metal-containing liner and the first sidewall spacer layer; performing an anisotropic etch back process to form a plurality of vertical recesses in the layer stack; laterally etching the layer stack and form a plurality of lateral recesses between adjacent nanosheets; depositing a second sidewall spacer layer to fill the plurality of lateral recesses; and etching a portion of the second sidewall spacer layer to expose tips of the nanosheet layers.

A method for forming a patterned mask layer is provided. The method includes forming a first layer over a substrate. The method includes forming a first strip structure and a second strip structure over the first layer. The method includes forming a spacer layer conformally covering the first strip structure, the second strip structure, and the first layer. The method includes forming a block structure in the first trench. The method includes removing a first portion of the spacer layer, which is under the first trench and not covered by the block structure, and a second portion of the spacer layer, which is over the first strip structure and the second strip structure. The method includes forming a third strip structure in the second trench and the third trench. The method includes removing the block structure. The method includes removing the spacer layer.

A method of forming semiconductor device, including forming a first protective strip and a second protective strip on a semiconductor substrate. The first protective strip and the second protective strip extend in a first direction and are alternately arranged in a second direction perpendicular to the first direction. The first protective strip and the second protective strip are spaced apart from each other. The first protective strip is cut by selectively removing a portion of the first protective strip. The second protective strip is cut by selectively removing a portion of the second protective strip. The semiconductor substrate is etched to form an isolation trench. Remaining portions of the first and second protective strips are removed. An isolation feature is filled into the isolation trench. The isolation feature defines a plurality of strip-shaped active regions. Capacitor contacts are formed on both ends of each of the strip-shaped active regions.

A semiconductor structure includes a semiconductor substrate, a metal layer, an interlayer dielectric (ILD) layer. The metal layer is disposed over the semiconductor substrate. The ILD layer is over the semiconductor substrate and laterally surrounding the metal layer, in which the ILD layer has a first portion in contact with a first sidewall of the metal layer and a second portion in contact with a second sidewall of the metal layer opposite to the first sidewall of the metal layer, and a width of the first portion of the ILD layer decreases as a distance from the semiconductor substrate increases.

A substrate processing method includes (A) supplying to the substrate a first processing liquid containing a removing agent for deposit, a solvent having a boiling point lower than that of the removing agent and a thickener, (B), after (A), supplying to the substrate a second processing liquid containing an organic polymer to be a gas diffusion barrier film, (C), after (B), heating the substrate at a predetermined temperature equal to or higher than the boiling point of the solvent and lower than the boiling point of the removing agent to promote evaporation of the solvent and reaction between the deposit and the removing agent, and (D), after (C), supplying a rinsing liquid to the substrate to remove the deposit from the substrate. The gas diffusion barrier film prevents a gaseous reactive product generated by the reaction in (C) from diffusing around the substrate.

A method for making an integrated device that includes a plurality of planar MOSFETs, includes forming a plurality of doped body regions in an upper portion of a silicon carbide substrate composition and a plurality of doped source regions. A first contact region is formed in a first source region and a second contact region is formed in a second source region. The first and second contact regions are separated by a JFET region that is longer in one planar dimension than the other. The first and second contact regions are separated by the longer planar dimension. The JFET region is bounded on at least one side corresponding to the longer planar dimension by a source region and a body region in conductive contact with at least one contact region.