Methods of manufacturing a semiconductor package structure are provided. A method includes: bonding dies and dummy dies to a wafer; forming a dielectric material layer on the wafer to cover the dies and the dummy dies; performing a first planarization process to remove a first portion of the dielectric material layer over top surfaces of the dies and the dummy dies; and performing a second planarization process to remove portions of the dies, portions of the dummy dies and a second portion of the dielectric material layer, and a dielectric layer is formed laterally aside the dies and the dummy dies; wherein after the second planarization process is performed, a total thickness variation of the dies is less than a total thickness variation of the dummy dies.

In an embodiment, a method includes: receiving, within a processing chamber, a wafer with a photoresist mask above a metal layer, wherein the processing chamber is connected to a gas source; applying an etchant configured to etch the metal layer in accordance with the photoresist mask within the processing chamber; and applying gas from the gas source to perform plasma ashing in the processing chamber.

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.

Wafer bonding apparatus and method are provided. A method includes performing a first plasma activation process on a first surface of a first wafer. The first plasma activation process forms a first high-activation region and a first low-activation region on the first surface of the first wafer. A first cleaning process is performed on the first surface of the first wafer. The first cleaning process forms a first plurality of silanol groups in the first high-activation region and the first low-activation region. The first high-activation region includes more silanol groups than the first low-activation region. The first wafer is bonded to a second wafer.

A semiconductor device with densified dielectric structures and a method of fabricating the same are disclosed. The method includes forming a fin structure, forming an isolation structure adjacent to the fin structure, forming a source/drain (S/D) region on the fin structure, depositing a flowable dielectric layer on the isolation structure, converting the flowable dielectric layer into a non-flowable dielectric layer, performing a densification process on the non-flowable dielectric layer, and repeating the depositing, converting, and performing to form a stack of densified dielectric layers surrounding the S/D region.

A semiconductor structure with an improved metal structure is described. The semiconductor structure can include a substrate having an upper surface, an interconnect layer over the upper surface, and an additional structure deposited over the interconnect layer. The interconnect layer can include a patterned seed layer over the substrate, at least two metal lines over the seed layer, and a dielectric material between adjacent metal lines. A barrier layer can be deposited over the at least two metal lines. Methods of making the semiconductor structures are also described.

A semiconductor structure with an improved metal structure is described. The semiconductor structure can include a substrate having an upper surface, an interconnect layer over the upper surface, and an additional structure deposited over the interconnect layer. The interconnect layer can include a patterned seed layer over the substrate, at least two metal lines over the seed layer, and a dielectric material between adjacent metal lines. A barrier layer can be deposited over the at least two metal lines. Methods of making the semiconductor structures are also described.

The present invention provides Chemical Mechanical Planarization Polishing (CMP) compositions for Shallow Trench Isolation (STI) applications. The CMP compositions contain ceria coated inorganic metal oxide particles as abrasives, such as ceria-coated silica particles; chemical additive selected from the first group of non-ionic organic molecules multi hydroxyl functional groups in the same molecule; chemical additives selected from the second group of aromatic organic molecules with sulfonic acid group or sulfonate salt functional groups and combinations thereof; water soluble solvent; and optionally biocide and pH adjuster; wherein the composition has a pH of 2 to 12, preferably 3 to 10, and more preferably 4 to 9.

A semiconductor device manufacturing method is capable of manufacturing a semiconductor device with improved reliability, by simplifying a chemical mechanical polishing (CMP) process and minimizing a thickness distribution of a dummy gate during the CMP process. The semiconductor device manufacturing method includes forming, on a substrate, dummy gate structures extending in a first direction and spaced apart from each other in a second direction perpendicular to the first direction, each dummy gate structure including a dummy gate and a mask pattern on an upper surface of the dummy gate; forming an interlayer insulating layer covering the dummy gate structures; and performing the single slurry CMP process of removing some of the interlayer insulating layer and the dummy gate structures through the single slurry CMP process and exposing the upper surface of the dummy gate.

To manufacture an integrated circuit (IC) device, a structure in which a first material film including silicon atoms and nitrogen atoms and a second material film devoid of nitrogen atoms is formed on a substrate. A carbonyl compound having a functional group without an α-hydrogen is applied to the structure, and thus, an inhibitor is selectively formed only on an exposed surface of the first material film from among the first material film and the second material film.