A method of manufacturing a semiconductor device is provided. The method includes: providing a substrate; forming a plurality of first mask layers over the substrate, wherein each of the first mask layers extends along a first direction; forming a plurality of second mask layers over the substrate, wherein each of the second mask layers extends along a second direction different from the first direction; patterning the plurality of second mask layers to form a cut pattern; forming a first aperture modification layer on the cut pattern to define a plurality of first openings overlapping the plurality of first mask layers along a third direction substantially orthogonal to the first direction and the second direction; patterning the plurality of first mask layers to form an active region definition pattern; and patterning the substrate to define an active region by the active region definition pattern.

Methods of depositing a conformal carbon-containing spacer layer are described. Exemplary processing methods may include flowing a first precursor over a patterned surface and a substrate to form a first portion of an initial carbon-containing film on the structure. A second precursor may then be flowed over the substrate to react with the first portion of the initial carbon-containing film. The methods may include etching the substrate to remove a portion of the carbon-containing film and expose a top surface of the patterned surface and expose the substrate between the patterned surfaces. The patterned surface may be an EUV photoresist pattern, and the carbon-containing film may be formed on the sidewall to reduce the critical dimension (CD). The carbon-containing film may act as an etch protection layer for the sidewall of the nanostructures. When no etch is performed, the carbon-containing film may act as a liner material.

A method of manufacturing a semiconductor device includes forming a gate oxide layer on a substrate, where the substrate includes a high voltage region and a low voltage region. The gate oxide layer is disposed in the high voltage region. Wet etching is performed on the gate oxide layer to reduce a thickness of the gate oxide layer. Multiple trenches are formed around the high voltage region in the substrate, where forming the trenches includes removing an edge of the gate oxide layer to make the thickness of the gate oxide layer uniform. An insulating material is filled in the trenches to form multiple shallow trench isolation structures, where an upper surface of the shallow trench isolation structures close to the edge of the gate oxide layer is coplanar with an upper surface of the gate oxide layer.

A manufacturing method of a semiconductor device includes depositing a first bilayer structure over a substrate, in which the first bilayer structure includes a silicon oxide layer and a silicon nitride layer over the silicon nitride layer; forming a first carbonaceous hard mask on the first bilayer structure; forming a second bilayer structure on the first carbonaceous hard mask; forming a mask stack of alternating anti-reflecting coating (ARC) hard masks and second carbonaceous hard masks on the second bilayer structure; and coating a photoresist on the mask stack.

Methods of forming structures including a photoresist underlayer and structures including the photoresist underlayer are disclosed. Exemplary methods include forming the photoresist underlayer using one or more of plasma-enhanced cyclic (e.g., atomic layer) deposition and plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition. Surface properties of the photoresist underlayer can be manipulated using a treatment process.

Selective gas etching for self-aligned pattern transfer uses a first block and a separate second block formed in a sacrificial layer to transfer critical dimensions to a desired final layer using a selective gas etching process. The first block is a first hardmask material that can be plasma etched using a first gas, and the second block is a second hardmask material that can be plasma etched using a second gas separate from the first gas. The first hardmask material is not plasma etched using the second gas, and the second hardmask material is not plasma etched using the first gas.

A semiconductor structure including a pillar structure and a spacer structure is provided. The pillar structure is disposed over a substrate, and comprises: a lower layer, disposed on the substrate; an upper layer, disposed over the lower layer; and a dielectric layer, disposed between the lower layer and the upper layer, wherein the upper layer includes a first portion and a second portion disposed below and connecting the first portion. The spacer structure laterally surrounds the pillar structure, and comprises: an upper portion, surrounding the first portion of the upper layer; and a lower portion, disposed below and connecting the upper portion, wherein a first thickness of the upper portion is substantially greater than a second thickness of the lower portion. A method for manufacturing a semiconductor structure is also provided.

The present invention is a material for forming an organic film, containing: (A) a compound for forming an organic film shown by the following general formula (1A); and (B) an organic solvent, where W.sub.1 represents a tetravalent or hexavalent organic group, n1 represents an integer of 1 or 2, n2 represents 2 or 3, each R.sub.1 independently represents any in the following formula (1B), and a hydrogen atom of a benzene ring in the formula (1A) is optionally substituted with a fluorine atom. This provides: a compound having a dioxin structure, which is cured even under film formation conditions in inert gas, and which is capable of forming an organic underlayer film having not only excellent heat resistance and properties of filling and planarizing a pattern formed on a substrate, but also favorable film formability and adhesiveness to a substrate; and an organic film material containing the compound. ##STR00001##

A method of etching an underlying layer includes performing a pretreatment step, a reaction step, and an etch step. The pretreatment step includes exposing surfaces of a patterned carbon-containing layer to oxygen to form CO bonds at the surfaces with or without using plasma. The reaction step includes exposing the CO bonds to an oxygen-reactive precursor to selectively form a mask protection layer on the surfaces of the patterned carbon-containing layer. The etch step is performed after the pretreatment step, and includes flowing an etchant gas and exciting plasma from the etchant gas to etch the underlying layer using the patterned carbon-containing layer as an etch mask. Any of the pretreatment step, the reaction step, and the etch step may be performed consecutively, concurrently, or repeated as a cycle.

Disclosed are methods and apparatuses for performing spacer on spacer multiple patterning schemes using an exhumable first spacer material and a complementary second spacer material. Certain embodiments involve using a tin oxide spacer material for one of the spacer materials in spacer on spacer self aligned multiple patterning.