Challenges and Approaches of High Aspect Ratio Contact Patterning for Memory Devices

Semiconductor memory devices are increasingly demanded to overcome various challenges for higher performance through the pattern shrinkage such as making high aspect ratio contact patterning. This presentation explores the challenges and various approaches to enhance high aspect ratio contact patterning from three perspectives: equipment, materials, and process regime.

(1) Equipment Perspective: For precisely shaping High aspect ratio contacts with significant depth and narrow width, the latest equipment technologies focus on overcoming these challenges while enhancing process repeatability.

(2) Material Perspective: The choice of materials is a key factor determining the success of high aspect ratio patterning. For high selectivity, how to develop and optimize a polymeric species and mask materials for the etching process and research etching chemistry and hard mask material is essential.

(3) Process Regime Perspective: Recent technical trends are extremely expand etching process window such as Processing temperature and Bias power range.

These three perspectives provide the essential directions for advancing high aspect ratio contact patterning technology.