Methods of forming transistor gates
View Patent ↗The invention includes a method of forming a transistor gate. One or more conductive materials are formed over a semiconductor substrate, and a block is formed over the one or more conductive materials. The block comprises a photoresist mass and a material other than photoresist which is against the photoresist. A pattern is transferred from the block to the one or more conductive materials to pattern a transistor gate construction from the one or more conductive materials.
1. A method of forming a transistor gate, comprising:
forming one or more conductive materials over a semiconductor substrate;
providing a photoresist block which is over a first portion of the one or more conductive materials and not over a second portion of the one or more conductive materials;
forming a layer over the photoresist block and over at least some of the second portion of the one or more conductive materials, the layer having a first segment that is against the photoresist block and a second segment that is not against the photoresist block;
treating the layer so that the first segment becomes different than the second segment;
after the treating, selectively removing the second segment of the layer while leaving the first segment of the layer; the photoresist block and remaining first segment together defining a masking block that is laterally wider than the photoresist block; and
transferring a pattern from the masking block to the one or more conductive materials to pattern a transistor gate construction from the one or more conductive materials.
2. The method of claim 1 further comprising removing the masking block from over the transistor gate construction.
3. The method of claim 1 further comprising defining a channel region within the semiconductor substrate beneath the transistor gate construction; and forming source/drain regions within the semiconductor substrate and spaced from one another by the channel region.
4. The method of claim 1 wherein the treatment includes causing the photoresist to release an acid which forms cross-links within the first segment of the layer.