Processing with reduced line end shortening ratio

1. A method for forming a device comprising:

providing a substrate prepared with a device layer formed thereon;

providing a mask layer above the device layer;

patterning the mask layer to produce a first pattern;

partially trimming the mask layer with the first pattern selectively to reduce a dimension of the first pattern to produce a trimmed mask with a second pattern with a reduced dimension, wherein the reduced dimension of the second pattern is an intermediate dimension larger than a desired dimension of a device feature, and comprises partially trimming the mask layer up to about 20-30% of a gap dimension, wherein the gap dimension is the difference between a ground rule and the desired dimension of the device feature; and

patterning the device layer with the trimmed mask layer using an etch comprises first and second patterning chemistries to form the device feature, wherein the first patterning chemistry comprises SF 6 , C 2 F 6 or CF 4 , and the second patterning chemistry comprises CH 2 F 2 or C 4 F 8 , the etch patterns the device layer and trims the device layer to form the device feature with the desired dimension which is smaller than the reduced dimension of the trimmed mask over the device feature, the trimming results in a reduced line end shortening (LES) ratio, wherein the LES ratio is about 1.1 to 1.2.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the mask layer comprises a photoresist and the photoresist is trimmed using O 2 based chemistry.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein:

the mask layer comprises photoresist;

the device layer comprises a polysilicon layer over a dielectric layer; and

the patterned device layer comprises gate conductors.

4. The method of claim 3 wherein the gate conductors are etched and trimmed in the same process step using plasma and the chemistry for etching and trimming the gate conductors are tailored to achieve desired VE:HE ratio.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein the first patterning chemistry is SF 6 and the second patterning chemistry is CH 2 F 2 .

6. The method of claim 1 wherein the first patterning chemistry is SF 6 and the second patterning chemistry is C 4 F 8 .

7. A method of fabricating a semiconductor device comprising:

providing a semiconductor substrate prepared with a gate electrode layer;

forming and patterning a resist layer to produce a first resist pattern containing a pattern of the gate electrode layer;

partially trimming the resist layer selectively to reduce a dimension of the first resist pattern to produce a trimmed mask with a second resist pattern, wherein the dimension of the second resist pattern is an intermediate dimension smaller than the dimension of the first resist pattern but larger than a desired dimension of a gate conductor, and comprises partially trimming the mask layer up to about 20-30% of a gap dimension, wherein the gap dimension is the difference between a ground rule and the desired dimension of the gate conductor; and

patterning the gate electrode layer with the trimmed mask using an etch comprises first and second patterning chemistries to form the gate conductor, wherein the first patterning chemistry comprises SF 6 , C 2 F 6 or CF 4 , and the second patterning chemistry comprises CH 2 F 2 or C 4 F 8 , the etch patterns the gate electrode layer and trims the gate electrode layer to form the gate conductor with the desired dimension which is smaller than the intermediate dimension of the trimmed mask over the gate conductor, the trimming results in a reduced LES ratio, wherein the LES ratio is about 1.1 to 1.2.

8. The method of claim 7 wherein the resist layer is trimmed using O 2 based chemistry, the gate electrode layer is etched and trimmed in the same process step using plasma, and the chemistry for etching and trimming the gate electrode layer are tailored to achieve desired VE:HE ratio.

9. A method for forming a device comprising:

providing a substrate prepared with a device layer formed thereon;

providing a mask layer above the device layer and patterning the mask layer to form a first resist pattern;

partially trimming the mask layer selectively to reduce a dimension of the first resist pattern to produce a trimmed mask with a second mask pattern with an intermediate dimension smaller than the dimension of the first resist pattern but which is larger than a desired dimension of a device feature, and comprises partially trimming the mask layer up to about 20-30% of a gap dimension, wherein the gap dimension is the difference between a ground rule and the desired dimension of the device feature; and

patterning the device layer with the trimmed mask using an etch comprises first and second patterning chemistries to form the device feature, wherein the first patterning chemistry comprises SF 6 , C 2 F 6 or CF 4 , and the second patterning chemistry comprises CH 2 F 2 or C 4 F 8 , the etch patterns the device layer and trims the device layer to form the device feature with the desired dimension which is smaller than the intermediate dimension of the trimmed mask over the device feature, the patterning/trimming results in a reduced line end shortening (LES) ratio, wherein the LES ratio is about 1.1 to 1.2.

10. The method of claim 9 wherein the mask layer comprises photoresist.

11. The method of claim 10 wherein patterning the device layer comprises:

a soft landing which is highly selective to a gate dielectric layer; and

an over-etch.

12. The method of claim 9 wherein:

the mask layer comprises photoresist;

the device layer comprises multiple layers of a gate stack which include a gate electrode layer over a gate dielectric layer; and

the desired feature comprises a gate conductor.

13. The method of claim 12 wherein patterning the device layer comprises:

a soft landing which is highly selective to the gate dielectric layer; and

an over-etch.

14. The method of claim 9 wherein patterning the device layer trims the device layer to the desired dimension.

15. The method of claim 9 wherein the first patterning chemistry is SF 6 and the second patterning chemistry is CH 2 F 2 .

16. The method of claim 9 wherein the first patterning chemistry is SF 6 and the second patterning chemistry is C 4 F 8 .

17. A method for forming a device comprising:

providing a substrate prepared with a device layer formed thereon;

providing a resist layer above the device layer;

patterning the resist layer to produce a first pattern;

partially trimming the resist layer with the first pattern selectively to reduce a dimension of the first pattern to produce a trimmed mask with a second pattern with a reduced dimension, wherein the reduced dimension of the second pattern is an intermediate dimension larger than a desired dimension of a device feature, and comprises partially trimming the resist layer up to about 20-30% of a gap dimension, wherein the gap dimension is the difference between a ground rule and the desired dimension of the device feature; and

patterning the device layer with the trimmed mask using an etch comprises first and second patterning chemistries to form the device feature, wherein the first patterning chemistry comprises SF 6 , C 2 F 6 or CF 4 , and the second patterning chemistry comprises CH 2 F 2 or C 4 F 8 , patterning the etch patterns the device layer and trims the device layer to form the device feature with the desired dimension which is smaller than the reduced dimension of the trimmed mask over the device feature, the trimming results in a reduced line end shortening (LES) ratio, wherein the LES ratio is about 1.1 to 1.2, wherein the device layer is etched and patterned in the same process step using plasma, and the chemistry for etching and trimming the device layer gate conductor are tailored to achieve desired VE:HE ratio.