Method and structure for reworking antireflective coating over semiconductor substrate

1. A method of reworking an antireflective coating (ARC) layer, comprising the steps of:

providing a substrate having a material layer;

forming a planarization layer on the material layer;

forming an organic solvent soluble layer on the planarization layer;

forming an ARC layer on the organic solvent soluble layer;

forming a pattern in the ARC layer; and

removing the organic solvent soluble layer and the patterned ARC layer together with an organic solvent while leaving the planarization layer unremoved, wherein the organic solvent soluble layer remains fully soluble after the patterning of the ARC layer, and wherein the organic solvent completely removes the organic solvent soluble layer and the ARC layer.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

after providing the substrate and before forming the planarization layer, forming a hardmask layer on the material layer, wherein the hardmask layer is between the material layer and the planarization layer.

3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

after forming the planarization layer and before forming the organic solvent soluble layer, forming a hardmask layer on the planarization layer, wherein the hardmask layer is between the planarization layer and the organic solvent soluble layer.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the material layer is an organic dielectric, a metal, a ceramic, or a semiconductor.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the ARC layer is a silicon ARC layer.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the organic solvent soluble layer comprises polysulfone, polyarylsulfone, polyethersulfone, polyimide, or polyarylether.

7. The method of claim 6 , wherein the thickness of the organic solvent soluble layer is in the range from about 20 nm to about 100 nm.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the organic solvent is selected from the group consisting of cyclopentanone, cyclohexanone, γ-butyrolactone, N-methyl-2-pyrrolidone (NMP), a mixture of γ-butyrolactone (GBL) and N-butyl acetate (NBA), and a combination of two or more of the foregoing solvents.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein forming the pattern on the ARC layer comprises:

forming a photoresist layer on the ARC layer;

forming a resist pattern in the photoresist layer; and

forming a pattern on the ARC layer by using the photoresist layer on which the resist pattern is formed as a mask.

10. The method of claim 9 , wherein forming the resist pattern in the photoresist layer comprises exposing the photoresist layer with an imaging radiation.

11. The method of claim 10 , wherein the organic solvent soluble layer has a refractive index (n) in the range from about 1.6 to about 1.8 and an absorption parameter (k) in the range from about 0.2 to about 0.5 at the wavelength of the imaging radiation.