Anti-reflective coating by ion implantation for lithography patterning

1. A method for lithography patterning, comprising:

depositing a target layer over a substrate;

reducing a reflection of a light incident upon the target layer by implanting ions into the target layer, resulting in an ion-implanted target layer;

coating a photoresist layer over the ion-implanted target layer;

exposing the photoresist layer to the light using a photolithography process, wherein the target layer reduces reflection of the light at an interface between the ion-implanted target layer and the photoresist layer during the photolithography process;

developing the photoresist layer to form a resist pattern;

etching the ion-implanted target layer with the resist pattern as an etch mask;

processing the substrate using at least the etched ion-implanted target layer as a process mask; and

removing the etched ion-implanted target layer.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the processing of the substrate includes etching the substrate.

3. The method of claim 1 , before the exposing of the photoresist layer, further comprising:

implanting ions into the photoresist layer to form an anti-reflective layer at a top portion of the photoresist layer.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the ions are selected from the group consisting of: boron, phosphorus, arsenic, germanium, fluorine, silicon, aluminum, nitrogen, carbon, argon, oxygen, and hydrogen.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the implanting of ions into the target layer includes:

implanting ions of a first species into the target layer; and

implanting ions of a second species into the target layer after the implanting of ions of the first species, wherein the first species has a smaller atomic mass than the second species.

6. The method of claim 5 , wherein the implanting of ions of the first species and the implanting of ions of the second species are performed with about same implantation energy dose and ion dose.

7. The method of claim 1 , before the coating of the photoresist layer, further comprising:

annealing the ion-implanted target layer.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the substrate includes a silicon wafer or a mask substrate.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the target layer includes one of: silicon, silicon oxide, silicon nitride, and a film including a metal.

10. A method for lithography patterning, comprising:

depositing a target layer over a substrate, the target layer including an inorganic material;

changing reflectivity of the target layer by implanting ions of a first species into the target layer and implanting ions of a second species into the target layer having the first species, wherein the first species has a smaller atomic mass than the second species, resulting in an ion-implanted target layer;

coating a photoresist layer over the ion-implanted target layer;

exposing the photoresist layer using a photolithography process;

developing the photoresist layer to form a resist pattern;

etching the ion-implanted target layer with the resist pattern as an etch mask, resulting in a patterned ion-implanted target layer; and

processing the substrate with at least the patterned ion-implanted target layer as a process mask.

11. The method of claim 10 , further comprising:

implanting ions of a third species into the target layer having the first and second species before the exposing of the photoresist layer, wherein the second species has a smaller atomic mass than the third species.

12. The method of claim 11 , wherein the first species is boron, the second species is phosphorus, and the third species is arsenic.

13. The method of claim 10 , further comprising:

annealing the target layer after the implanting of ions of the first species and before the exposing of the photoresist layer; and

annealing the target layer after the implanting of ions of the second species and before the exposing of the photoresist layer.

14. The method of claim 10 , wherein the target layer includes one of: silicon, silicon oxide, silicon nitride, and a film having a metal.

15. The method of claim 10 , wherein the first species and the second species are selected from the group consisting of: boron, phosphorus, arsenic, germanium, fluorine, silicon, aluminum, nitrogen, carbon, argon, oxygen, and hydrogen.

16. The method of claim 10 , further comprising:

removing the patterned ion-implanted target layer after the processing of the substrate.

17. A method for lithography patterning, comprising:

depositing a target layer over a substrate, the target layer including an inorganic material;

implanting boron ions into the target layer with a first energy dose in a range from about 30 KeV to about 100 KeV and a first ion dose in a range from about 1E13 ions/cm 2 to about 1E14 ions/cm 2 ;

implanting phosphorus ions into the target layer after the implanting of boron ions with a second energy dose from about 30 KeV to about 100 KeV and a second ion dose from about 1E13 ions/cm 2 to about 1E14 ions/cm 2 ;

implanting arsenic ions into the target layer after the implanting of phosphorus ions with a third energy dose from about 30 KeV to about 100 KeV and a third ion dose from about 1E13 ions/cm 2 to about 1E14 ions/cm 2 ;

coating a photoresist layer over the target layer after the implanting of arsenic ions; and

exposing the photoresist layer using a photolithography process.

18. The method of claim 17 , further comprising:

annealing the target layer at a temperature in a range from about 950° C. to about 1025° C. for duration in a range from about 10 seconds to about 30 seconds after the implanting of boron ions and before the implanting of phosphorus ions.

19. The method of claim 18 , further comprising:

annealing the target layer at a temperature in a range from about 950° C. to about 1025° C. for duration in a range from about 10 seconds to about 30 seconds after the implanting of phosphorus ions and before the implanting of arsenic ions.

20. The method of claim 19 , further comprising:

annealing the target layer at a temperature in a range from about 950° C. to about 1025° C. for duration in a range from about 10 seconds to about 30 seconds after the implanting of arsenic ions and before the coating of the photoresist layer.