Structures and methods for use in photolithography

1. A method for forming a structure comprising:

providing a substrate comprising a carbon-containing layer having a compressive stress to a reaction chamber;

providing a precursor in the reaction chamber to deposit a stress management layer on the carbon-containing layer by a cyclic chemical vapor deposition process;

wherein the stress management layer has a tensile stress.

2. The method according to claim 1 wherein providing a precursor in the reaction chamber to depositing a stress management layer comprises providing a plasma in the reaction chamber.

3. The method according to claim 1 wherein the precursor comprises carbon and hydrogen.

4. The method according to claim 3 wherein the ratio of the carbon concentration and the hydrogen concentration in the stress management layer is at least 0.8, when the carbon concentration and the hydrogen concentration are expressed on a per mol basis.

5. The method according to claim 3 wherein the precursor further comprises a halogen.

6. The method according to claim 3 wherein the precursor further comprises oxygen and/or nitrogen.

7. The method according claim 3 wherein the precursor further comprises phosphorous and/or boron.

8. The method according to claim 1 wherein the stress management layer is deposited using a reactant selected from the list consisting of O 2 , CO 2 , N 2 O, CO, a mixture of N 2 and a noble gas, a mixture of N 2 and H 2 , and a mixture of NH 3 and a noble gas.

9. The method according to claim 8 wherein the precursor comprises triethylboron and the reactant comprises Ar.

10. The method according to claim 8 wherein the stress management layer is deposited using a cyclical deposition process, the cyclical deposition process comprising cyclically providing precursor pulses and reactant pulses to the reaction chamber, wherein the precursor pulses comprise providing the precursor to the reaction chamber, and wherein the reactant pulses comprise providing the reactant to the reaction chamber.

11. The method according to claim 10 wherein the cyclical deposition process further comprises exposing the substrate to a plasma.

12. The method according to claim 1 wherein the stress management layer does not comprise silicon, titanium, or zinc.

13. The method according to claim 12 wherein the stress management layer consists of C, H, O, and N.

14. The method according to claim 1 further comprising a step of depositing an underlayer on the stress management layer.

15. The method according to claim 14 wherein the underlayer has a thickness of less than 5 nm.

16. The method according to claim 14 wherein the underlayer has a surface energy having a polar part and a dispersive part, wherein polar part of the surface energy is from at least 3 mN/m to at most 13 mN/m.

17. The method according to claim 14 wherein the underlayer comprises silicon, oxygen, hydrogen, and carbon.

18. The method according to claim 14 wherein the underlayer comprises a bi-layer structure comprising an upper underlayer part and a lower underlayer part, wherein the lower underlayer part comprises a metal or metalloid.

19. A system comprising one or more reaction chambers configured for carrying out a method according to claim 1 .

20. A method of forming a structure, the method comprising the steps of:

providing a substrate;

forming a carbon-containing layer overlying a surface of the substrate, the carbon-containing layer having a compressive stress;

forming a stress management layer overlying a surface of the carbon-containing layer, the stress management layer having a tensile stress;

forming an underlayer overlying a surface of the stress management layer; and

forming a photoresist layer overlying the underlayer, the photoresist layer comprising extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography photoresist,

wherein the stress management layer is formed by a cyclic chemical vapor deposition process.