Semiconductor device and method

1. A method for manufacturing an integrated circuit comprising:

forming an opening within a mask over a hard mask material;

depositing a first gap-filling material along sidewalls of the opening;

depositing a second gap-filling material within the opening, the second gap-filling material being different from the first gap-filling material, the second gap-filling material comprising a metal oxide or a metal nitride;

removing the mask;

etching the first gap-filling material; and

patterning the hard mask material using the second gap-filling material as a mask, wherein a width of the second gap-filling material at one-half of a height of the second gap-filling material is less than a width of the second gap-filling material at a full height of the second gap-filling material.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the etching the first gap-filling material fully removes the first gap-filling material.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the etching the first gap-filling material reduces a thickness of the first gap-filling material.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the depositing the first gap-filling material covers the hard mask material exposed by the opening.

5. The method of claim 4 , wherein the depositing the first gap-filling material is performed at least in part with an atomic layer deposition process.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the depositing the first gap-filling material does not fully cover the hard mask material exposed by the opening.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the hard mask material comprises titanium oxide.

8. A method for manufacturing an integrated circuit comprising:

forming a plurality of dielectric layers over a substrate;

forming a photomask layer on the plurality of dielectric layers;

patterning the photomask layer to form a gap therethrough;

partially gap-filling the gap with a first material;

gap-filling the gap with a second material different from the first material, the second material comprising a metal oxide or a metal nitride;

removing the photomask layer and at least a portion of the first material, wherein the second material forms a V-shaped masking structure, and wherein the V-shaped masking structure has a V-shape in a cross sectional view;

transferring a pattern formed by the masking structure to the plurality of dielectric layers and removing the masking structure; and

transferring a pattern formed by the plurality of dielectric layers to the substrate.

9. The method of claim 8 , wherein the removing the photomask layer and the at least a portion of the first material removes all of the first material.

10. The method of claim 8 , wherein the removing the photomask layer and the at least a portion of the first material leaves a portion of the first material adjacent to the second material.

11. The method of claim 8 , wherein the partially gap-filling the gap with the first material comprises partially filling the gap with SiO x , SiC x O y , SiC or a-C (amorphous carbon).

12. The method of claim 8 , wherein the gap-filling the gap with the second material comprises gap-filling with TiO, Al 2 O 3 , or TiN.

13. The method of claim 8 , wherein the partially gap-filling the gap with the first material is performed at least in part using an atomic layer deposition process with a first precursor comprising tris(dimethylamino)silane (3DMAS), bis(tertiary-butyl-amino) silane (BTBAS), bis(diethylamino)silane (BDEAS), methane (CH 4 ) or ethylene (C 2 H 4 ) and acetylene (C 2 H 2 ).

14. The method of claim 13 , wherein the atomic layer deposition process uses a second precursor comprising O 2 , CO 2 , or N 2 O.

15. The method of claim 8 , wherein the second material is formed at least in part using an atomic layer deposition process with a first precursor comprising trimethylaluminum (TMA, Al(CH 3 ) 3 ), diethylzinc (DEZ), tetrakis(dimethylamino)titanium (TDMAT), titanium isopropoxide (TTIP), TiCl 4 or tetrakis(dimethylamido)zirconium (Zr(NMe 2 ) 4 ) or zirconium tetrachloride (ZrCl 4 ) or tetrakis-dimethyl-amine tin (TDMASn).

16. A method for manufacturing an integrated circuit comprising:

forming a patterned layer over a substrate, the patterned layer having a first opening;

forming a first mask layer over the patterned layer;

forming a second mask layer over the first mask layer, the second mask layer having a second opening;

depositing a first material layer over the first mask layer in the second opening using at least in part an atomic layer deposition process

depositing a second material layer over the first material layer in the second opening using at least in part an atomic layer deposition process;

removing the second mask layer and at least a portion of the first material layer;

etching the first mask layer with the second material layer and remaining portions of the first material layer as a mask to form a masking structure comprising at least a portion of the second material layer and at least a portion of the first mask layer; and

transferring a pattern formed by the masking structure to the substrate and removing the masking structure.

17. The method of claim 16 , wherein the substrate comprises a dielectric layer of a metallization layer.

18. The method of claim 17 , further comprising depositing a conductive material into a pattern within the dielectric layer of the metallization layer.

19. The method of claim 16 , further comprising thinning the first material after the removing the first mask layer.

20. The method of claim 16 , wherein the first material comprises a silicon dioxide, silicon carbide, or carbon material, and wherein the second material comprises a metal oxide or metal nitride material.