Organic Mask Removal Assessment for 32nm Fully Depleted SOI Technology with TiN-metal Gate on HfO2

To pursue the device capability improvement, new materials have to be introduced in the gate stack. TiN metal gate on HfO2 is one of the solutions to replace existing gate. Thus, manufacturing processes, such as resist stripping, have to be adapted to these new materials as current processes can not be compatible. HfO2 compatibility was first studied by ellipsometry and ATR measurements, showing that Downstream type plasma (DS) with He-H2 or H2-N2 gas mix for dry processes, and Hydrozone ™ (HZ) for wet processes were fully compatible. Then TiN compatibility was investigated by WDXRF and XPS. Results indicate that the same processes as for HfO2 are compatible with TiN. Finally, effectiveness study proved that DS He-H2 or H2-N2 plasmas were similar to O2 plasma. To fully remove the polymers, HZ processes or derivatives have to be performed after plasmas.