A novel global planarization technology using defocused resist patterning with blanket stripe mask (DRESS)

Abstract

A novel global planarization technology which uses a Defocused Resist patterning with blanket Stripe mask (DRESS) has been developed. DRESS technique consists of the selective formation of the stripe resist pattern on the lower area of the topography, using a blanket stripe mask with a focus on the lower area in order to defocus the resist pattern at the higher area. Using this technique, two global planarization processes were proposed and a remarkable global planarized topology has been achieved for 4-level interconnection with step height as large as 3 /spl mu/m.<>