Samsung patents chip-making method using gray-tone masks
Samsung describes a way to make computer chips by using a special mask that has both clear and semi-transparent areas. This allows engineers to etch two different depths into the chip material in a single step, rather than doing it separately.
In the filing’s own words
A method of manufacturing a semiconductor device includes forming a mask layer on a pattern target layer, exposing and developing the mask layer by using a multi-tone reticle including a white region and a gray region to form a first mask pattern region having a first thickness that exposes the pattern target layer and a second preliminary mask pattern region having a second sub-thickness that is less than the first thickness without exposing the pattern target layer, etching the pattern target layer located below the first mask pattern region and the mask layer and the pattern target layer remaining below the second preliminary mask pattern region to form a first pattern having a first depth and a second pattern having a second depth that is less than the first depth, and removing the mask layer.
What exactly they claim (claim 1)
1. A method of manufacturing a semiconductor device, the method comprising: forming a mask layer on a pattern target layer; exposing and developing the mask layer by using a multi-tone reticle including a white region and a gray region to form a first mask pattern region having a first thickness that exposes the pattern target layer and a second preliminary mask pattern region having a second sub-thickness that is less than the first thickness without exposing the pattern target layer; etching the pattern target layer located below the first mask pattern region and the mask layer and the pattern target layer remaining below the second preliminary mask pattern region to form a first pattern in the pattern target layer having a first depth and a second pattern in the pattern target layer having a second depth that is less than the first depth; and removing the mask layer.
Facts
- Company
- Samsung (Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd.)
- Official title
- METHOD OF MANUFACTURING SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICE
- Publication number
- US20260267221A1
- Application number
- 19555103
- Filed
- Mar 3, 2026
- Published
- Sep 10, 2026
- Inventors
- 5
- Claims
- 20
Classified under
G03F 1/76 Physics & computingG03F 7/0035 Physics & computingH10P 76/00 Electricity & electronicsH10P 50/69 Electricity & electronicsH10P 50/71 Electricity & electronicsH10P 50/73 Electricity & electronicsMore from Samsung in Chips & hardware
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Summaries are simplified from the filing’s own abstract and first claim. A patent filing is not a product announcement.
Patent data and drawings: U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). Nebula is not affiliated with or endorsed by the USPTO.