(iv) curing the curable composition such as by flood 55  exposure of activating radiation and/thermal treatment  wherein a hardening reaction of composition component(s)  can occur, which hardening may be promoted by acid that  migrates from the encased imageable material relief image;  The present invention includes new methods for manu› facturing a semiconductor device. Preferred methods of the  invention include depositing a photoresist on a semiconduc› tor substrate surface followed by imaging and development  of resist coating layer; applying a curable organic or inor› ganic composition over the resist relief image; etching to  provide a relief image of the resist encased by the curable  composition; and removing the resist material whereby the  curable organic or inorganic composition remains in a relief  image of increased pitch relative to the previously developed  resist image.  Efforts are constant to reduce sizes of integrated circuits.  To achieve such size reductions, the sizes of the constituent  features, such as electrical devices and interconnect line  widths, that form the integrated circuits are also constantly  being decreased. Efforts to reduce feature size is especially  prevalent in memory circuits or devices e.g. dynamic ran› dom access memories (DRAMs), static random access  memories (SRAMs ), and ferroelectric (FE) memories. By  decreasing the sizes of constituent electrical devices and the  conducting lines that access then, the sizes of the memory  devices incorporating these features can be decreased. Such  size reductions also can enable increasing storage capacities.  Photolithography is commonly used to form features,  such as conductive lines, on a substrate. The concept of pitch  can be used to describe the size of these features. As referred  to herein, pitch is defined as the distance between an  identical point in two neighboring features. These features  are typically defined by spacings between adjacent features,  which are typically filled by a material, such as an insulator.  As a result, pitch can be viewed as the sum of the width of  a feature and of the width of the space separating that feature  from an adjacent or neighboring feature.  Due to factors such as optics and radiation wavelength,  however, photolithography techniques can have a minimum  pitch below which a particular photolithographic technique  cannot reliably form features. This can restrict feature size  reduction.  It would be desirable to have new methods to provide  electronic device features of decreased dimensions.  We now provide new methods for fabricating a semicon› ductor device. Methods of the invention can enable produc› tion of highly resolved features ( e.g. interconnections such  as circuits) of reduced dimension.  In one aspect, methods of the invention may comprise:  (i) depositing an imageable material (e.g. photoresist) on  a substrate surface (e.g. semiconductor wafer optionally  overcoated with an organic and/or inorganic layer(s));  (ii) imaging and developing the imageable material to  provide a relief image (e.g. photoresist relief image); and  (iii) applying a curable or hardenable organic or inorganic  composition over the relief image;  (v) treatment (e.g. etch such as with a gaseous plasma  which may include oxygen, and which may include a  reactive ion etch, or by development such as by treatment  with an aqueous alkaline developer composition) to provide  a composite relief image comprising the imageable material  encased by organic or inorganic composition;  (vi) removing the imageable material. Preferably, upon  such removal, the curable or hardenable organic or inorganic  Preferred curable compositions (also sometimes referred  to herein as overcoating compositions) for use in accordance  with the invention may include compositions that comprise  a silicon-containing component such as a silicon-containing  resin optionally in combination with one or more cross› linkers that can react in the presence of acid. The resin  component itself suitably may be reactive (curable) in the  presence of acid thereby obviating the need for a separate  crosslinker component. In such preferred systems, the cur› able composition can crosslink or otherwise cure in the  presence of acid (including photogenerated acid) that  migrates from the imageable material. Preferably, the acid  that migrates from the imageable material migrates laterally  into the curable composition to induce crosslinking, suitably  primarily in a lateral direction. Preferred curable composi- tion may comprise one or more components ( e.g. one or  more resins) that contain functional groups which serve as  crosslinking sites, including for instance silanol sites,  Additionally, a separate top coat or barrier layer compo- sition that is positioned over the photoresist may be  employed and can serve to restrict upward leaching of acid  (such as photogenerated acid). Suitable topcoat composi› tions and the use thereof are disclosed in U.S. Patent  Publication 2006/0105272 to Gallagher et al. Suitable top› coat compositions may contain an organic silicon resin such  as disclosed in U.S. Patent Publication 2006/0105272.  Particularly preferred photoresists for use in accordance  with the invention may comprise a diffusable acidic com› ponent which has sufficient diffusing length to induce cross› linking (includes any type of hardening) of the overcoated  curable composition. An exemplary diffusable acidic com› ponent is triflic acid.  As discussed further below, particularly photoresist  including those that contain or more components that can  inhibit leaching of photo generated acid through top coating  layers regions, such as a component that has  1)  Si substi› tution, 2) fluorine substitution, 3) is a hyper-branched poly› mer, and/or is  4)  a polymeric particle, as disclosed in U.S.  2006/0246373.  Preferred imageable compositions are photoresists includ› ing those resists that may suitably imaged with 248 nm or  193 nm radiation.  Preferred imageable materials and curable compositions  for use in the invention include compositions that contain  one or more organic components ( e.g. one or more organic  resins). Preferred imageable materials and curable compo- sitions may be applied by spin coating.  In additional preferred aspects, step (v) of the above  method comprises exposing the composite to activating  radiation to permit hardening of the curable composition and  then development to remove the imageable material.  In further preferred aspects, the composite ( comprising  the imageable material encased by organic or inorganic  composition) is substantially free of the curable composition  on the top surface of the imageable material. As referred to  herein, "substantially free" indicates that the top  10  nm of  the composite relief image contains than less than 15,  10  or  5 weight percent of the curable organic or inorganic com- position (also referred to as herein as the overcoating  composition).  In preferred aspects, such methods include only a single  exposure to patterned radiation (e.g. 248 nm or 193 nm  radiation). In additional preferred aspects, such methods do  not include any chemical-mechanical processing (CMP)  steps.  compos1t10n remains in a relief image of increased pitch  relative to the previously developed imageable material.  ELECTRONIC DEVICE MANUFACTURE  US 9,437,431 B2  1  2 