The present disclosure relates to the field of display device processing technique, and particularly to an etching method.
Due to the advantages of low power consumption, radiation-free, a liquid crystal display device has become dominant in the field of flat display. In the existing liquid crystal display device, the liquid crystal panel generally comprises an array substrate and a color film substrate which are arranged oppositely, and a liquid crystal layer filled therebetween. The array substrate is provided with a plurality of thin film transistors and a plurality of pixel electrodes. The pixel electrodes are connected with the drain of the thin film transistors. The color film substrate is provided with common electrodes corresponding to the pixel electrodes. When the pixel electrodes are charged through the thin film transistors, an electric field is formed between the pixel electrodes and the common electrodes. The electric filed enables to control the deflection of liquid crystal molecules in the liquid crystal regions to which the pixel electrodes correspond to, thus realizing the display function.
With the development of the flat display technique, there is an increasingly high requirement for PPI (Pixels per Inch) of a display product. This requires continuously reducing CD (Critical Dimension) in the fabricating process. However, the existing design has reached the resolution limit of an exposure machine. In practical process of the liquid crystal panel for forming a hole in an organic insulating film and a hole in PVX, the dimension of the hole is usually so small that it is close to the resolution limit of the exposure machine. The dimension of the hole cannot be further reduced, because otherwise there would be PR (photoresist) residual, in which case the hole could not be formed. Therefore, it is urgent to provide a lithography method which can increase the PPI and competitiveness of a product and can realize lithography of a structure with a smaller CD.
It is desired to further increase exposure accuracy on basis of the existing equipment in the art.
The present disclosure provides an etching method, comprising:
applying a photoresist layer on a layer to be patterned;
forming a photoresist removing region and a photoresist retaining region on the photoresist layer;
forming a cross linking material in the photoresist removing region, and making the cross linking material to react with the photoresist retaining region in predefined conditions to form a reacting region;
removing the cross linking material, retaining the photoresist retaining region and the reacting region, and etching a layer in a region where the cross linking material is removed; and
removing a shielding layer in the photoresist retaining region and the reacting region to form a patterned layer.
Optionally, forming the photoresist removing region and the photoresist retaining region on the photoresist layer comprises:
performing exposure and development on the layer on which the photoresist has been applied to form the photoresist removing region and the photoresist retaining region.
Optionally, the predefined conditions comprise reacting at a temperature of 100° C. -300° C.
Optionally, the reacting region has a width which is determined by the duration of reaction.
Optionally, the predefined conditions comprise the duration of reaction of 10 s-200 s.
Optionally, an esterification reaction occurs between the cross linking material and the photoresist.
Optionally, the photoresist is an organic material containing carboxyl.
Optionally, the photoresist comprises phenolic resin.
Optionally, the cross linking material is an organic material containing hydroxyl.
Optionally, the cross linking material is a polymer material containing hydroxyl.
Optionally, the cross linking material is a polymer polyol.
Optionally, the cross linking material has a general formula of CnH2n+2-X(OH)X.
The specific embodiments of the present disclosure shall be further described in the following text with reference to the figures and the embodiments. The following embodiments are only used for explaining more clearly the technical solution of the present disclosure rather than limiting the protection scope of the present disclosure.
As shown in
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After the photoresist removing region 100 is filled with the cross linking material 102, the filled cross linking material 102 reacts with the photoresist retaining region 101 in certain react conditions. The cross linking material 102 and the photoresist retaining region 101 are fused at a contact interface therebetween to form the reacting region 103. In particular, when the photoresist retaining region 101 and the cross linking material 102 filled in the photoresist removing region 100 are exposed to a high temperature or light irradiation, the photoresist at the contact interface chemically reacts with the cross linking material 102, to form the reacting region 103 with a certain dimension. Since the cross linking material 102 has etching selectivity in specific etching conditions, the etching rate of the cross linking material is much larger than the product of reaction between the photoresist and the reacting region 103, so that the cross linking material can be etched away much more easily.
In an embodiment, the filled cross linking material 102 and the layer in the photoresist retaining region 101 are expose to high temperature conditions of for example 100° C.-300° C., and react at the contact interface. The duration of reaction for example is 10 s-200 s. As shown in
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Apparently, the person with ordinary skill in the art can make various modifications and variations to the present disclosure without departing from the spirit and the scope of the present disclosure. In this way, provided that these modifications and variations of the present disclosure belong to the scopes of the claims of the present disclosure and the equivalent technologies thereof, the present disclosure also intends to encompass these modifications and variations.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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201610162056.6 | Mar 2016 | CN | national |
The present application is the U.S. national phase entry of PCT/CN2016/084023, with an international filing date of May 31, 2016, which claims the benefit of Chinese Patent Application No. 201610162056.6, filed on Mar. 21, 2016, the entire disclosures of which are incorporated herein by reference.
Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind |
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PCT/CN2016/084023 | 5/31/2016 | WO | 00 |