Results of spectroscopic investigations of the plasma formed on the surface of a ferroelectric cathode upon the application of a driving pulse are presented. The ferroelectric plasma cathode was made of a solid solution of Sr, Ba, Ti, Nb, Pb, and O. Its front side was covered by Cu grounded strip electrodes. A driving pulse with an amplitude ≲18 kV and pulse duration of ∼400 ns was applied to the rear Cu disk electrode. A Jobin-Yvon 750M spectrometer was used for visible light dispersion. Spectral line profiles were obtained by a fast framing camera. It was shown that light is emitted from the excited ions and neutral atoms of Cu, Pb, Sr, Ba, Ti, and H within the first 50 ns after the beginning of the driving pulse. By analyzing the Doppler broadening of the observed spectral line profiles it was found that the ion and neutral atom temperature is ⩽0.8 eV. Analysis of the Stark broadening of the Hα and Hβ spectral lines showed the absence of a high (>1 kV/cm) electric field which could be developed at the surface of the ferroelectric due to the appearance of noncompensated surface polarization charges. The same Stark analysis also showed that the plasma density does not exceed 1013 cm−3. By comparing the relative intensities of the Hα and Hβ spectral lines obtained with the results of collision radiative modeling, the plasma electron temperature was found to be ∼3 eV.

Spectroscopic investigations of the properties of a plasma produced by a ferroelectric-plasma source are presented. The electron plasma density, the electron and ion temperature, and the density of desorbed neutrals near the ferroelectric surface are determined from spectral line intensities and profiles. Three different methods of surface plasma formation are analyzed using a simplified model for the plasma production. The model predicts the total amount of charge in the plasma to be proportional to the dielectric constant of the ferroelectric material. Also, the model shows a strong dependence of the plasma parameters on the resistivity of the plasma transition layer. A maximal plasma density of ∼1015cm−3 is achieved when the electrons that were attached by the driving field to the ferroelectric surface are released from the surface owing to driving pulse sharp decay and ionized heavy atoms desorbed from the ferroelectric.

Experimental results are presented of dense plasma formation on the surface of a BaTi-based ferroelectric sample during the fall time of a driving pulse. A negative or positive driving pulse (⩽14 kV), with a slow rise time (∼450 ns) and a fast fall time (40–200 ns), was applied to the rear electrode of the ferroelectric. It was found by different electrical, optical, and spectroscopic diagnostics that this method allows one to form a plasma with a larger density (∼3×1013 cm−3) as compared with that formed by a driving pulse with a fast rise time (⩽4×1012 cm−3). It was shown that the shorter the fall time of the driving pulse the more intense plasma formation occurs. The most uniform and dense plasma formation occurs with a positive driving pulse. In addition, it was found that the shorter the fall time of the positive driving pulse the larger are the current amplitude, the energy, and the divergence of the emitted electrons. The obtained results are discussed in terms of the surface plasma formation and the compensation process of the polarization surface charge of the ferroelectric sample.

For many years, lithographic resolution has been the main obstacle in keeping the pace of transistor densification to meet Moore's Law. For the 32 nm node and beyond, new lithography techniques will be used, including immersion ArF (iArF) lithography and extreme ultraviolet lithography (EUVL). As in the past, these techniques will use new types of photoresists with the capability to print smaller feature widths and pitches. Also, such smaller feature sizes will require thinner layers of photoresists, such as under 100 nm.In previous papers [1][2], we focused on ArF and iArF photoresist shrinkage. We evaluated the magnitude of shrinkage for both R&D and mature resists as a function of chemical formulation, lithographic sensitivity, scanning electron microscope (SEM) beam condition, and feature size. Shrinkage results were determined by the well accepted methodology described in ISMI's CD-SEM Unified Specification [2]. A model for resist shrinkage, while derived elsewhere [3], was presented, that can be used to curve-fit to the shrinkage data resulting from multiple repeated measurements of resist features. Parameters in the curve-fit allow for metrics quantifying total shrinkage, shrinkage rate, and initial critical dimension (CD) before e-beam exposure. With these parameters and exhaustive measurements, a fundamental understanding of the phenomenology of the shrinkage trends was achieved, including how the shrinkage behaves differently for different sized features. This work was extended in yet another paper [11] in which we presented a 1-D model for resist shrinkage that can be used to curve-fit to shrinkage curves. Calibration of parameters to describe the photoresist material and the electron beam were all that were required to fit the model to real shrinkage data, as long as the photoresist was thick enough that the beam could not penetrate the entire layer of resist.In this paper, we extend this work yet again to a 2-D model of a trapezoidal photoresist profile. This model thus allows CD shrinkage in thin photoresist to be solved, which is now of great interest for upcoming realistic lithographic processing. It also allows us to predict the change in resist profile with electron dose and the influence of initial resist profile on shrinkage characteristics. In this work, the results from the previous paper will be shown to be consistent with numerically simulated results, thus lending credibility to these papers' postulations [1,4]. Also, results from this 2-D profile model can also give clues as to how we might, in the future, model the shrinkage of contour edges of 3-D shapes.With these findings, we can conclude with observations about the readiness of SEM metrology for the challenges of future photoresist measurement, as well as estimate the errors involved in calculating the original CD from the shrinkage trend.

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