Application of resolution enhancement techniques in thin film head processing

Tong, Le; Hsiang, Joyce; Gossett, Johnny; Newman, Gary; Abreau, Kelly J.; Chuang, Tzu-chin

doi:10.1117/12.350869

Cited by 3 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 0 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…This symmetric catadioptric lens system does not introduce the chromatic aberrations common to other lens systems when broadband illumination is used. The low NA and broadband illumination spectrum of the Saturn Spectrum 300e 2 provides a more uniform aerial image through the depth of the ultra-thick photosensitive materials in contrast to steppers with larger NA's and a relatively narrow bandwidth [5,10].…”

Section: Lithography Equipmentmentioning

confidence: 98%

Defect printability for high-exposure dose advanced packaging applications

et al. 2003

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Pellicles are used in semiconductor lithography to minimize printable defects and reduce reticle cleaning frequency. However, there are a growing number of microlithography applications, such as advanced packaging and nanotechnology, where it is not clear that pellicles always offer a significant benefit. These applications have relatively large critical dimensions and require ultra thick photoresists with extremely high exposure doses. Given that the lithography is performed in Class 100 cleanroom conditions, it is possible that the risk of defects from contamination is sufficiently low that pellicles would not be required on certain process layer reticles. The elimination of the pellicle requirement would provide a cost reduction by saving the original pellicle cost and eliminating future pellicle replacement and repair costs.This study examines the imaging potential of defects with reticle patterns and processes typical for gold-bump and solder-bump advanced packaging lithography. The test reticle consists of 30 to 90 µm octagonal contact patterns representative of advanced packaging reticles. Programmed defects are added that represent the range of particle sizes (3 to 30 µm) normally protected by the pellicle and that are typical of advanced packaging lithography cleanrooms. The reticle is exposed using an Ultratech Saturn Spectrum 300e 2 1X stepper on wafers coated with a variety of ultra thick (30 to 100 µm) positive and negative-acting photoresists commonly used in advanced packaging.The experimental results show that in many cases smaller particles continue to be yield issues for the feature size and density typical of advanced packaging processes. For the two negative photoresists studied it appears that a pellicle is not required for protection from defects smaller than 10 to 15 µm depending on the photoresist thickness. Thus the decision on pellicle usage for these materials would need to be made based on the device fabrication process and the cleanliness of a the fabrication facility. For the two positive photoresists studied it appears that a pellicle is required to protect from defects down to 3 µm defects depending on the photoresist thickness. This suggests that a pellicle should always be used for these materials. Since a typical fabrication facility would use both positive and negative photoresists it may be advantageous to use pellicles on all reticles simply to avoid confusion. The cost savings of not using a pellicle could easily be outweighed by the yield benefits of using one.

show abstract

Section: Lithography Equipmentmentioning

confidence: 98%

Defect printability for high-exposure dose advanced packaging applications

et al. 2003

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

Fabrication of three-dimensional mode converters for silicon-based integrated optics

Fritze

Knecht

Bozler

et al. 2003

Journal of Vacuum Science &Amp; Technology B: Microelectronics and Nanometer Structures Processing, Measurement, and Phenomena

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

High-efficiency, large-bandwidth silicon-on-insulator grating coupler based on a fully-etched photonic crystal structure Appl. Phys. Lett. 96, 051126 (2010); 10.1063/1.3304791Monolithically integrated low-loss silicon photonic wires and three-dimensional tapered couplers fabricated by self-profile transformation One of the key challenges facing silicon-based integrated optics is the coupling of light from standard optical fibers to submicron silicon waveguides. As a solution to this problem, we present an adiabatically tapered three-dimensional mode converter based on graytone optical lithography and silicon-on-insulator substrates. Our goal has been to preserve complementary metal-oxidesemiconductor process compatibility to the greatest extent possible. Adiabatic tapers are robust with respect to fabrication imperfections. The graytone lithography fabrication process is discussed, and results are presented from optical coupling experiments. Minimizing silicon surface roughness is critical, and methods are presented for achieving rms roughness values on the subnanometer scale.

show abstract