Defect mitigation and root cause studies in 14 nm half-pitch chemo-epitaxy directed self-assembly LiNe flow

Pathangi, Hari; Chan, Boon Teik; Bayana, Hareen; Vandenbroeck, Nadia; Heuvel, Dieter Van den; Look, Lieve Van; Rincon-Delgadillo, Paulina; Cao, Yi; Kim, Jihoon; Lin, Guanyang; Parnell, Doni; Nafus, Kathleen; Harukawa, Ryota; Chikashi, Ito; Polli, Marco; D’Urzo, Lucia; Gronheid, Roel; Nealey, Paul F.

doi:10.1117/1.jmm.14.3.031204

Cited by 34 publications

(30 citation statements)

References 6 publications

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“…The PS bridges had shapes similar to the bridge defects found in previous studies after transferring the BCP pattern into the underlying substrate. 29,31 However, the bridges observed in the previous studies were not through-film structures but existed underneath the film's surface. The deleterious effect on pattern transfer caused by bridges that are formed only in part of the film's thickness may be mitigated by tuning the etching conditions during pattern transfer.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 92%

“…The LiNe flow DSA of lamella-forming PS- b -PMMA has been implemented on 300 mm wafer production tracks at imec and has reached very low defect levels as a result of extensive optimization. , Thus, 0 dislocation defects per cm 2 can be achieved by annealing at 250 °C for 30 min on an optimized template . The best LiNe flow conditions were used as the basis of our kinetic study.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Engineering the Kinetics of Directed Self-Assembly of Block Copolymers toward Fast and Defect-Free Assembly

Ren

Zhou

Chen

et al. 2018

ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces

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Directed self-assembly (DSA) of block copolymers (BCPs) can achieve perfectly aligned structures at thermodynamic equilibrium, but the self-assembling morphology can become kinetically trapped in defective states. Understanding and optimizing the kinetic pathway toward domain alignment is crucial for enhancing process throughput and lowering defectivity to levels required for semiconductor manufacturing, but there is a dearth of experimental, three-dimensional studies of the kinetic pathways in DSA. Here, we combined arrested annealing and TEM tomography to probe the kinetics and structural evolution in the chemoepitaxy DSA of PS- b-PMMA with density multiplication. During the initial stages of annealing, BCP domains developed independently at first, with aligned structures at the template interface and randomly oriented domains at the top surface. As the grains coarsened, the assembly became cooperative throughout the film thickness, and a metastable stitch morphology was formed, representing a kinetic barrier. The stitch morphology had a three-dimensional structure consisting of both perpendicular and parallel lamellae. On the basis of the mechanistic information, we studied the effect of key design parameters on the kinetics and evolution of structures in DSA. Three types of structural evolutions were observed at different film thicknesses: (1) immediate alignment and fast assembly when thickness < L ( L = BCP natural periodicity); (2) formation of stitch morphology for 1.25-1.45 L; (3) fingerprint formation when thickness >1.64 L. We found that the DSA kinetics can be significantly improved by avoiding the formation of the metastable stitch morphology. Increasing template topography also enhanced the kinetics by increasing the PMMA guiding surface area. A combination of 0.75 L BCP thickness and 0.50 L template topography achieved perfect alignment over 100 times faster than the baseline process. This research demonstrates that an improved understanding of the evolution of structures during DSA can significantly improve the DSA process.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 92%

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Engineering the Kinetics of Directed Self-Assembly of Block Copolymers toward Fast and Defect-Free Assembly

Ren

Zhou

Chen

et al. 2018

ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces

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“…53,54 Since barriers to defect annihilation increase concomitantly with segregation strength, 56−58 the ability to anneal at elevated temperatures is critical to drive to lower defect density on a time scale amenable to manufacturing. 59 Our approach to stabilize perpendicular orientations in highχ BCPs uses a minor formulation additive that is both neutral to the high-χ BCP and able to segregate to and remain anchored at the top of the film during thermal annealing. 60,61 This formulation strategy enables perpendicular orientation of high-χ lamellar block copolymers without application of an external top coat and using conventional high temperature thermal annealing, thus simplifying the process and providing potential for high throughput track compatible manufacturing.…”

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confidence: 99%

Orientation Control in Thin Films of a High-χ Block Copolymer with a Surface Active Embedded Neutral Layer

Zhang

Clark

et al. 2015

Nano Lett.

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Directed self-assembly (DSA) of block copolymers (BCPs) is an attractive advanced patterning technology being considered for future integrated circuit manufacturing. By controlling interfacial interactions, self-assembled microdomains in thin films of polystyrene-block-poly(methyl methacrylate), PS-b-PMMA, can be oriented perpendicular to surfaces to form line/space or hole patterns. However, its relatively weak Flory interaction parameter, χ, limits its capability to pattern sub-10 nm features. Many BCPs with higher interaction parameters are capable of forming smaller features, but these "high-χ" BCPs typically have an imbalance in surface energy between the respective blocks that make it difficult to achieve the required perpendicular orientation. To address this challenge, we devised a polymeric surface active additive mixed into the BCP solution, referred to as an embedded neutral layer (ENL), which segregates to the top of the BCP film during casting and annealing and balances the surface tensions at the top of the thin film. The additive comprises a second BCP with a "neutral block" designed to provide matched surface tensions with the respective polymers of the main BCP and a "surface anchoring block" with very low surface energy that drives the material to the air interface during spin-casting and annealing. The surface anchoring block allows the film to be annealed above the glass transition temperature of the two materials without intermixing of the two components. DSA was also demonstrated with this embedded neutral top layer formulation on a chemical patterned template using a single step coat and simple thermal annealing. This ENL technology holds promise to enable the use of high-χ BCPs in advanced patterning applications.

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“…Unfortunately, an immiscibility‐driven approach will not suffice when sub‐5 nm periodicities are desired, preventing extendibility to smaller dimensions. In addition, although the assembly of block copolymers can be directed within a photolithographic prepattern, the formation of defect‐free periodic structures remains a challenge …”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sub‐5 nm Patterning by Directed Self‐Assembly of Oligo(Dimethylsiloxane) Liquid Crystal Thin Films

et al. 2016

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Highly ordered nanopatterns are obtained at sub‐5 nm periodicities by the graphoepitaxial directed self‐assembly of monodisperse, oligo(dimethylsiloxane) liquid crystals. These hybrid organic/inorganic liquid crystals are of high interest for nanopatterning applications due to the combination of their ultrasmall feature sizes and their ability to be directed into highly ordered domains without additional annealing.

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Defect mitigation and root cause studies in 14 nm half-pitch chemo-epitaxy directed self-assembly LiNe flow

Cited by 34 publications

References 6 publications

Engineering the Kinetics of Directed Self-Assembly of Block Copolymers toward Fast and Defect-Free Assembly

Engineering the Kinetics of Directed Self-Assembly of Block Copolymers toward Fast and Defect-Free Assembly

Orientation Control in Thin Films of a High-χ Block Copolymer with a Surface Active Embedded Neutral Layer

Sub‐5 nm Patterning by Directed Self‐Assembly of Oligo(Dimethylsiloxane) Liquid Crystal Thin Films

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