EUV processing investigation on state of the art coater/developer system

Shite, Hideo; Bradon, Neil; Shimoaoki, Takeshi; Kobayashi, Shinji; Nafus, Kathleen; Kosugi, Hitoshi; Foubert, Philippe; Hermans, Jan; Hendrickx, Eric; Goethals, M.; Gronheid, Roel; Jehoul, Christiane

doi:10.1117/12.879406

Cited by 1 publication

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“…11 by a few nm in resolution without any change in the material processing. Further progress should, therefore, include pattern collapse mitigation techniques, such as super-critical drying or special development recipes like FIRM TM [12,13].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Evaluation of EUV resist performance with interference lithography towards 11 nm half-pitch and beyond

et al. 2013

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The performance of EUV resists is one of the main challenges for the cost-effectiveness and the introduction of EUV lithography into high-volume manufacturing. The EUV interference lithography (EUV-IL) is a simple and powerful technique to print periodic nanostructures with a resolution beyond the capabilities of other tools. In addition, the welldefined and pitch-independent aerial image of the EUV-IL provides further advantages for the analysis of resist performance. In this paper, we present evaluation of chemically-amplified resists (CAR) and inorganic resists using EUV-IL. We illustrate the performance of the tool through a reproducibility study of a baseline resist over the course of 16 months. A comparative study of the performance of different resists is presented with the aim of resolving patterns with CARs for 16 nm half-pitch (HP) and 11 nm HP. Critical dimension (CD) and line-edge roughness (LER) are evaluated as functions of dose for different process conditions. With a CAR with about 10 mJ/cm 2 sensitivity, 18 nm L/S patterns are obtained with low LER and well-resolved patterns are achieved down to 16 nm HP. With another CAR of about 35 mJ/cm 2 sensitivity, L/S patterns with low LER are demonstrated down to 14 nm HP. Resolved patterns are achieved down to 12 HP, demonstrating the capability of its potential towards 11 nm HP if pattern collapse mitigation can be successfully applied. With EUV-sensitive inorganic resists, patterning down to 8 nm has been realized. In summary, we show that resist platforms with reasonable sensitivities are already available for patterning at 16 nm HP, 11 nm HP, and beyond, although there is still significant progress is needed. We also show that with decreasing HP, pattern collapse becomes a crucial issue limiting the resolution and LER. Therefore resist stability, collapse mitigation, and etch resistance are some of the significant problems to be addressed in the development of resist platforms for future technology nodes.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%