Future of multiple-e-beam direct-write systems

Abstract

The crossover of high-speed digital electronics, MEMS, and cost reduction presents an exciting opportunity to extend optical lithography with multiple e-beam direct write systems. Massive parallelism overcomes the throughput limitation of e-beam direct write systems. Many innovative concepts on multiple e-beam imaging have been conceived and are being developed for various applications, such as maskwriting, prototyping, writing critical layers in high volume manufacturing (HVM), and writing all layers in HVM. MEB DW systems are capable to do all of the above. For maskwriting, the writing time can be saved by between a factor of 5 and 10 but it takes similar efforts to develop the maskwriting technology as direct wafer writing. There is insufficient demand for maskwriting and prototyping tools to warrant the development efforts. Writing critical layers in HVM makes economic sense for wafer production and makes economic sense to develop the imaging tool. However, using MEB DW for critical and non-critical layers, especially for 450-mm wafers, presents a unique opportunity to save lithography cost for the 450-mm wafer technology. This is the most desirable application for MEB DW. Once this application is established, all other applications easily follow.

DNA Nanostructures-Mediated Molecular Imprinting Lithography

“…To apply DNA nanostructures in the scalable nanofabrication, the limitation of large-area patterning in our method needs to be overcome. High-throughput nanopatterning is important for the nanofabrication and has been realized by e-beam lithography , and directed self-assembly of block copolymer. − However, the difficulties of controlling deposition of DNA nanostructures and defects in the self-assembled DNA nanostructures limit their applications in large-area patterning. Further studies are still needed to address these challenges.…”

“…One-step 193 nm photolithography is widely used; however, it is not suitable for the fabrication of nanostructures with spacing less than 40 nm due to its diffraction-limited resolution. Although e-beam lithography can provide sub-10 nm resolution, the massive production of the master template is hindered by the high cost of this method. − In addition to the conventional lithographic methods, dip-pen nanolithography, indentation lithography, nanosphere lithography, and block copolymer lithography − have been applied to offer nanoscale and even sub-10 nm features. Other relief structures such as crystallographic steps, cracks, and single-walled carbon nanotubes have also been used to provide features with subnanometer or molecular-scale resolution.…”

Nanomanufacturing: A Perspective

“…166,167 However, the economic pressures associated with leading-edge optical lithography still makes this an active area of research, with newer efforts relying on groups of columns, or targeted towards low-volume applications, 168 under development. 169,170,171 …”

Datapath system for multiple electron beam lithography systems using image compression

“…Among them, electron beam lithography (EBL) has been considered as a useful candidate for next-generation lithography. 1 EBL consists of three parts as shown in Fig. 1: (1) a digital layout image that is stored at the storage system, (2) a data path through which the layout image is transmitted, and (3) an electron beam writer that writes the transmitted layout image on the photoresist using an electron beam.…”

“…Conventional photolithography requires high-quality physical masks, which are very expensive to fabricate 2 and maintain. 1 Since many current applications can require 20 to 30 masks, the cost of physical masks for conventional photolithography is enormous. However, EBL systems do not require masks.…”