Post-etch LER performance of novel surface conditioner solutions

Zhang, P.; Jaramillo, Manuel; Cassel, Shawn; Wallow, Thomas I.; Acheta, Alden; Pawloski, Adam R.; Bell, Suzanne O.; Kim, R. H.

doi:10.1117/12.656648

Cited by 11 publications

(4 citation statements)

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“…4) shows that smoothing occurs predominantly in mid-spatial frequencies, but that noticeable smoothing is also seen at low spatial frequencies. The smoothing at low spatial frequencies is a departure from previous studies at 193 nm [17] and requires additional explanation. …”

Section: Recent Resist Testing Resultsmentioning

confidence: 47%

Recent results from the Berkeley 0.3-NA EUV microfield exposure tool

Naulleau

Anderson

Dean³

et al. 2007

SPIE Proceedings

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Operating as a SEMATECH resist test center, the Berkeley 0.3-NA EUV microfield exposure tool continues to play a crucial role in the advancement of EUV resists and masks. Here we present recent resist-characterization results from the tool as well as tool-characterization data. In particular we present lithographic-based aberration measurements demonstrating the long-term stability of the tool. We also describe a recent upgrade to the tool which involved redesign of the programmable coherence illuminator to provide improved field uniformity as well as a programmable field size.

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Section: Recent Resist Testing Resultsmentioning

confidence: 47%

Recent results from the Berkeley 0.3-NA EUV microfield exposure tool

Naulleau

Anderson

Dean³

et al. 2007

SPIE Proceedings

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“…Chemical surfactant rinse after development may reduce LWR 18 . FIRM materials are applied during or after development to reduce line collapse, exploiting the surfactant property to minimize surface tension between lines.…”

Section: Firm Processmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…To reach the ITRS target, a reduction of 50% is required. Many studies have been doing on both optical equipment (source 5,6 , mask 7,8 , optical system 9 ) and photo materials (resist composition 10,11,12,13,14,15,16,17 , development process chemistry 18 ) in order to reduce LWR. Even combining them, it's not possible to reach the sub-32nm node ITRS targets, yet.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Roughness characterization in the frequency domain and LWR mitigation with post-litho processes

2010

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In this paper a previously developed Line Width Roughness (LWR) analysis techniques 1 is used to characterize postlitho process LWR reduction methods in the frequency domain. Post-litho processes are likely to be required to reach the ITRS 3σLWR target for the 32nm and 22nm half pitch technological node. The aim of these lithographic processes is to mitigate the roughness of the resist and ultimately the etched patterns without a dramatic change in Critical Dimensions (CD). Various techniques are discussed: in-track chemical processes, ion beam sputtering, thermal and plasma treatments as dedicated etch-step. Each technique manifests a characteristic smoothing in the frequency domain 2,3 , reducing the LWR up to 35%. Exploiting LWR reduction at the different frequencies, and combining these techniques, our target is to determine whether 50% overall LWR reduction is feasible.

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“…Earlier papers demonstrate the benefits of LWR reduction, when using surface conditioners (i.e. OptiPattern ® Smooth formulations) 5 , can be realized through etch.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Line width roughness (LWR) performance of novel surface conditioner solutions for immersion lithography

Liu

Zeng

et al. 2008

Advances in Resist Materials and Processing Technology XXV

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As line width roughness (LWR) and depth of focus (DoF) become the critical lithography challenges, there is a growing interest in applying surface conditioner solutions during post-develops process to increase DoF and reduce LWR. Previous work 1 has demonstrated that a significant LWR reduction and DoF increase can be achieved through the utilization of a surface conditioner in the features of lines/spaces patterned for 45nm node by immersion lithography. However, the previous generation surface conditioner is not able to provide effective LWR improvement for the resist pattern having LWR less than 5nm.In this paper, 45nm lines/spaces features, having 4.8nm LWR, were patterned using immersion lithography to evaluate a newly-formulated surface conditioner's performance on LWR reduction. The results showed there is about 20% LWR reduction and the LWR was reduced to 4nm, which indicates the newly-formulated surface conditioner is capable of doing further LWR reduction on the pattern whose LWR is less than 5nm.In addition, surface conditioners were applied to extend the capability of 193nm "dry" lithography process window below the k2 = 0.3 threshold by DoF increase. The result demonstrated there is a significant process improvement on DoF which results in a usable DoF process window in practice comparable to that of "wet" lithography process.

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Post-etch LER performance of novel surface conditioner solutions

Cited by 11 publications

References 0 publications

Recent results from the Berkeley 0.3-NA EUV microfield exposure tool

Recent results from the Berkeley 0.3-NA EUV microfield exposure tool

Roughness characterization in the frequency domain and LWR mitigation with post-litho processes

Line width roughness (LWR) performance of novel surface conditioner solutions for immersion lithography

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