Small angle x-ray scattering for sub-100 nm pattern characterization

Jones, Ronald L.; Hu, Tianyi; Lin, Eric K.; Wu, Wen‐Li; Kolb, Rainer; Casa, D.; Bolton, Patrick J.; Barclay, George G.

doi:10.1063/1.1622793

Cited by 90 publications

(76 citation statements)

References 11 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…High-resolution metrologies for pattern shape characterizations are required. To meet this challenge, we are developing a set of X-ray based techniques, namely, critical-dimension small-angle X-ray scattering (CD-SAXS) [37][38][39] and specular X-ray reflectivity (SXR) [40,41]. By fitting the diffracted or specular reflected X-ray intensity, we can extract the dimensions of periodic patterns with nanometer resolution.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Nanoimprint Lithography and the Role of Viscoelasticity in the Generation of Residual Stress in Model Polystyrene Patterns

Ding

Alvine

et al. 2008

Adv Funct Materials

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Understanding polymer deformation during the nanoimprinting process is key to achieving robust polymer nanostructures. Information regarding this process can be extracted from monitoring the decay of the imprinted polymer patterns during thermal annealing. In the present work, the effect of both the molar mass and the imprinting temperature on the pattern decay behavior during thermal annealing is investigated. Previously, it was found that the decay rate is fastest for a highly entangled polymer due to the elastic recovery caused by the residual stress created during the imprinting process. The present paper demonstrates that this residual stress level can be modified through control of the imprinting temperature. These results are contrasted with those for an unentangled polymer over a similar range of imprinting temperatures, where it is found that the pattern decay is controlled by simple Newtonian flow. In particular, the pattern decay is well described by surface‐tension‐driven viscous flow, and no imprinting‐temperature effect is observed during thermal annealing. It is shown that the stability of the film against pattern decay can be optimized for moderately entangled polymer films. This effect is attributed to the competition between the effect of increased viscosity with increasing molar mass and increased residual stresses with entanglements. These observations provide guidance for the optimization of imprinting process in terms of selection of molar mass and processing temperatures.

show abstract

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Nanoimprint Lithography and the Role of Viscoelasticity in the Generation of Residual Stress in Model Polystyrene Patterns

Ding

Alvine

et al. 2008

Adv Funct Materials

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…[13,14] Here, we utilize the fact that CD-SAXS and SXR can completely characterize the cross section of an imprinted pattern, nondestructively with nanometerscale resolution, while simultaneously averaging hundreds of nanostructures together for excellent statistics. A description of these shape measurements is provided in the Supporting Information, while more details have been published elsewhere; [10][11][12][13][14] here we focus on the application of these shape measurements for pattern stability. We define the stability of a nanoimprinted structure by measuring its shape change as a function of time in different environments.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…To address this challenge we are developing a suite of X-ray-based techniques to quantify pattern shape. These include critical dimension small angle X-ray scattering (CD-SAXS) [10][11][12] and specular X-ray reflectivity (SXR). [13,14] Here, we utilize the fact that CD-SAXS and SXR can completely characterize the cross section of an imprinted pattern, nondestructively with nanometerscale resolution, while simultaneously averaging hundreds of nanostructures together for excellent statistics.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Polymer Viscoelasticity and Residual Stress Effects on Nanoimprint Lithography

et al. 2007

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The decay kinetics of polystyrene (PS) gratings are monitored by tracking the intensity of the first‐order laser diffraction peak as a function of annealing time. For low‐molecular‐mass PS (24 kg mol–1, blue circles), an exponential response suggests that the pattern decay is a surface‐tension‐ driven viscous flow. In high‐molecular‐mass PS (1007 kg mol–1, green circles) a complicated response includes a rapid elastic recovery, a power‐law creep, and a viscouslike flow (see figure).

show abstract

“…Although there is a large variety of different techniques available, ranging from direct methods like criticaldimension electron microscopy (CD-SEM) [21,22] and atomic force microscopy (AFM) [23,24] to indirect methods like X-ray small-angle scattering (SAXS) and grazing in- * contact: jan.wernecke@ptb.de cidence SAXS (GISAXS) [25][26][27], critical dimension SAXS (CD-SAXS) [28][29][30], or extreme UV (EUV) scatterometry [31,32], all of them have very specific advantages and drawbacks. Moreover, only a few of them are traceable, that is, related to the International System of Units (SI system) by an unbroken chain of comparisons with known uncertainty, which is ultimately required in order to associate uncertainty values with any measured quantity.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Traceable GISAXS measurements for pitch determination of a 25 nm self-assembled polymer grating

et al. 2014

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The feature sizes of only a few nanometers in modern nanotechnology and next-generation microelectronics continually increase the demand for suitable nanometrology tools. Grazing incidence small-angle X-ray scattering (GISAXS) is a versatile technique to measure lateral and vertical sizes in the nm-range, but the traceability of the obtained parameters, which is a prerequisite for any metrological measurement, has not been demonstrated so far. In this work, the first traceable GISAXS measurements, demonstrated with a self-assembled block copolymer grating structure with a nominal pitch of 25 nm, are reported. The different uncertainty contributions to the obtained pitch value of 24.83(9) nm are discussed individually. The main uncertainty contribution results from the sample-detector distance and the pixel size measurement, whereas the intrinsic asymmetry of the scattering features is of minor relevance for the investigated grating structure. The uncertainty analysis provides a basis for the evaluation of the uncertainty of GISAXS data in a more general context, for example in numerical data modeling.

show abstract

Small angle x-ray scattering for sub-100 nm pattern characterization

Cited by 90 publications

References 11 publications

Nanoimprint Lithography and the Role of Viscoelasticity in the Generation of Residual Stress in Model Polystyrene Patterns

Nanoimprint Lithography and the Role of Viscoelasticity in the Generation of Residual Stress in Model Polystyrene Patterns

Polymer Viscoelasticity and Residual Stress Effects on Nanoimprint Lithography

Traceable GISAXS measurements for pitch determination of a 25 nm self-assembled polymer grating

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About