Stochastic effects on EUV CAR systems: investigation of materials impact

Nishikori, Katsuaki; Kasahara, Kazuki; Kaneko, Tetsurou; Sakurai, Tomohiko; Dei, Satoshi; Maruyama, Ken; Ayothi, Ramakrishnan

doi:10.1117/12.2551968

Cited by 10 publications

(13 citation statements)

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“…1(b) is considered to be roughly the current status of chemically amplified resists for 16 nm HP. [38][39][40] The results obtained here suggest that it may be possible to suppress the defect level in line-and-space patterns with 10 nm HP to current defect level than in those with 16 nm HP, if the sensitivity problem is neglected. However, the defect suppression of 8 nm HP patterns is challenging.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 94%

Theoretical study on defect risks of chemically amplified resists used for extreme ultraviolet lithography

Kozawa

2022

Jpn. J. Appl. Phys.

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In lithography, resist patterns are fabricated through chemical reactions induced by radiation. In the highly resolving lithography such as extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography, the stochastically generated defects (stochastic defects) are a serious concern. In this study, the variation of resist polymer caused by stochastic effects was investigated, assuming line-and-space resist patterns to assess the defect risks. Using a half pitch HP, a thermalization distance r 0, a total sensitizer concentration C s, and an initial standard deviation of the number of protected units per polymer molecule σ i as variables, the resist pattern formation was simulated on the basis of the reaction mechanisms of chemically amplified EUV resists. The frequency distribution of polymer molecules with the given number of protected units was calculated at the centers of lines and spaces. By defining a total defect risk (the sum of pinching and bridging risks), its dependences on HP, r 0, C s, and σ i were clarified.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 94%

Theoretical study on defect risks of chemically amplified resists used for extreme ultraviolet lithography

Kozawa

2022

Jpn. J. Appl. Phys.

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“…The occurrence of stochastic or random defects has been reported as a EUVL-specific issue and has been a research focus in the last few years. [7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14] One of the main causes of stochastic defects is photon shot noise during exposure of the photoresist film. [15][16][17] Table I shows the calculated number of photons when a hole pattern is fabricated using the longer light source wavelength (λ = 193 nm) utilized in ArF-immersion (ArF-i) lithography compared to the much shorter wavelength (λ = 13.5 nm) applied in EUV.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Photoresist stochastic defect generation depending on alkyl chain length and concentration of tetraalkylammonium hydroxide in alkali aqueous developer

Harumoto¹,

Santos²,

Santillan³

et al. 2023

Jpn. J. Appl. Phys.

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The effects of photoresist dissolution on randomly occurring (“stochastic”) pattern defects in extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography were investigated. Specifically, the effects of the alkali concentration of two developers of different alkyl chain lengths; tetramethylammonium hydroxide (TMAH) and tetrabutylammonium hydroxide (TBAH) on stochastic defect generation were investigated for two typical EUV photoresist. In the case of the PHS-type photoresist, results show that stochastic defect generation was almost the same regardless of developer type, given the same developer concentration. For the hybrid-type photoresist, a decrease in stochastic defects was found with the application of the longer alkyl chain length TBAH developer. Results also suggest the existence of an optimum developer concentration. Such optimum developer concentration is considered to be affected by the balance between polarity and non-polarity of the photoresist and developer components.

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“…[4][5][6] In addition, non-uniform distribution of components occurs in the resist thin film when a resist material composed of multiple ingredients is used. 7,8 These photon and material stochastic effects cause pattern quality issues, in particular the deterioration of line edge roughness (LER) values. 9 This situation motivated researchers in industry and academia to implement diverse resist materials and chemical pathways for the alleviation of the stochastic failure.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Fluoroalkylated tin-oxo nano clusters as resist candidates for extreme UV lithography

Ahn

Lee

et al. 2023

Advances in Patterning Materials and Processes XL

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Extreme UV (EUV) lithography is entering full-scale production of high-end IC chips. This transition gives researchers in academia and industry ample motivation to propose new chemistries that will contribute to alleviating the resolution-line edge roughness-sensitivity trade-off dilemma of EUV lithography. We also have a great interest in the radical chemistry of carbon-fluorine bonds working under EUV and have explored its applicability as a platform for implementing novel EUV resists. While it was checked that the chemical concept is viable by using fluorinated small molecules and polymers, it needed to be upgraded in terms of patterning resolution and sensitivity. Recently, we extended successfully the radical-based strategy to the tin-oxo nano cluster resist concept. Soluble fluorinated tin-oxo clusters could be prepared, and they were cast into thin films from a fluorous solution. When the thin film was exposed to EUV radiation, it lost solubility, resulting in the formation of negative-tone images. Under an EUV lithographic condition, the thin film could be tailored down to 10 nm or smaller sized features. In addition, their unique solubility in chemically orthogonal solvents also enabled the build-up of a bilayer structure composed of a non-fluorinated reactive polymer underlayer without curing. The stacked film structure was found to be helpful for the sensitivity improvement. These results propose another interesting EUV resist candidate possessing unique capabilities in thin film processing.

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Stochastic effects on EUV CAR systems: investigation of materials impact

Cited by 10 publications

References 0 publications

Theoretical study on defect risks of chemically amplified resists used for extreme ultraviolet lithography

Theoretical study on defect risks of chemically amplified resists used for extreme ultraviolet lithography

Photoresist stochastic defect generation depending on alkyl chain length and concentration of tetraalkylammonium hydroxide in alkali aqueous developer

Fluoroalkylated tin-oxo nano clusters as resist candidates for extreme UV lithography

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