Systematic study of the interdependence of exposure and development conditions and kinetic modelling for optimizing low-energy electron beam nanolithography

Mohammad, Mohammad Ali; Fito, Taras; Chen, J.; Buswell, Steven; Aktary, Mirwais; Stepanova, Maria; Dew, S. K.

doi:10.1016/j.mee.2009.11.047

Cited by 23 publications

(12 citation statements)

References 15 publications

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“…Previously, the finest pitch reported of adjacent lines fabricated at beam energies below 5 keV was 50 nm using calixarene [12], 60 nm using ZEP-7000 [12], 50 nm using poly-methyl-methacrylate (PMMA) [13], and 60 nm using hydrogen silsesquioxane (HSQ) [9,14]. This range of resolution is not sufficient for applications that require high throughput and high pattern resolution, such as photomask fabrication and multipleelectron-beam lithography for integrated circuits [7,9].…”

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confidence: 99%

Sub-5keV electron-beam lithography in hydrogen silsesquioxane resist

Manfrinato

Cheong

Duan

et al. 2011

Microelectronic Engineering

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Abstract:We fabricated 9 to 30 nm half-pitch nested Ls and 13 to 15 nm half-pitch dot arrays, using 2 keV electron-beam lithography with hydrogen silsesquioxane (HSQ) as the resist. All structures with 15 nm half-pitch and above were fully resolved. We observed that the 9 and 10-nm half-pitch nested L's and the 13-nm-half-pitch dot array contained some resist residues. We obtained good agreement between experimental and Monte-Carlo-simulated point-spread functions at energies of 1.5, 2, and 3 keV. The longrange proximity effect was minimal, as indicated by simulated and patterned 30 nm holes in negative-tone resist.

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confidence: 99%

Sub-5keV electron-beam lithography in hydrogen silsesquioxane resist

Manfrinato

Cheong

Duan

et al. 2011

Microelectronic Engineering

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“…The layout of the dots patterns for the dose tests comprised two 2D arrays of dots of 55 and 80 lm in length and approximately 3 lm in width, with the point dose increasing in one direction. 9 The dose windows were determined by inspection of SEM images of the dots arrays in PMMA resist exposed with different doses as described in the previous section. The exposure dose was varied from 0.6 to 8.4 fC/dot.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The arrays were separated by more than 10 lm to avoid any proximity effects between them. From the SEM images, the boundary doses for underexposure and overexposure 9 have been identified and shown by bars in Fig. Fig.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Nanopatterning of PMMA on insulating surfaces with various anticharging schemes using 30 keV electron beam lithography

Muhammad¹,

Buswell²,

Dew³

et al. 2011

Journal of Vacuum Science &Amp; Technology B, Nanotechnology and Microelectronics: Materials, Processing, Measurement, and Phen

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Interference lithography for metal nanopattern fabrication assisted by surface plasmon polaritons reflecting image Long nanoscale gaps on III-V substrates by electron beam lithography J. Vac. Sci. Technol. B 30, 06F305 (2012); 10.1116/1.4766881Fabrication of ultra-high-density nanodot array patterns (3 Tbits/in.2) using electron-beam lithography As a low cost and high throughput method for nanoscale pattern replication, step and flash imprint lithography (SFIL) with UV transparent masters is gaining prominence for its potential in photonics and integrated-circuit fabrication. However, dielectric materials appropriate for fabricating nanostructured SFIL masters present a challenge when employing electron beam lithography (EBL) because insulator substrates covered by polymeric resists such as PMMA tend to accumulate charge during EBL exposures, thereby degrading the process. In this work we explore the performance of four different EBL anticharging schemes for nanofabrication of dense arrays of dots having diameters 16-30 nm in PMMA on UV transparent fused silica (FS) substrates. These include overlayers of aluminum or a water-soluble conducting polymer, as well as sandwiching of Al or Cr thin films between the substrate and PMMA. The quality of patterns transferred from PMMA into the underlying metallic layers was analyzed, and the grain size of the metal was found to be the limiting factor determining the edge roughness. The best resolution was attained employing the conducting polymer top-coating. This scheme also involves fewer processing steps. The authors have used this technique for lift-off of Cr and Au as well as Cr masked etch transfer of nanosized patterns into glass substrates for UV-transparent master mold fabrication.

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“…Strong forward scattering of electrons at a 3 keV exposure voltage naturally leads to reentrant profiles with large undercuts in positive tone resists, which enables lift-off patterning without the use of bilayer resists. Furthermore, using low voltage exposures improves the process throughput, [11][12][13] which is important for fabricating large arrays of resonators. Another important aspect of the process is the usage of decreased development temperature.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…A unique aspect of the simulator is its ability to simulate cold development conditions using a kinetic treatment of resist dissolution. 10,13,19 This aspect is of great importance in this work, as it allows us to simulate our unique combination of low voltage and cold development conditions.…”

Section: Modeling Of Resonator Clamping Point and Comparison With mentioning

confidence: 99%

Nanomachining and clamping point optimization of silicon carbon nitride resonators using low voltage electron beam lithography and cold development

Mohammad¹,

Guthy²,

Evoy³

et al. 2010

Journal of Vacuum Science &Amp; Technology B, Nanotechnology and Microelectronics: Materials, Processing, Measurement, and Phen

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The authors report the nanomachining of sub-20-nm wide doubly clamped silicon carbon nitride resonators using low keV electron beam lithography with polymethyl methacrylate resist and cold development. Methodologies are developed for precisely controlling the resonator widths in the ultranarrow regime of 11–20 nm. Resonators with lengths of 1–20 μm and widths of 16–280 nm are characterized at room temperature in vacuum using piezoelectric actuation and optical interferometry. Clamping and surface losses are identified as the dominant energy loss mechanisms for a range of resonator widths. The resonator clamping points are optimized using an original electron beam lithography simulator. Various alternative clamping point designs are also modeled and fabricated in order to reduce the clamping losses.

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Systematic study of the interdependence of exposure and development conditions and kinetic modelling for optimizing low-energy electron beam nanolithography

Cited by 23 publications

References 15 publications

Sub-5keV electron-beam lithography in hydrogen silsesquioxane resist

Sub-5keV electron-beam lithography in hydrogen silsesquioxane resist

Nanopatterning of PMMA on insulating surfaces with various anticharging schemes using 30 keV electron beam lithography

Nanomachining and clamping point optimization of silicon carbon nitride resonators using low voltage electron beam lithography and cold development

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