Etch bias inversion during EUV mask ARC etch

Alexander Lajn; Haiko Rolff; Richard Wistrom

doi:10.1117/12.2278718

13 July 2017 Etch bias inversion during EUV mask ARC etch

Alexander Lajn, Haiko Rolff, Richard Wistrom

Proceedings Volume 10454, Photomask Japan 2017: XXIV Symposium on Photomask and Next-Generation Lithography Mask Technology; 104540L (2017) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2278718
Event: Photomask Japan 2017, 2017, Yokohama, Japan

Abstract

The introduction of EUV lithography to high volume manufacturing is now within reach for 7nm technology node and beyond (1), at least for some steps. The scheduling is in transition from long to mid-term. Thus, all contributors need to focus their efforts on the production requirements. For the photo mask industry, these requirements include the control of defectivity, CD performance and lifetime of their masks. The mask CD performance including CD uniformity, CD targeting, and CD linearity/ resolution, is predominantly determined by the photo resist performance and by the litho and etch processes. State-of-the-art chemically amplified resists exhibit an asymmetric resolution for directly and indirectly written features, which usually results in a similarly asymmetric resolution performance on the mask. This resolution gap may reach as high as multiple tens of nanometers on the mask level in dependence of the chosen processes. Depending on the printing requirements of the wafer process, a reduction or even an increase of this gap may be required. A potential way of tuning via the etch process, is to control the lateral CD contribution during etch. Aside from process tuning knobs like pressure, RF powers and gases, which usually also affect CD linearity and CD uniformity, the simplest knob is the etch time itself. An increased over etch time results in an increased CD contribution in the normal case. , We found that the etch CD contribution of ARC layer etch on EUV photo masks is reduced by longer over etch times. Moreover, this effect can be demonstrated to be present for different etch chambers and photo resists.

Citation Download Citation

Alexander Lajn, Haiko Rolff, and Richard Wistrom "Etch bias inversion during EUV mask ARC etch", Proc. SPIE 10454, Photomask Japan 2017: XXIV Symposium on Photomask and Next-Generation Lithography Mask Technology, 104540L (13 July 2017); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2278718

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