Dr. Florian Gstrein Profile

Dr. Florian Gstrein

Director EUV LItho and Novel Materials Research at Intel Corp

SPIE Involvement:

Author

Proceedings Article | 10 April 2024 Presentation

DSA materials and processes development for ≤ P24 EUV resist L/S pattern rectification

Eungnak Han, Gurpreet Singh, Tayseer Mahdi, Robert Seidel, Sandra Murcia, Lauren Doyle, Nityan Nair, Nafees Kabir, Sean Pursel, David Shykind, Todd Hoppe, Florian Gstrein

Proceedings Volume PC12956, PC129560P (2024) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.3012612

KEYWORDS: Directed self assembly, Extreme ultraviolet, Materials processing, Extreme ultraviolet lithography, Block copolymers, Surface roughness, Scanners, Optical lithography, Objectives, Fabrication

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Proceedings Article | 10 April 2024 Presentation + Paper

Modeling edge placement error performance of EUV and DSA multipatterning processes

Chris Mack, Gurpreet Singh, Florian Gstrein

Proceedings Volume 12953, 129530B (2024) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.3011711

KEYWORDS: Extreme ultraviolet, Stochastic processes, Optical lithography, Overlay metrology, Critical dimension metrology, Modeling, Error analysis, Directed self assembly

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Proceedings Article | 10 April 2024 Presentation

Directed self-assembly enhanced EUV multi-patterning for low variability metal pitch scaling

Gurpreet Singh, Nityan Nair, Florian Gstrein, Richard Schenker

Proceedings Volume PC12953, PC129530G (2024) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.3010031

KEYWORDS: Metals, Directed self assembly, Extreme ultraviolet, Double patterning technology, Reliability, Data modeling, Optical lithography, Dielectric breakdown, Design and modelling, Data processing

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Proceedings Article | 30 April 2023 Presentation

Material and patterning innovation: the foundation for Moore’s law extension

Florian Gstrein

Proceedings Volume PC12497, PC1249704 (2023) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2669519

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Optical lithography is key to enabling the technologies we use daily, driving increased performance while maintaining affordability. This is largely due to the ability of optical lithography to transfer trillions of mask features to wafers at defect densities approaching virtually zero in high-volume manufacturing (HVM). The talk will begin with a comprehensive overview of how state-of-the art cell architecture choices affect pitch scaling. For instance, there is a widely-held misconception that novel cell architectures such as transistor stacking deliver cell size scaling without the need for (interconnect) pitch scaling. However, since the number of terminals or interconnects increases with the number of gates, transistor stacking still requires continued pitch scaling. The talk will then focus on the four major challenges state-of-the-art patterning has to meet and recent progress made in these areas: (i) ability to print tight-pitch features, (ii) ability to accurately align tight-pitch features, (iii) ability to deal with pattern variations induced by photon and resist stochastics, and (iv) ability to enable flexible design rules. While EUV lithography with NA 0.33 can now routinely print sub 30 nm pitch patterns and EUV high-NA micro exposure tools print sub 20 nm pitch patterns, variations in the critical dimensions (CD) caused by photon and resist stochastics require not only continued innovation in photoresist design but also complementary lithographic approaches. One example for a powerful complementary lithography technique is directed self-assembly (DSA). DSA produces dense, periodic features with low defect numbers and with pattern uniformity not readily achieved by optical lithography alone. DSA offers a fundamental advantage over optical lithography since the line and space CDs are chemically encoded into each molecule with unprecedented accuracy. We will report on recent progress made for a process flow based on DSA that rectifies complex, multi-pitch and multi-CD EUV patterns and the focused, decade-long material and process flow development required to achieve HVM-grade materials, low integrated defects and compatibility with standard design rules. The talk will conclude with an appeal and challenge to academia and research consortia alike to vigorously pursue material and patterning innovation that complements optical lithography. Novel complementary patterning approaches such as DSA, if properly resourced and developed, will ensure that Moore’s Law scaling will continue in the foreseeable future.

Proceedings Article | 27 April 2023 Presentation + Paper

Soft x-ray: novel metrology for 3D profilometry and device pitch overlay

Christina Porter, Teis Coenen, Niels Geypen, Sandy Scholz, Loes van Rijswijk, Han-Kwang Nienhuys, Jeroen Ploegmakers, Johan Reinink, Hugo Cramer, Rik van Laarhoven, David O'Dwyer, Peter Smorenburg, Andrea Invernizzi, Ricarda Wohrwag, Hugo Jonquiere, Juliane Reinhardt, Omar el Gawhary, Simon Mathijssen, Peter Engblom, Heidi Chin, William Blanton, Sury Ganesan, Brian Krist, Florian Gstrein, Mark Phillips

Proceedings Volume 12496, 124961I (2023) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2658495

KEYWORDS: Etching, Metrology, Overlay metrology, Signal detection, Diffraction, Semiconducting wafers, 3D metrology, X-rays, Nanosheets, Scatterometry

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Proceedings Article | 22 February 2021 Presentation

Scaling opportunities with next-generation, multi-pitch directed self assembly

Florian Gstrein

Proceedings Volume 11610, 116100J (2021) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2591108

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As feature sizes shrink, state-of-the-art patterning has to meet three critical challenges: The ability to print patterns at tight pitch, the ability to accurately place patterns with respect to each other (edge placement error or EPE control) and the ability to deal with pattern variations induced by photon and resist stochastics. While extreme-UV lithography (EUV) with NA 0.33 can now routinely print sub 30 nm pitch line and space patterns and improve pattern placement by reducing the number of required overlay steps, the industry needs to invent complementary patterning techniques for continued pitch scaling with EUV. Complementary patterning methods like spacer-based pitch division have allowed the industry to break the Rayleigh resolution limit of 193 nm wavelength immersion lithography and pitch division of EUV patterns will allow the industry to scale pitch well below 20 nm. However, as the target pitch scales, variations in the critical dimensions (CD) of line and space patterns caused by photon and resist stochastics will absorb a significant portion of the EPE budget. Directed self-assembly (DSA) is a powerful patterning technique to pattern dense, periodic features with low number of defects and with pattern uniformity not readily achieved by optical lithography alone. DSA offers a fundamental EPE advantage over spacer-based pitch division since the line and space CDs are chemically encoded into each molecule with unprecedented accuracy. Additionally, ease of pitch scaling and low process complexity are well-documented features of DSA processing. However, since the pitch of the DSA-defined line/space pattern is determined by the molecular weight of the polymer, we have been unable to deploy DSA to flexible design rule applications that require multiple pitches and multiple CDs. In this paper we will report on process flows that use DSA to rectify a complex, multi-pitch and multi-CD pre-patterns printed with EUV. We will describe how material selection, EUV exposure, and processing conditions impact the type of complex patterns that can be rectified and highlight opportunities for materials development to make this powerful complementary patterning technology become a reality.

Proceedings Article | 5 May 2020 Paper

Modeling photon, electron, and chemical interactions in a model hafnium oxide nanocluster EUV photoresist

Patrick Theofanis, James Blackwell, Marie Krysak, Florian Gstrein

Proceedings Volume 11323, 113230I (2020) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2552837

KEYWORDS: Photoresist materials, Hafnium, Monte Carlo methods, Scattering, Extreme ultraviolet lithography, Chemical species, Oxygen, Oxides, Carbon, Extreme ultraviolet

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Proceedings Article | 20 March 2015 Paper

Material readiness for generation 2 directed self-assembly (DSA) < 24nm pitch

Eungnak Han, Todd Younkin, Manish Chandhok, Alan Myers, Tristan Tronic, Florian Gstrein, Kranthi Elineni, Ashish Gaikwad, Paul Nyhus, Praveen Setu, Charles Wallace

Proceedings Volume 9425, 94250O (2015) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2086094

KEYWORDS: Etching, Photoresist developing, Wet etching, Scanning electron microscopy, Polymethylmethacrylate, Annealing, Dry etching, Photoresist materials, Picosecond phenomena, Directed self assembly

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Proceedings Article | 20 March 2015 Paper

Dry development rinse process for ultimate resolution improvement via pattern collapse mitigation

Safak Sayan, Zheng Tao, B. T. Chan, Danilo De Simone, Yuhei Kuwahara, Kathleen Nafus, Michael Leeson, Florian Gstrein, Arjun Singh, Geert Vandenberghe

Proceedings Volume 9425, 942516 (2015) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2086486

KEYWORDS: Line width roughness, Photoresist materials, Photoresist developing, Photoresist processing, Extreme ultraviolet lithography, Semiconducting wafers, Image processing, Extreme ultraviolet, Liquids, Capillaries

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Proceedings Article | 17 April 2014 Paper

Investigation of novel inorganic resist materials for EUV lithography

Marie Krysak, James Blackwell, Steve Putna, Michael Leeson, Todd Younkin, Shane Harlson, Kent Frasure, Florian Gstrein

Proceedings Volume 9048, 904805 (2014) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2046677

KEYWORDS: Extreme ultraviolet lithography, Nanoparticles, Extreme ultraviolet, Optical lithography, Metals, Spectroscopy, FT-IR spectroscopy, Scanning electron microscopy, Ultraviolet radiation, Particles

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