EUV lithographers have continued to reduce the barriers to high Volume Manufacturing (HVM) introduction. Tool, mask and photoresist manufacturers have made excellent progress on several fronts, including resolution of many EUV source related issues, resists for early imaging characterization, and defect inspection tooling. In this discussion, we will focus on photoresist development. For many years, the team at SUNY Polytechnic Institute (SUNY Poly) has provided results from a neutral photoresist benchmarking study, which has been quite useful in establishing the limits of currently available photoresist systems [1-5]. New photoresist systems are being developed with improving resolution, but they also have lower coated thicknesses. In an effort to continue to point out potential lithographic problem areas, SUNY Poly has been evaluating the ‘etch compatibility’ of the best performing photoresists available in order to determine if the decreasing aspect ratios would prove a detriment to etch performance. In this paper, we will show data from our most recent benchmark study. We will also include smoothing process results, as well as some post-etch results obtained using the NXE:3300B resident on the SUNY Poly campus.
With each new generation of e-beam mask writers comes the ability to write leading edge photomasks with improved patterning performance and increased throughput. However, these cutting-edge e-beam tools are often used with older generation resists, preventing the end-user from taking full advantage of the tool’s potential. The generation gap between tool and resist will become even more apparent with the commercialization of multi-beam mask writers, which are expected to be available for pilot line use around 2015. The mask industry needs resists capable of meeting the resolution, roughness, and sensitivity requirements of these advanced tools and applications.
The E-beam Resist Test Facility (ERTF) has been established to fill the need for consortium-based testing of e-beam resists for mask writing applications on advanced mask writers out to the 11nm half-pitch node and beyond. SEMATECH and the College of Nanoscale Science and Engineering (CNSE) began establishing the ERTF in early 2012 to test e-beam resist samples from commercial suppliers and university labs against the required performance metrics for each application at the target node. Operations officially began on June 12, 2012, at which time the first e-beam resist samples were tested. The ERTF uses the process and metrology infrastructure available at CNSE, including a Vistec VB300 Vectorscan e-beam tool adjusted to operate at 50kv. Initial testing results show that multiple resists already meet, or are close to meeting, the resolution requirements for mask writing at the 11nm node, but other metrics such as line width roughness still need improvement.
An overview of the ERTF and its capabilities is provided here. Tools, baseline processes, and operation strategy details are discussed, and resist testing and benchmarking results are shown. The long-term outlook for the ERTF and plans to expand capability and testing capacity, including resist testing for e-beam direct write lithography, are also discussed.
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