A non-topcoat (non-TC) resist is a photoresist that contains a hydrophobic additive, which segregates to the surface and
forms a layer to minimize surface free energy. The improvement of surface hydrophobicity and the suppression of resist
component leaching were confirmed by using this segregation layer. Compared to conventional topcoat process, it is
speculated that the use of non-TC resist will reduce the cost of lithographic materials, improve throughput, and will be
compatible for the scanning speed improvement of immersion scanners. One issue for the non-TC resist is the possibility
of increased defect generation compared to processes using topcoats. It is assumed that the high resist surface
hydrophobicity and the developer insolubility of the hydrophobic additive are main factors causing the increase in defect.
Therefore, it is important to work out solutions for reducing these defects to realize the non-TC resists. A process of
selectively removing the hydrophobic additive between exposure and development process for the purpose of defective
reduction of non-TC resist was investigated. Specifically, wet processing was performed to the wafer after exposure
using an organic solvent to dissolve the hydrophobic additive. As a result, defect count was reduced to less than 1/1000
with the effective removal of the segregation layer without affecting pattern size. These results prove the effectiveness of
the proposed process named 'selective segregation removal (SSR)' treatment in reducing defects for non-TC resists.
Authors would like to raise a discussion about image intensity for surface exposure, off course, including optical
lithography. As a springboard for the discussion, a novel definition of image "intensity", which expresses local
irradiance associating with optical image, is proposed. An experimental result, which strongly supports the proposed
"intensity", is also obtained.
To describe exposure dose, energy input for unit area with unit of J/m2, is applied as a measure of this amount. A
phrase of "dose-to-clear" is frequently used to show sensitivity of a resist film. In contrast, conventional image intensity
of optical image is defined as a value, which is proportional to volume energy density associating with image. The value
is described with unit of J/m3. In some papers, it is mentioned that number of photochemical reactions in resist film is
proportional to the volume energy density of electromagnetic filed, that is, conventional image intensity. It seems
unclear what physical value is proper measure of surface exposure.
We considered that, in optical lithography, energy flux is proper value to indicate degree of resist exposure from
experience and some former reports. Then, a novel image "intensity", which expresses local irradiance associating with
optical image, is proposed. The proposed image "intensity" is proportional to surface normal component of Poynting
vector.
~30nm width isolated line is formed with over 300nm DOF by Single Exposure
process of ArF immersion lithography.
Super-Diffraction-Lithography ("SDL") technique, which utilizes fine dark line image formed between a pair of bright
lines in attenuating non-phase-shifting field and which enables formation of very fine isolated line pattern with single
exposure, is applied with ArF immersion lithography. By simulation study, superior performance of "SDL" is exhibited
for ArF immersion lithography. From view point of mask fabrication, it is shown that requirement for mask technology
is not so severe, such that photo mask for "SDL" in hyper NA ArF immersion era can be fabricated with current mask
technology. By experiments with an optimum quadrupole illumination, ~30 nm width isolated line is successfully
printed by single exposure process with over 300nm DOF by a mature 6% transmission EA-PSM. Moreover, device like
pattern with ~35nm line width is well formed with enough large DOF to industrially fabricate devices.
We believe this technique is one of the promising candidates for advanced logic at 32 nm node and beyond.
In this study, we focus on the controllability of a wafer bevel from adhesion and hydrophobicity viewpoints in order to
solve the problems of film peeling and microdroplet formation around wafer bevels, which result in pattern defects.
Hexamethyldisilazane (HMDS) treatment is a common solution to these problems. We examine a novel wafer bevel
treatment utilizing silane coupling agents (SCAs) for obtaining high adhesion and hydrophobicity. SCAs comprise
trimethoxysilanol and organic functional groups. These groups react with inorganic substrates and films just over the
surface subjected to a novel chemical treatment (NCT), respectively. Several organic functional groups both with and
without fluorine are examined. The hydrophobicity is estimated from the static and receding contact angles of water.
The adhesion strength is measured from the stress required for pulling the topcoat film away from the substrate subjected
to the NCT. The coating performance of chemicals on the surface by the NCT and the aging stability of the formulated
solution of the SCAs are examined for optimizing the composition of the NCT solution. Further, we verify the film
peeling behavior and water leakage in wafers having a topcoat, ArF resist, and bottom antireflective coating (BARC)
using a quasi-immersion exposure stage.
A novel RET, which enables on-grid sub-50 nm hole pattern formation with ArF immersion lithography, has been
developed. One of the authors has found quasi-iso-focal point image generation at the center of square area of high
transmission embedded attenuating phase shift mask (EA-PSM), where four small openings are laid out at the corners of
the area, utilizing an optimized quadrupole illumination. As an extension of continuous configuration, checker-board
like mask pattern arrangement is created. In the mask, small openings and opaque pads are arranged like as checkerboard,
whose base pitch is around resolution limit of targeted optical system. The mask pattern arrangement is named as
"Checker-Board PSM (CB-PSM)". By eliminating any one opening from "checker-board", very fine point image is
generated at the place. Because four openings around the eliminated one are necessary for the fine imaging
characteristic, minimum distance between the point images is about the double of that for resolution limit. After
simulation study of imaging, experiments are carried out to prove the fine imaging performance utilizing ArF immersion
optics with NA=1.07 and a tri-level resist system. As a result, sub-50nm isolated hole is successfully formed with DOF
larger than 200 nm. Simultaneously, ~ 60 nm semi-dense hole with pitch of 240 nm is printed with over 200 nm DOF.
Moreover, application of conventional mask pattern arrangement, ultimately dense hole of 140nm pitch is well formed.
As a conclusion, we believe that CB-PSM is a promising candidate for hole pattern formation at 32 nm node and beyond.
A new technology called the double patterning (DP) process with ArF immersion lithography is one of the candidate
fabrication technologies for 32 nm-node devices. Over the past few years, many studies have been conducted on
techniques for the DP process. Among these technologies, we thought that the double Si hard mask (HM) process is the
most applicable technology from the viewpoint of high technical applicability to 32 nm-node device fabrication.
However, this process has a disadvantage in the cost performance compared with other DP technologies since these HMs
are formed by the chemical vacuum deposition (CVD) method.
In this paper, we studied the DP process using a dual spin-on Si containing layer without using the CVD method to
improve process cost and process applicability. Perhydropolysilazane (PSZ) was used as one of the middle layers (MLs).
PSZ changes to SiO2 through the reaction with water by the catalytic action of amine in the baking step. Using PSZ and
Si-BARC as MLs, we succeeded in making a fine pattern by this novel DP technique. In this paper, the issues and
countermeasures of the double HM technique using spin-on Si containing layers will be reported.
A dynamic receding contact angle (RCA) is a well-known guideline to estimate the degree of watermark (WM)
defects, which shapes circle and bridges inside of the defect and reduces with enlarging the RCA of topcoat (TC).
However, our recent investigation revealed the occurrence of the circular shape defects in spite of using the TC with a
large RCA, bringing about a change of line and space pattern pitch. In this paper, we clarify the origin of these defects
and propose a new key factor of the dynamic surface properties of immersion-specific defects. It was found that the
pitch-change defect is caused by the lens effect of the air bubbles embedded between advancing water meniscus and the
TC. To well understand generation of the bubble defects, we defined the "effective" hysteresis (EH) as the hysteresis of
dynamic contact angle taken the effects of water-absorption into account. An analysis with the EH indicates that the
bubble defect arises from not only to the large ACA but also small amount of water uptake and the amount of
water-absorption could be substituted by the dissolution rate of TC. It was demonstrated that the EH proposed is a new
key factor for estimating the number of bubble defects. The EH is very useful for analyzing the bubble defects in
immersion lithography. The characteristics of the bubble defect are also discussed with a focus on the structure of the
polymer attached to water.
In the manufacture of devices beyond the 45 nm node, it is important to employ a high-performance multi-layer resist (MLR) process that uses silicon containing ARC (Si-ARC) and spin on carbon (SOC). We examined an additional hardening process of SOC by H2 plasma treatment in order to improve the etching durability of the MLR. The dry etching durability of H2-plasma-hardened SOC film showed a drastic improvement, while the wiggling features of the MLR without H2 treatment observed after SiO2 etching disappeared completely. The hardening mechanism of SOC was analyzed by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) with gradient shaving preparation (GSP) and Raman spectrometry. The formation of diamond-like amorphous carbon at a depth of approximately 50 nm was observed and was attributed to the improvement in the dry etching durability. In addition, the MLR stack with hardening has good reflectivity characteristics. The simulated reflectivity at the interface between the bottom of the resist and top surface of the MLR stack with hardening below 0.6% was attained over a wide range of Si-ARC thicknesses and hyper NA (~1.3) regions. The measured refractive indices of the hardened SOC film at 193 nm had a high value at the surface; however, they gradually decreased toward the inner region and finally became the same as those of untreated SOC. This might be the origin of the estimated excellent reflectivity characteristics.
A novel process of OPC-free on-grid fine random hole pattern formation is developed. Any random hole pattern with
~120nm diameter on 240 nm base grid can be printed by KrF exposure. In this technique, double resist patterning
scheme is adopted. Dense hole pattern is delineated with first resist process. Quadrupole illumination is applied with
embedded attenuating phase shift mask (EA-PSM) in imaging on this step. As is well known, fine dense hole pattern
is formed with very large process latitude. After development of the first resist, hardening of the resist film by Ar ion
implantation is carried out so as not to mix with second resist at second coating. This hardening process is very robust
such that rework in second resist process can be performed with stripping the resist by a solvent. Then, second resist
patterning is carried out. In the second exposure, cross-pole illumination is applied with high transmission EA-PSM.
By this imaging, very fine dark spot image is generated. Resultantly, fine random pillar patterns, which plug an
underlying hole, are formed in the second resist film. Because function of the pillar is plugging a hole, no precise CD
control is required. Moreover, pattern connection between adjacent pillars does not cause any problem. Hence, no
OPC is needed in the pillar formation, regardless of printed size variation of the pillars. Undesired holes in the dense
holes are plugged by the pillars. As a result of the double resist patterning, on-grid random hole pattern is successfully
delineated. Due to the robustness of each patterning process, very high process latitude is achieved. Off course, this
technique can be carried out under any wavelength on regard of imaging. In other aspect, this technique utilizes only
positive-tone resist. Hence, this technique can be applied with leading-edge ArF immersion lithography. As a
conclusion, this technique is a promising candidate of hole pattern formation in 32nm era and beyond.
As a promising way to scale down semiconductor devices, 193-nm immersion exposure lithography is being developed
at a rapid pace and is nearing application to mass production. This technology allows the design of projection lens with
higher numerical aperture (NA) by filling the space between the projection lens and the silicon wafer with a liquid
(de-ionized water). However, direct contact between the resist film and water during exposure creates a number of
process risks. There are still many unresolved issues and many problems to be solved concerning defects that arise in
193-nm immersion lithography.
The use of de-ionized water during the exposure process in 193-nm immersion lithography can lead to a variety of
problems. For example, the trapping of microscopic air bubbles can degrade resolution, and residual water droplets left
on the wafer surface after immersion exposure can affect resolution in the regions under those droplets. It has also been
reported that the immersion of resist film in de-ionized water during exposure can cause moisture to penetrate the resist
film and dissolve resist components, and that immersion can affect critical dimensions as well as generate defects.
The use of a top coat is viewed as one possible way to prevent adverse effects from the immersion of resist in water, but
it has been reported that the same problems may occur even with a top coat and that additional problems may be
generated, such as the creation of development residues due to the mixing of top coat and resist. To make 193-nm
immersion lithography technology practical for mass production, it is essential that the above defect problems be solved.
Importance must be attached to understanding the conditions that give rise to residual defects and their transference in
the steps between lithography and the etching/cleaning processes.
In this paper, we use 193-nm immersion lithography equipment to examine the transference (traceability) of defects that
appear in actual device manufacturing. It will be shown that defect transfer to the etching process can be significantly
reduced by the appropriate use of defect-reduction techniques.
A novel mask structure for an alternating aperture phase shift mask (Alt-PSM) to cut mask cost is proposed. By a
mask with structure of an embedded attenuating phase shift mask (Atten-PSM), an Alt-PSM for an isolated line
formation can be well fabricated. Fine image quality is confirmed with optical image calculations. Moreover,
concept of this novel mask is proved by a preliminary experiment. In conclusion, this novel mask can replace
conventional Alt-PSM for logic devices, resulting in considerable cut of mask cost.
Top coat process is required for immersion lithography in order to prevent both the chemical contamination of scanner optics with eluted chemicals from resist material and the formation of residual droplet under the immersion exposure with high scanning speed. However, defect density of ArF immersion lithography with alkaline developer soluble type top coat material is much higher than that of ArF dry lithography. Mimic immersion experiments comprised of soaking of exposed conventional dry ArF resist with purified water followed by drying step were performed in order to study the immersion specific defects. It was suggested that the origin of immersion specific defects with alkaline developer soluble type top coat was the remaining water on and in the permeable top coat layer that might interfere the desired deprotection reaction of resist during post exposure bake (PEB). Therefore, application of post exposure rinse process that can eliminate the impact of the residual micro water droplets before PEB is indispensable for defect reduction. Post exposure rinse with optimized purified water dispense sequence was noticed to be valid for defect reduction in mimic immersion lithography, probably in actual immersion lithography.
We have developed a new ArF-RELACS (Resolution Enhancement Lithography Assisted by Chemical Shrink) material called AZ-LExp.R720. The principle and process procedure of LExp.R720 are almost identical to those previously developed with KrF lithography. The extent of crosslinking reactions and the mobility balance of chemical components at the boundary between resist and the RELACS film is adjusted to ArF resist chemistry. LExp.R720 can vary shrinkage from 10 to 40nm by controlling the process conditions, mainly the mixing bake temperature. The amount of shrinkage is independent of pattern pitch and focus. We confirmed that pattern profile, lithography margin, CD uniformity, etching resistance, and pattern defects were not deteriorated by the RELACS process with deionized water development. L.ExpR720 was able to get an amount of shrinkage with several of ArF resists, which has commercial applications. In conclusion, we believe that LExp.R720 is extremely useful for 65 nm node and next generation devices.
In the past several years, ArF immersion lithography has been developed rapidly for practical applications. One of the most important topics is the elucidation of a mechanism and its solution of immersion specific defects. In this paper, we report several analytical results of immersion specific defects. First, we classify several possible origins of specific defects that are proposed based on our experiment on the actual immersion process and previous literature. We focused on a droplet of immersion water that was the origin of circular and deformed circular-type defects. Further, a watermark (WM) was created on some types of film stacks with or without the topcoat (TC) on the resist. We observed that all samples exhibited the trace of the WM. From chemical surface analyses, we obtained different types of components in the residue of the WM, which dried spontaneously. These components depended on the tested film stack. Some types were not always derived from leaching materials in the resist. Some components in the residue appeared to be airborne contaminants that were unregulated in machines used in the photolithography process. Based on the results of these tests, we discussed some methods for avoiding defects according to the droplet WM.
193 nm lithography is one of the most promising technologies for next-generation lithography and is being actively evaluated for making it practicable (1,2). First, we evaluated an immersion lithography tool (engineering evaluation tool (EET)) (3) and a dry lithography tool (S307E) with the same numerical aperture (NA = 0.85), manufactured by Nikon Corporation. As a result, an increase in the depth of focus (DOF) of the EET to 200 nm in comparison with the DOF (110 nm) of the dry exposure tool was confirmed in a 90 nm isolated space pattern. Next, the optical proximity effect (OPE) in this pattern was evaluated. Generally, when an immersion lithography tool is compared with a dry one with the same NA or both the tools, only an increase in the DOF is found. However, we confirmed that the OPE (The OPE of the 90 nm isolated space pattern is defined as the difference in the space width between a dense space and an isolated space.) of the dry exposure tool for the 90 nm isolated space pattern reduced from 33.1 nm to 14.1 nm by immersion lithography. As the effect of the reduction of 19 nm, the OPE reduced to 15.2 nm by the effect of the top coatings (TCs) and to 3.8 nm by the optical characteristics. An impact of about 5 nm on the OPE was confirmed by the process parameters-film thickness and the pre-bake temperature of the TC. In the case that the solvent was replaced with a high boiling point solvent, the impact changed from 5 to 20 nm further, the replacement of the solvent had a considerable impact on the OPE. However, this influence differs considerably according to the kind of resists; further, it was shown that the addition of acid materials and a change in the polymer base resulted in a high impact on the OPE for a certain resist. Thus, it was demonstrated that the selection of TC is very important for the OPE in immersion lithography.
KEYWORDS: Photomasks, Design for manufacturing, Lithography, Semiconductors, System on a chip, Maskless lithography, Optical proximity correction, Semiconducting wafers, Polarization, Design for manufacturability
Semiconductor devices are making important role in our life. Many semiconductor chips will be used to every thing, and we will receive the various services anywhere anytime through a digital network. There are so many applications using semiconductor products that support such a ubiquitous era, and it is expected that mobile, automobile and PC/AV applications will have the great growth from now on.
In this paper, we describe the lithography technology trend and requirements for mask technology from the view point of SOC and FLASH memory trend. From the device development trend, it is expected that FLASH memory become driving force of lithography technology. To realize hp45nm node and beyond, the installation of hyper-NA ArF-immersion tools with low-k1 technique is the key issue. With this, DFM (Design For Manufacturability) is the key technology and a continuous approach of systematic DFM technique is important in order to reduce chip cost. Also, Mask DFM is needed to realize cost-effective low-k1 process and it drives reasonable mask cost and TAT. In order to reduce mask cost in device development and small volume production, we expect greatly that maskless lithography (ML2) become a leading tool in lithography.
To get wide lithography latitudes in ULSI fabrication, an optical proximity correction system is being widely used. We previously demonstrated that the optical proximity effect is highly dependent on beam interference conditions. By using an aperture with a spindle shaped opaque region and a controlling interference beam number optimized for imaging, we can obtain a high correction accuracy of less than +/- 0.01 micrometers for all kinds of pattern. To put the optical proximity correction into practical use, we must fabricate the corrected mask either by an EB or a laser writing system. But during mask writing, there is another problematic proximity effect. The optical proximity effect caused by mask fabrication error is becoming a serious problem. In this paper, we estimate the optical proximity effect caused by mask fabrication error. For EB writing, the mask feature size of 0.35 micrometers line changes dramatically in a space less than 0.8 micrometers in size; this is not tolerable. For a large pitch pattern, modified illumination reduces the DOF to 0 micrometers . Otherwise, laser writing stably fabricates a mask feature size for a 0.35 micrometers line, and the modified illumination reduces the optical proximity effect. This resist feature fluctuation is binary, so, correcting the mask pattern is easy. Although, it was wrongly thought that for larger pitch pattern, the DOF was reduced by the modified illumination, the DOF reduction actually came from the combination of the two proximity effects. Using an accurate mask produced by a laser writer, we do not observe any DOF reduction in modified illumination. Moreover, this has led to development of an optical proximity correction system with EB proximity correction.
Because optical lithography requires precise CD control, we developed a fast, accurate proximity correction method based on aerial image simulation. Simple formulas using a linear combination of simulated aerial image intensities both at and around mask edge were found effective for fast, precise CD prediction. Using the developed CD prediction and the fine biasing correction methods, we verified that various two-dimensional patterns printed by an i- line stepper using modified illumination and binary intensity mask are satisfactorily corrected; i.e., CD deviations from designed values, line shortening and feature deformations are effectively reduced.
Most positive chemical amplification resists do not have enough stability to process delay. It has been claimed that airborne contaminants neutralize acids from photo-acid generators. It has been found by means of x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy that an onium salt used as a photo-acid generator is deficient at the surface of the prebaked resist film. The over-top coating using water-soluble polymers with organic acids has been investigated in order to not only separate the resist surface from airborne contaminants but also supply acids to the resist surface. We have succeeded in the suppression of the surface insoluble layer generation and of the pattern size change for more than 8 hours.
Three types of phase-shifting mask designs are studied with respect to their suitability to print periodical L/S structures. The evaluation criteria are DOF, exposure latitude, linearity, and image contrast and slope of the intensity profile. Mask-making issues are also taken into account. The investigation is based on both simulations and experimental results. A fully transparent shifter causing an optical shift of 180 degrees is considered. A negative tone photoresist is used for the exposures with a KrF excimer laser stepper (248 nm).
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