The shrinkage of resist pattern during in-line SEM measurement has been argued and studied as one of the problems unsettled for manufacturing with ArF photolithography. Many of attempts to solve this problem have focused their attentions on the improvement of resist and inspection equipment. We bring up BARC (bottom anti-reflective coating) as a new impact factor on SEM shrinkage of resist. Practically, although the same resist was employed, our shrinkage tests gave the results depending on the kind of BARC. Feature size and depth of focus also affect SEM shrinkage of resist. Effect of reflectivity on SEM shrinkage was evaluated by changing thickness of BARCs and resultantly was somewhat significant. In this paper, the BARC-dependent results of SEM shrinkage are analyzed and discussed to provide a possibility that BARC may have another function of reducing SEM shrinkage.
Among the variety of dual damascene (DD) processes, the via- first approach has drawn much attention because of its reduced process steps and improved photolithography process window. The via-first process requires a layer of via-fill material to be applied beneath the photoresist layer. The primary function of this via-fill materials is to act as an etch-block at the base of the vias to prevent over-etching and punch-through of the bottom barrier layer during the trench-etch process. However, such materials also help to planarize the substrate and may limit back reflection from the substrate as well, helping to control the critical dimension (CD) of the printed features. Based on this understanding, our research efforts have been focused on the advancement of DD-applicable bottom antireflective coatings (BARCs). A series of novel planarizing DUV BARCs with full- via-fill properties and enhanced etching selectivity to resists have been developed. They showed good full-fill, void-free performance in 0.20micrometers vias having an aspect ratio of five, also sufficient top coverage i.e., enough coating thickness, low surface variation, and little thickness bias of isolated-via (1:10) area versus dense-via (1:1) area. The resist sidewall profiles with features sizes less than 0.20micrometers indicated that there was good compatibility of the BARCs with the resists. The thin film etching selectivity to commercial resists was about 1.2:1 under an Hbr/O2 atmosphere. A study of the BARCs described in this report allows further discussion of the impact of pattern density, feature size, and processing conditions on BARC coating performance.
A new bottom antireflective coating (BARC) for 248 nm lithography is described. The new coating has an optical density of approximately 10/micrometers (k equals 0.41 and n equals 1.482) and plasma etches at rates higher than that of DUV resists depending on the etch conditions. Coating conformality is superior to older generation BARCs, also contributing to improved etch dynamics. Excellent 0.25 micrometers features have been obtained with ESCAP, Acetal and t-BOC type photoresists. The new BARC is spin coated from safe solvents and is spin bowl compatible with EBR and photoresist solvents.
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