The influence of partial fluorination on the lithographic performance of photoresists based on (meth)acrylate terpolymers containing polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxane (POSS) pendant groups is investigated in bilayer schemes for 193 nm lithography. For the first time the capability of POSS-functionalized resists for standard lithographic processing, including use of standard developer (0.26 N tetramethylammonium hydroxide) and industrial processing equipment is demonstrated. The optimized resists formulated exhibited high sensitivity (<10 mJ/cm 2 ) and potential for resolution performance comparable to mature 193 nm materials. The role of the fluorinated acid as a component in the terpolymer composition was crucial to the homogeneity of the resist material and its lithographic performance. Also, a photoacid generator (PAG) study revealed that the use of a highly hydrophobic PAG containing organic anion with a long fluorinated chain in the resist formulation improved further the homogeneity of the material and its lithographic performance. The adhesion of the highly fluorinated materials to the substrate is influenced by the type of polymeric underlayer used, whereas best results were obtained on a hard baked novolac polymer.

ASML has built and shipped to The College of Nanoscale Science and Engineering of the University at Albany (CNSE) and IMEC two full field step-and-scan exposure tools for extreme ultraviolet lithography. These tools, known as Alpha Demo Tools (ADT), will be used for process development and to set the foundation for the commercialization of this technology. In this paper we will present results from the set-up and integration of both ADT systems, status of resist and reticles for EUV, and the plans for using these tools at the two research centers. We will also present the first resist images from one of the tools at the customer site, and demonstrate 32nm half-pitch dense lines/spaces printing as well as 32nm dense contact hole printing.

Previously, fundamental evaluations of the Extreme Ultra Violet (EUV) lithography process have been conducted using the CLEAN TRACK ACT™ 12 coater/developer with the ASML EUV Alpha Demo Tool (ADT) at imec. [1] [2] In that work, we confirmed the basic process sensitivities for the critical dimension (CD) and defectivity with EUV resists. Ultimate resolution improvements were examined with TBAH and FIRM™ Extreme. Moving forward with this work, the latest inline cluster is evaluated using the ASML NXE:3100 pre-production EUV scanner and the CLEAN TRACK™ LITHIUS Pro™ -EUV coater/developer. The imec standard EUV baseline process has been evaluated for manufacturability of CD uniformity control based on half pitch (HP) 27nm and ultimate resolution studies focusing on HP 22nm. With regards to the progress of the improvement for EUV processing, we confirmed the effectiveness of several novel concepts: FIRM™ Extreme10 showed increase in ultimate resolution and improvement in line width roughness (LWR) and process window; Tokyo Electron LTD. (TEL) smoothing process for roughness reduction showed 17% improvement for line and space (L/S) patterns; and finally the new dispense method reduced patterned wafer defectivity by over 50%.

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