This study modifies the authors’ previously reported directed self-assembly (DSA) process of polystyrene-block-poly(methyl methacrylate) (PS-b-PMMA) in order to meet the throughput and material-related requirements of a semiconductor manufacturing environment. It is demonstrated that all of the bottleneck steps in the authors’ DSA process, including the deposition of the cross-linkable mat and the deposition of the brush layer, can be done in minutes on a hot plate in an N2 atmosphere, which simulates the processing environment of a lithography track module. A 25-nm-pitch pattern resulting from a 4:1 density multiplication was demonstrated with a manufacturing-compatible organic solvent. A preliminary uniformity study on 300 mm wafers was also presented. The modified DSA process presents a viable solution to some of the anticipated throughput-related challenges to DSA commercialization and thus, brings integration of DSA within reach of the semiconductor manufacturing industry.
Directed self-assembly (DSA) of block copolymers (BCPs) can achieve perfectly aligned structures at thermodynamic equilibrium, but the self-assembling morphology can become kinetically trapped in defective states. Understanding and optimizing the kinetic pathway toward domain alignment is crucial for enhancing process throughput and lowering defectivity to levels required for semiconductor manufacturing, but there is a dearth of experimental, three-dimensional studies of the kinetic pathways in DSA. Here, we combined arrested annealing and TEM tomography to probe the kinetics and structural evolution in the chemoepitaxy DSA of PS- b-PMMA with density multiplication. During the initial stages of annealing, BCP domains developed independently at first, with aligned structures at the template interface and randomly oriented domains at the top surface. As the grains coarsened, the assembly became cooperative throughout the film thickness, and a metastable stitch morphology was formed, representing a kinetic barrier. The stitch morphology had a three-dimensional structure consisting of both perpendicular and parallel lamellae. On the basis of the mechanistic information, we studied the effect of key design parameters on the kinetics and evolution of structures in DSA. Three types of structural evolutions were observed at different film thicknesses: (1) immediate alignment and fast assembly when thickness < L ( L = BCP natural periodicity); (2) formation of stitch morphology for 1.25-1.45 L; (3) fingerprint formation when thickness >1.64 L. We found that the DSA kinetics can be significantly improved by avoiding the formation of the metastable stitch morphology. Increasing template topography also enhanced the kinetics by increasing the PMMA guiding surface area. A combination of 0.75 L BCP thickness and 0.50 L template topography achieved perfect alignment over 100 times faster than the baseline process. This research demonstrates that an improved understanding of the evolution of structures during DSA can significantly improve the DSA process.
Directed Self-Assembly (DSA) of block copolymers is considered to be a potential lithographic solution to achieve higher feature densities than can be obtained by current lithographic techniques. However, it is still not well-established how amenable DSA of block copolymers is to an industrial fabrication environment in terms of defectivity and processing conditions. Beyond production-related challenges, precise manipulation of the geometrical and chemical properties over the substrate is essential to achieve high pattern fidelity upon the self-assembly process. Using our chemo-epitaxy DSA approach offers control over the surface properties of the slightly preferential brush material as well as those of the guiding structures. This allows for a detailed assessment of the critical material parameters for defect reduction. The precise control of environment afforded by industrial equipment allows for the selective analysis of material and process related boundary conditions and assessment of their effect on defect generation.In this study, the previously reported implementation of our feature multiplication process was used to investigate the origin of defects in terms of the geometry of the initial pre-patterns. Additionally, programmed defects were used to investigate the ability of the BCP to heal defects in the resist patterns and will aid to assess the capture capability of the inspection tool. Finally, the set-up of the infrastructure that will allow the study the generation of defects due to the interaction of the BCP with the boundary conditions has been accomplished at imec.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.
hi@scite.ai
10624 S. Eastern Ave., Ste. A-614
Henderson, NV 89052, USA
Copyright © 2024 scite LLC. All rights reserved.
Made with 💙 for researchers
Part of the Research Solutions Family.