This work presents a theoretical study of using the interference of multiple counter-propagating evanescent waves as a lithography technique to print periodic two dimensional features. The formulation of the three dimensional Cartesian space expression of an evanescent wave is presented. In this work, the evanescent wave is generated by the total internal reflection of a plane wave at the interface between a incident dielectric material and a weakly absorbing transmission medium. The influences of polarization, incident angle and the phase shifting of the incident plane waves on the evanescent wave interference are studied. Numerical simulation results suggest that this technique enables fabrication of periodic two dimensional features with resolution less than one third the wavelength of the irradiation source.
In this paper, fabrication of nano-scale 3-D features by total internal reflection generated single exposure counter propagating multiple evanescent waves interference lithography (TIR-MEWIL) in a positive tone resist is investigated numerically. Using a four incident plane waves configuration from an 364nm wavelength illumination source, the simulated results indicate that the proposed technique shows potential in realizing periodic surface relief features with diameter as small as 0.08lambda and height-to-diameter aspect ratio as high as 10. It is also demonstrated that the sensitivity of multiple evanescent waves' interference depends on the polarization and phase of the incident plane waves, and can be tailored to obtain different geometry features. A modified cellular automata algorithm has been employed to simulate three-dimensional photoresist profiles that would result from exposure to the studied evanescent waves interference configurations.
Contact hole patterning has always been one of the most challenging issues in lithography. Conventional optical proximity correction (OPC) approach for contact hole patterning involves dimensional biasing, addition of serifs at corners, and insertion of subresolution enhancement features. However, as dimensions reduce, process window enhancement resulted from conventional OPC approach encounters limitations. In this paper, a new approach for contact hole patterning is investigated. Instead of using a square shape as target of a printed feature, a circular shape is proposed. Using the proposed method improvement in aerial image quality is achieved and the average improvement in the depth of focus is around 11%. In addition, the average normalized image logarithmic slope improvement for different pitches is found to be around 15%.
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.