Characterization of ArF immersion process for production

Chen, Jeng-Horng; Chen, Li-Jui; Fang, Tun-Ying; Fu, Tzung-Chi; Shiu, Lin-Hung; Huang, Yue; Chen, Norman; Oweyang, Da-Chun; Wu, Mei‐Hwan; Wang, Shih-Che; Lin, John C.; Chen, Chun-Kuang; Chen, Wei-Ming; Gau, Tsai‐Sheng; Lin, Burn J.; Moerman, R.; Ansem, Wendy Gehoel-van; Heijden, E. van der; Jong, F. de; Oorschot, Dorothe; Boom, H.B.K.; Hoogendorp, Martin; Wagner, Christian; Koek, B. H.

doi:10.1117/12.602025

Cited by 11 publications

(7 citation statements)

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“…We have built electrically functioning product circuits at the 90-, 65-, and 45-nm nodes. The 1 st work was a timely demonstration in 2004 with immersion imaging on the polysilicon layer 42 ; the 2 nd , in 4 critical front-end layers; the most recent node, in hundreds of wafer per day on 12-18 front-end and back-end layers. Figure 13 shows the after-etch image of a 0.151-µm 2 SRAM cell.…”

Section: Status Of Lithography At Tsmcmentioning

confidence: 99%

Marching of the microlithography horses: electron, ion, and photon: past, present, and future

Lin

2007

SPIE Proceedings

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Microlithography patterning employs one of three media; electron, ion, and photon. They are in a way like horses, racing towards the mainstream. Some horses such as electrons run fast but repel each other. Ion beams behave like electron beams but are less developed. The photon beam is the undisputed workhorse, taking microlithography from the 5-µm minimum feature size to 32-nm half pitch. This paper examines the history of microlithography in pattern generation, proximity printing, and projection printing, then identifies the strong and weak points of each technology. In addition to ion-beam and e-beam lithography, the coverage of optical lithography spans the wavelength from 436 to 13.5 nm. Our learning from history helps us prevent mistakes in the future. In almost all cases, making or using the mask presents one of the limiting problems, no matter the type of beams or the replication method. Only the maskless method relieves us from mask-related problems. A way to overcome the low throughput handicap of maskless systems is to use multiple e-beam direct writing, whose imaging lens can be economically and compactly fabricated using MEMS techniques.In a way, the history of microlithography parallels that of aviation. Proximity printing is like the Wright-Brothers' plane; 1X projection printing, single-engine propeller plane with unitized body; reduction step-and-repeat projection printing, multi-engine commercial airliner; scanners, jet airliners. Optical lithography has improved in many ways than just increasing NA and reducing wavelength just as the commercial airliners improving in many other areas than just the speed. The SST increased the speed of airliners by more than a factor of two just as optical resolution doubled with double exposures. EUV lithography with the wavelength reduced by an order of magnitude is similar to the space shuttle increasing its speed to more than 10 times that of the SST. Multiple-beam direct write systems are like helicopters. They do not need airports(masks) but we need a lot of beams to carry the same payload.Keywords: Microlithography, e-beam lithography, ion-beam lithography, optical lithography, x-ray lithography, EUV lithography, microlithography history, microlithography outlook IntroductionMicrolithography, a specific technology used to pattern IC circuits as early as 1958, is coming to its 50 th anniversary. Initially, it was as straightforward as ancient-day lithographers replicating patterns carved in stone masks. However, as circuit dimensions continued to shrink, more care had to be taken for microlithography. Very early on, people recognized that there was a limit to photon-based patterning techniques, higher energy particles or shorter wavelengths such as electrons and ions were proposed as the patterning carrier. "Optical techniques for fabricating devices are generally limited to > 5 µm linewidths in practical production by the diffraction effects", according to Herriot 1 in 1975. He must have in mind proximity printing at a large mask-to-wafer gap using near-uv...

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Section: Status Of Lithography At Tsmcmentioning

confidence: 99%

Marching of the microlithography horses: electron, ion, and photon: past, present, and future

Lin

2007

SPIE Proceedings

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“…These feature sizes are extremely challenging with respect to the requirements they demand of the optical components of the toolset [48,49,149]. One of the most promising advances made in recent years is liquid-immersion lithography, which has greatly extended the design rules that can be addressed with the currently used 193 nm ArF excimer laser exposure tools [150][151][152][153][154][155]. In liquid-immersion lithography, a fluid [156][157][158] is introduced between the final lens element and the photoresist-coated wafer.…”

Section: Photolithographymentioning

confidence: 99%

Unconventional methods for forming nanopatterns

Stewart

Motala

Yao

et al. 2006

Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, Part N:

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Nanostructured materials have become an increasingly important theme in research, in no small part due to the potential impacts this science holds for applications in technology, including such notable areas as sensors, medicine, and high-performance integrated circuits. Conventional methods, such as the top-down approaches of projection lithography and scanning beam lithography, have been the primary means for patterning materials at the nanoscale. This article provides an overview of unconventional methods -both top-down and bottom-up approaches -for generating nanoscale patterns in a variety of materials, including methods that can be applied to fragile molecular systems that are difficult to pattern using conventional lithographic techniques. The promise, recent progress, advantages, limitations, and challenges to future development associated with each of these unconventional lithographic techniques will be discussed with consideration given to their potential for use in large-scale manufacturing.

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“…With the advent and by now proven success of immersion technology [1,2] a distinct pathway is being paved to utilize the realm of hyper-NA (NA>1.0) lithography. With the increasing NA of the lithographic tools, the incident angles at wafer level grow accordingly.…”

Section: Introduction To High-na Stepandscan Tools Polarization and Immementioning

confidence: 99%

Enabling the 45nm node by hyper-NA polarized lithography

et al. 2006

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The introduction of immersion step & scan systems has opened the road for hyper-NA lenses (NA > 1). At these NA's polarization control becomes a key parameter in imaging. Application of polarized illumination leads to an increase of contrast and exposure latitude. The resulting resolution enhancement offered by polarized illumination enables 45nm node lithography with an ArF, NA=1.2 system. Hyper-NA systems utilizing polarized illumination must be fully compatible with all requirements for a volume production tool: maintaining imaging performance at full throughput, overlay and focus control; flexibility and ease-of-use are essential features. Adequate polarization control is realized by employing polarization-preserving optics, and by automated in-line metrology to optimize the system for any selected polarization state. In this paper we address the improvements of polarization for the 65nm and 45nm imaging node applications. Experimental results describing the imaging effects while using polarized illumination on high-NA (NA=0.93) and hyper-NA (NA=1.2) exposure tools will be shown. These data will also be compared to simulations. In addition, this paper includes a short section that deals with the issues of reticle birefringence. Finally, system control and in-line metrology under high-volume production conditions will be discussed.

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Characterization of ArF immersion process for production

Cited by 11 publications

References 1 publication

Marching of the microlithography horses: electron, ion, and photon: past, present, and future

Marching of the microlithography horses: electron, ion, and photon: past, present, and future

Unconventional methods for forming nanopatterns

Enabling the 45nm node by hyper-NA polarized lithography

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