Demonstration of an N7 integrated fab process for metal oxide EUV photoresist

Simone, Danilo De; Mao, Ming; Kocsis, Michael; Schepper, Peter De; Lazzarino, Frédéric; Vandenberghe, Geert; Stowers, Jason K.; Meyers, Stephen T.; Clark, Benjamin L.; Grenville, Andrew; Luong, Vinh; Yamashita, Fumiko; Parnell, Doni

doi:10.1117/12.2220051

Cited by 15 publications

(13 citation statements)

References 2 publications

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“…Due to the constrain of the EUV mask fabrication that requires a dark tonality [1], only few negative tone photoresist systems were available for testing to make pillars on wafer in a single EUV print. The metal-oxide photoresist was the only material able to deliver 38nm dense pillar patterning with the limitation of reaching a larger ultimate printable CD of 20.5nm (instead of 19nm) with given illumination setting.…”

Section: Pillar (Pl) Patterning In Euvlmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Further, because the current state-of-the-art for the EUV mask fabrication is the dark tonality as favored path to reduce the defectivity concerns on the mask blank, a patterning exploration in single EUV print on dense pillar patterning has been conducted looking at negative tone photoresist systems [1]. Furthermore, a feasibility study to make pillar patterning on wafer has been carried out by applying a tone reversal process (TRP) on a high resolution positive tone system for dense staggered contact hole process at 40nm and 38nm pitches.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Photo Material Readiness at the Eve of EUVL HVM

Simone¹,

Vanelderen²,

Vandenberghe³

2017

J. Photopol. Sci. Technol.

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In the last years, the continuous efforts on the development of extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography has allowed to push the lithographic performance of the EUV photoresists on the ASML NXE:3300 full field exposure tool and today both chemically amplified (CAR) and metal-oxide (MOR) EUV photoresists have been introduced for patterning imec's 7nm node critical layers. However, the HVM requirement to have a cost-effective high sensitivity photoresist (< 20 mJ/cm 2 ) still remains a big challenge and further efforts are needed to improve the photoresist sensitivity without affecting resolution and patterning quality. In this work, we present the results of the best performing photoresists (both CAR and MOR) at low exposure dose for dense line-space patterns at 32nm pitch, dense contact holes at 36nm pitch and dense pillars at 38nm pitch, reporting the most critical patterning challenges for the investigated structures. Furthermore, we discuss the role of the substrate underneath the EUV photoresist and its impact on the lithographic EUV process setup from both patterning and light-matter interaction standpoint. Finally, we introduce the tone reversal process (TRP) as alternative capability for pillar patterning.

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Section: Pillar (Pl) Patterning In Euvlmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Photo Material Readiness at the Eve of EUVL HVM

Simone¹,

Vanelderen²,

Vandenberghe³

2017

J. Photopol. Sci. Technol.

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“…Since the EUV photon energy is not react efficiently with an organic resist material because of having high transmittance, increasing the resist sensitivity is not so easy. In order to achieve high sensitive resist, some groups reported several methods [6] to introduce the high absorption compounds including such as hafnium and zinc [7][8][9], tin-oxide [10,11], and tellurium [12] in base resin. In order to evaluate the effect of the high absorption material, it is important to measure the EUV absorption accurately.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Absorption Coefficient Measurement Advanced Method of EUV Resist by Direct-Resist Coating on a Photodiode

Niihara

Mamezaki

Watanabe

et al. 2017

J. Photopol. Sci. Technol.

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Since the resist thickness in EUV lithography of which base material mainly consists of an organic material is thin, the EUV photon energy is not be used efficiently for the EUV chemical reaction. In order to increase chemical reaction incidence in the EUV photon energy, a resist having a high-absorption material compounds for the EUV photons has been developed. It has been studied to increase the absorption including high-absorption materials such as hafnium and zinc, tin oxide, tellurium. For the development of the next-generation high sensitive resist materials, since it is significant to measure the EUV absorption coefficient accurately, it is necessary to measure the transmittance and resist thickness to obtain the absorption coefficient accurately. Thus, we have developed to evaluate the absorption coefficient of the EUV resist at BL 10 beamline of NewSUBARU synchrotron hlight facility. In the previous paper, we measured the EUV resist transmittance on a freestanding membrane. However, since it was very difficult to coat resist on a membrane with high uniformity, the transmittance could not be measured accurately. Thus, we have developed the precise transmittance measurement method by coating resist on a photodiode directly, and the resist thickness on a photodiode was measured by XRR accurately instead on conventional method. Finally, the accurate measurement of EUV resist absorption coefficient was achieved.

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“…In our more recent work, 8 however, we have proposed a new, simplified process (see Figure 3) that involves direct exposure of a metal-oxide resist on top of a sacrificial carbon layer (SCL), e.g., spin-on-carbon (SOC). In this way, we eliminate the need for the intermediate SOG hard mask in the patterning stack.…”

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confidence: 99%

“…We have also verified the full 'lab-to-fab' (i.e., from laboratory to fabrication) process of our metal-oxide photoresist approach. 8,9 In particular, we integrated the metal-oxide resist into our 7nm back-end process module, a block mask layer for Continued on next page 10.1117/2.1201606.006534 Page 2/3 metal patterning with pillar dimensions down to 21nm. We have thus demonstrated (see Figure 4) that our scheme is compatible with manufacturing methods in which standard fabrication equipment is used, and that we can achieve a strong lithographic performance.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%