EBM-9000: EB mask writer for product mask fabrication of 16nm half-pitch generation and beyond

Takekoshi, Hidekazu; Nakayama, Takahito; Saitô, Kenichi; Ando, H.; Inoue, Hideo; Nakayamada, Noriaki; Kamikubo, Takashi; Nishimura, Rieko; Kojima, Yoshinori; Yashima, J.; Anpo, Akihito; Nakazawa, Seiichi; Iijima, Takafumi; Ohtoshi, Kenji; Anze, Hirohito; Katsap, Victor; Golladay, S. D.; Kendall, Rodney

doi:10.1117/12.2065551

Cited by 9 publications

(10 citation statements)

References 14 publications

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“…The beam size (1σ b ) was set to 3 nm, assuming the latest EB mask writer (NuFlare Technology EBM-9000). 16) The exposed area was pitch × 1000 nm 2 . Electrons were randomly injected into the target area in accordance with the beam profile expressed by Eq.…”

Section: Simulation Model and Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Theoretical study of fabrication of line-and-space patterns with 7 nm quarter-pitch using electron beam lithography with chemically amplified resist process: III. Post exposure baking on quartz substrates

Kozawa¹

2015

Jpn. J. Appl. Phys.

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Electron beam (EB) lithography is a key technology for the fabrication of photomasks for ArF immersion and extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography and molds for nanoimprint lithography. In this study, the temporal change in the chemical gradient of line-and-space patterns with a 7 nm quarterpitch (7 nm space width and 21 nm line width) was calculated until it became constant, independently of postexposure baking (PEB) time, to clarify the feasibility of single nano patterning on quartz substrates using EB lithography with chemically amplified resist processes. When the quencher diffusion constant is the same as the acid diffusion constant, the maximum chemical gradient of the line-and-space pattern with a 7 nm quarterpitch did not differ much from that with a 14 nm half-pitch under the condition described above. Also, from the viewpoint of process control, a low quencher diffusion constant is considered to be preferable for the fabrication of line-and-space patterns with a 7 nm quarter-pitch on quartz substrates.

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Section: Simulation Model and Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Theoretical study of fabrication of line-and-space patterns with 7 nm quarter-pitch using electron beam lithography with chemically amplified resist process: III. Post exposure baking on quartz substrates

Kozawa¹

2015

Jpn. J. Appl. Phys.

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“…A stripe pattern was clearly observed inside an ASML wafer alignment mark. The width of the stripe of ~81-µm at mask level was fully in line with the hardware configuration of the EBM-9000 system that was used to create the mask [5]. The data suggested that the stripe pattern is present everywhere inside the image field.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 55%

“…The M1A and M1B sub-layers are complimentary to each other and fully compatible with the original Metal 1 process flow even though M1C is not used. The mask has been manufactured on an EBM-9000 system [5] with a specification of +/-10-nm/max error and +/-6-nm/max error after multi-point alignment with scaling and non-ortho removed. It should be emphasized that the mask is within specification and we make use of the residual mask writing errors in this work.…”

Section: Mask Layoutmentioning

confidence: 99%

Direct correlation between mask registration and on-wafer measurements for individual logic device features

Haren

Steinert

Mouraille

et al. 2022

Photomask Technology 2022

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In all investigations that we performed over the past years; it has been clearly demonstrated that the off-line mask-to-mask overlay as determined on the Zeiss PROVE  tool correlates very well with the on-wafer measurements. It all started off with a correlation study utilizing wafer alignment marks. Wafer alignment marks are metrology structures that can be read out inside ASML scanners by the wafer alignment sensor. In that work, the impact of the reticle alignment marks required to align the mask inside the scanner was incorporated as well. An excellent correlation (R 2 > 0.96) was shown with an accuracy of 0.58-nm. This result was achieved after carefully setting up an experiment in photoresist and by ruling out any other additional overlay contributors other than mask and the scanner baseline overlay performance.After this initial success, we continued the investigation by considering µ-DBO (Diffraction Based Overlay) metrology targets that can be read out on an ASML Yieldstar (YS:375) overlay metrology tool. In this work, the complexity of the experiment was increased. Instead of using only photo resist, an industry relevant process Litho-Etch process flow was selected. The mask was written on a state-of-the-art writing tool (EBM-9000). Again, excellent correlation coefficients (R 2 > 0.92) were obtained. This time within the sub-nanometer range at wafer level.During the execution of that work, an error source that contributes to the small mismatch (< 0.14-nm) between mask and on-wafer measurements was addressed: the sampling scheme difference of the signal generating areas. While the PROVE  tool has been designed to measure local (feature) placement errors, this is not the case for an overlay metrology tool or the scanner wafer alignment sensor. For the latter two metrology systems, a position is obtained from a much larger region of interest (ROI) for which local placement errors are averaged out. The observed mismatch can easily be mitigated by increasing the number of PROVE  measurements with a small ROI to match it with the ROI of the overlay metrology tool or the wafer alignment sensor.While studying the increasing number of local registration measurements by the PROVE  tool, an interesting observation was made. The way the mask had been written on the mask e-beam writer seemed to be reflected in the residual local registration measurements! Stripes were observed that appear to be running across the full width of the mask. Since the typical dimensions of the stripes at wafer level are small compared to the areas that are used for overlay measurements and/or wafer alignment measurements, they are hard to detect on wafer by using optical techniques.In this follow-up work, we explore the correlation between mask registration measurements and the on-wafer measurement for individual device features. This means that we make another step-in complexity, the length scales of interest are now significantly below the typical dimensions of an overlay metrology target. To continue the correlation study, a larg...

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“…One of the principle obstacles that must be overcome is reaching an economically viable throughput. Electron-beam lithography, for example, can generate sub-10 nm features, − over large areas, with good placement and overlay, but because of its relatively low throughput, it is limited commercially to the production of masks for use in photo- and nanoimprint lithography and device development, , and noncommercially to the production of nanostructures for research and defense purposes. The prospects for increasing the throughput of electron-beam systems are severely limited because of the fundamental physics of space-charge effectsthe repulsion between neighboring electrons in a single electron column leads to a loss of resolution or blurring of the beam as the beam current increases. − This limits the maximum beam current, and hence the throughput, that can be attained at a given resolution.…”

Section: Other Top-down Techniquesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Nanomanufacturing: A Perspective

2016

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Nanomanufacturing, the commercially-scalable and economically-sustainable mass production of nanoscale materials and devices, represents the tangible outcome of the nanotechnology revolution. In contrast to those used in nanofabrication for research purposes, nanomanufacturing processes must satisfy the additional constraints of cost, throughput, and time to market. Taking silicon integrated circuit manufacturing as a baseline, we consider the factors involved in matching processes with products, examining the characteristics and potential of top-down and bottom-up processes, and their combination. We also discuss how a careful assessment of the way in which function can be made to follow form can enable high-volume manufacturing of nanoscale structures with the desired useful, and exciting, properties.

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EBM-9000: EB mask writer for product mask fabrication of 16nm half-pitch generation and beyond

Cited by 9 publications

References 14 publications

Theoretical study of fabrication of line-and-space patterns with 7 nm quarter-pitch using electron beam lithography with chemically amplified resist process: III. Post exposure baking on quartz substrates

Theoretical study of fabrication of line-and-space patterns with 7 nm quarter-pitch using electron beam lithography with chemically amplified resist process: III. Post exposure baking on quartz substrates

Direct correlation between mask registration and on-wafer measurements for individual logic device features

Nanomanufacturing: A Perspective

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