Inspection of templates for imprint lithography

Hess, Harald F.; Pettibone, Don; Adler, D. L.; Bertsche, Kirk; Nordquist, Kevin J.; Mancini, David P.; Dauksher, William J.; Resnick, Douglas J.

doi:10.1116/1.1813456

Cited by 13 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 5 publications

(1 reference statement)

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“…Previous electron beam work established that programmed defects patterned on an ITO-based template can be calibrated in a CD SEM and inspected on a prototype e-beam inspection system of the KLA-Tencor eS30m [8,9]. The initial images Figure 8 (left) confirmed that these ITO templates are inspectable.…”

Section: Electron Beam Inspectionsupporting

confidence: 60%

Indium tin oxide template development for step and flash imprint lithography

Gehoski¹,

Resnick²,

Dauksher³

et al. 2005

SPIE Proceedings

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Step and Flash Imprint Lithography (S-FIL) is an attractive method for printing sub-100 nm geometries. Relative to other imprinting processes S-FIL has the advantage that the template is transparent, thereby facilitating conventional overlay techniques. Previous work on S-FIL templates has focused on a chromium and quartz pattern transfer process that is compatible with processes that are currently used in mask shops. It is likely that 1X templates will require electron beam inspection, however, and templates that include buried charge conduction layers may be required. The purpose of this work was to investigate the issues associated with fabricating and inspecting these types of templates. The patterning stack examined included a layer of ZEP520A positive electron beam resist, followed by thin layers of chromium, silicon oxynitride, and indium tin oxide. The chromium layer was needed to avoid laser height sensor problems encountered prior to electron beam exposure. The pattern transfer process was characterized, and CD uniformity was characterized in four quadrants of the photoplate. A prototype electron beam inspection system was then used to inspect an array of programmed defect patterns. Two methods for fabricating templates were considered.

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Section: Electron Beam Inspectionsupporting

confidence: 60%

Indium tin oxide template development for step and flash imprint lithography

Gehoski¹,

Resnick²,

Dauksher³

et al. 2005

SPIE Proceedings

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“…With respect to inspection, although defects as small as 70 nm have been detected using optical techniques 9 , it is clear that it will be necessary to take advantage of the resolution capabilities of electron beam inspection techniques. Previous electron beam inspection work established that programmed defects patterned on an ITO-based template can be calibrated in a CD SEM and inspected on a prototype e-beam inspection system of the KLA-Tencor eS30m 10 .…”

Section: Protects Active Areamentioning

confidence: 99%

Defect inspection for imprint lithography using a die-to-database electron beam verification system

Myron¹,

Thompson²,

McMackin³

et al. 2006

SPIE Proceedings

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Imprint lithography has been included on the ITRS Lithography Roadmap at the 32 and 22 nm nodes.Step and Flash Imprint Lithography (S-FIL TM ) is a unique method for printing sub-100 nm geometries. Relative to other imprinting processes S-FIL has the advantage that the template is transparent, thereby facilitating conventional overlay techniques. Further, S-FIL provides sub-100 nm feature resolution without the significant expense of multielement, high quality projection optics or advanced illumination sources. However, since the technology is 1X, it is critical to address the infrastructure associated with the fabrication of templates.With respect to inspection, although defects as small as 70 nm have been detected using optical techniques, it is clear that it will be necessary to take advantage of the resolution capabilities of electron beam inspection techniques. This paper reports the first systematic study of die-to-database electron beam inspection of patterns that were imprinted using an Imprio 250 system. The die-to-database inspection of the wafers was performed on an NGR2100 inspection system. Ultimately, the most desirable solution is to directly inspect the fused silica template. This paper also reports the results on the first initial experiments of direct inspection fused silica substrates at data rates of 200 MHz.Three different experiments were performed. In the first study, large (350 -400 nm) Metal 1 and contact features were imprinted and inspected as described above. Using a 12 nm pixel address grid, 24 nm defects were readily detected. The second experiment examined imprinted Metal 1 and Logic patterns with dimensions as small as 70 nm. Using a pixel address of 3 nm, and a defect threshold of 20 nm, a systematic study of the patterned arrays identified problem areas in the design of the pattern layout. Finally, initial inspection of 200 mm fused silica patterned substrates has established proof of concept for direct inspection of imprint templates.

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“…In the case of inspection, although defects as small as 70 nm have been detected using optical techniques, 9 it is clear that it will be necessary to take advantage of the resolution capabilities of electron beam inspection techniques. In the case of inspection, although defects as small as 70 nm have been detected using optical techniques, 9 it is clear that it will be necessary to take advantage of the resolution capabilities of electron beam inspection techniques.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Direct die-to-database electron beam inspection of fused silica imprint templates

Resnick¹,

Myron²,

Thompson³

et al. 2006

Journal of Vacuum Science &Amp; Technology B: Microelectronics and Nanometer Structures Processing, Measurement, and Phenomena

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Imprint lithography has been included on the ITRS Lithography Roadmap at the 32 and 22 nm nodes.Step and flash imprint lithography ͑S-FIL™͒ is a unique method for printing sub-100-nm geometries. Relative to other imprinting processes S-FIL has the advantage that the template is transparent, thereby facilitating conventional overlay techniques. Further, S-FIL provides sub-100-nm feature resolution without the significant expense of multielement, high quality projection optics or advanced illumination sources. However, since the technology is 1X, it is critical to address the infrastructure associated with the fabrication of templates. With respect to inspection, although defects as small as 70 nm have been detected using optical techniques, it is clear that it will be necessary to take advantage of the resolution capabilities of electron beam inspection techniques. This article reports the first systematic study of die-to-database electron beam inspection of patterns that were imprinted using an Imprio 250 system. The die-to-database inspection of the wafers was performed on an NGR2100 inspection system. Metal 1 and logic patterns with dimensions as small as 70 nm were inspected. Using a pixel address of 3 nm and a defect threshold of 20 nm, problem areas in the design of the pattern layout were clearly identified. Ultimately, the most desirable solution is to directly inspect the fused silica template. This article also reports the results on the first experiments of direct inspection fused silica substrates at data rates of 200 MHz.

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Inspection of templates for imprint lithography

Cited by 13 publications

References 5 publications

Indium tin oxide template development for step and flash imprint lithography

Indium tin oxide template development for step and flash imprint lithography

Defect inspection for imprint lithography using a die-to-database electron beam verification system

Direct die-to-database electron beam inspection of fused silica imprint templates

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