Parallelizable Simulation of Material Effects of Chemical Shrink Process of Nanolithography

Abstract

A parallelizable simulator of the chemical shrink process of nanolithography is developed to investigate the process dependence on material properties. The chemical shrink process model employed for the simulator includes the cross-linking reaction of the resolution enhancement of lithography assisted by chemical shrink (RELACS) material, the inhibitor deprotection reaction of the chemically amplified (CA) resist, and the photoacid diffusion and trapping in the CA resist and RELACS material. It is found that, in the descending order of their effectiveness on amount of shrinkage, the photoacid trapping and diffusion mechanisms of the RELACS are the most effective ones, the photoacid trapping mechanism of the CA resist is second, the photoacid diffusion mechanism of the CA resist and the cross-linking reaction of the RELACS are third, and the deprotection reaction of the CA resist is the least effective. The interpretations of the dependence of the shrinkage amounts on these mechanisms are also provided on the basis of the simulations.