Process development for EUV mask production

Abe, Tsukasa; Fujii, Akiko; Sasaki, Shiho; Mohri, Hiroshi; Hayashi, Naoya; Shoki, Tsutomu; Yamada, Takeyuki; Nozawa, Osamu; Okubo, Ryo; Ushida, Masao

doi:10.1117/12.692519

Cited by 13 publications

(8 citation statements)

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“…Absorber materials with high extinction coefficient enable use of thin films to reduce the effects of off-axis incidence. Studies on tantalum-based EUVL absorbers have been focused on TaN [123][124][125][126], TaBN [127][128][129], TaGeN [130], and TaSi [131] combined with their oxide anti-reflective sub-layers.…”

Section: Maskmentioning

confidence: 99%

Next-generation lithography for 22 and 16 nm technology nodes and beyond

2011

Sci. China Inf. Sci.

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In this paper, next-generation lithography (NGL) for the 22 and 16 nm technology nodes and beyond is reviewed. A broad range of topics, including history, technologies, critical challenges, and the most plausible candidates are discussed. The 22 and 16 nm technology nodes rely on NGL. NGLs have been extensively studied. Because of technological issues, the semiconductor industry has stopped pursuing several NGLs, such as X-ray proximity lithography, ion projection lithography, and scattering with angular limitation projection electron lithography. Currently, the primary candidate technologies are extreme ultraviolet lithography (EUVL), maskless lithography (ML2), and nanoimprint lithography (NIL), with EUVL being the leading candidate. Since EUVL was first proposed in 1988, many studies have been conducted. Currently, there is no "show stopper" for EUVL. Moreover, challenges are present in almost all aspects of EUVL technology. Almost all primary semiconductor manufacturing companies plan to implement commercial pre-production step-and-scan exposure tools in 2011. However, EUVL power at an intermediate focusing level has not yet met the volume manufacturing requirements. EUVL resists have been significantly improved recently, but there is still a critical need to meet requirements on resolution, line width roughness, and sensitivity. Creating a defect-free EUVL mask is another obstacle to the application of EUVL. ML2 and NIL, like EUVL, have also undergone significant progress recently, but throughput, defect control, and cost remain the critical impediments for practical application.

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Section: Maskmentioning

confidence: 99%

Next-generation lithography for 22 and 16 nm technology nodes and beyond

2011

Sci. China Inf. Sci.

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“…2,8 From the top-view of a SEM image, we analyzed the size of programmed mask defect as shown in Fig. 2 …”

Section: -2 Programmed Defect Maskmentioning

confidence: 99%

Defect printability of thin absorber mask in EUV lithography

Kamo¹,

Aoyama²,

Arisawa³

et al. 2009

Alternative Lithographic Technologies

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The effect of mask absorber thickness on defect printability in EUV lithography was studied. In case of very thin absorber, when used for EUVL mask, it became necessary to set specifications for mask defects for the manufacturability of ULSI devices because mask absorber thickness could impact defect printability. We prepared programmed mask defects of LR-TaBN absorber with various thicknesses. We then investigated defect printability of thin absorber mask with Small Field Exposure Tool (SFET) by comparing the data with simulation results.

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“…The mask consisted of a 51-nm-thick LR-TaBN absorber on a Cr buffer layer on the Si cap layer of a Mo/Si multilayer. 17 The mask pattern was inspected with an MC3500 18 using the die-to-database mode over the whole area of the electrical-cell patterns. The mask pattern was replicated using the EUV1 connected to an in-line coater/developer, as shown in Fig.…”

Section: Conditionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Process liability evaluation for EUVL

Aoyama¹,

Tawarayama²,

Tanaka³

et al. 2009

Alternative Lithographic Technologies

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This paper concerns the readiness of extreme ultraviolet lithography (EUVL) for high-volume manufacture based on accelerated development in critical areas and the construction of a process liability (PL) test site that integrates results in these areas. The overall lithography performance was determined from the performance of the exposure tool, the printability obtainable with the resist, mask fabrication with accurate critical dimension (CD) control, and correction technology for mask data preparation. The EUV1 exposure tool can carry out exposure over the full field (26 mm × 33 mm) at a resolution high enough for 32-nm line-and-space patterns when Selete Standard Resist 3 (SSR3) is used. Thus, the test site was designed for the full-field exposure of various pattern sizes [half-pitch (hp) 32-50 nm]. The CD variation of the mask was found to be as good as 2.8 nm (3σ); and only one printable defect was detected. The effect of flare on CD variation is a critical issue in EUVL; so flare was compensated for based on the point spread function for the projection optics of the EUV1 and aerial simulations that took resist blur into account. The accuracy obtained when an electronic design automation (EDA) tool was used for mask resizing was found to be very good (error ≤ ±2 nm). Metal wiring patterns with a size of hp 32 nm were successfully formed by wafer processing. The production readiness of EUVL based on the integration of results in these areas was evaluated by electrical tests on low-resistance tungsten wiring. The yield for the electrically open test for hp 50 nm (32-nm logic node) and hp 40 nm (22-nm logic node) were found to be over 60% and around 50%, respectively; and the yield tended to decrease as patterns became smaller. We found the PL test site to be very useful for determining where further improvements need to be made and for evaluating the production readiness of EUVL.

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Process development for EUV mask production

Cited by 13 publications

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Next-generation lithography for 22 and 16 nm technology nodes and beyond

Next-generation lithography for 22 and 16 nm technology nodes and beyond

Defect printability of thin absorber mask in EUV lithography

Process liability evaluation for EUVL

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