ASML’s extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography machines have found widescale adoption in 5 and 3 nm logic nodes and leading-edge DRAM nodes. The tool operates by generating 13.5nm light from a tin plasma source, which is then directed through multiple optics and reflected off the EUV photomask and down to the wafer surface. In the EUV tool, tin and other contaminants are generated, and because no protective pellicle is used in EUV photo-lithography, any contaminate on the EUV photomask will become a defect on the wafer. EUV photomasks therefore need frequent cleaning compared to a traditional photolithography process, which would employ a protective pellicle. Herein, we report on the development of an EUV photomask cleaning solution that was designed to remove Sn, SnO2, and other contaminates from a mask surface without damaging the mask’s tantalum absorber and ruthenium capping layers. Our mask cleaning solution extends photomask lifetime and can improve operational performance and quality control.
In the photolithographic process of semiconductor manufacture, a photoresist is exposed to light and then developed to create a pattern on the photoresist surface. After development, a rinse step is necessary to prevent pattern collapse and to remove polymer residues that linger after development. Surfactants are essential in these rinse solutions and help mobilize polymer residues while also minimizing capillary forces that are responsible for pattern collapse. An ideal surfactant system interacts with the polymer surface enough to mobilize debris particles, but not enough to cause swelling and shift the critical dimension; while at the same time creating a surface tension and contact angle to prevent pattern collapse. In this work, we investigated various non-fluorinated surfactants and their interaction with EUV photoresists by measuring surface tension, contact angle, and photoresist swelling. Although the difference of solubility parameters (DSP) between surfactants and photoresists were shown to correlate to photoresist swelling. No correlation between resist swelling and the difference of solubility parameters was found in the study. Through this work, we identified that ideal surfactant rinse properties can be achieved in a fluoro-free surfactant formulation. Ideal fluoro-free EUV surfactant rinse formulations achieve no pattern collapse, low CD-shift, and good residue clean performance for an EUV photolithographic process.
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