Extreme ultraviolet lithography (EUVL) enables integrated circuit (IC) industry to manufacture chips with increased transistor density per volume unit, so the Moore’s law remains true to date. To support the endless requirement of reducing critical dimension (CD), chemically amplified resist (CAR) has been designed to address the resolution, line width roughness, and sensitivity (RLS) in nanoscale level. However, a good Litho performance from an EUV photoresist may not always be transferred into a good etch performance, limiting the stochastic defects after patten transfer is the key to achieve a good after etch inspection (AEI) defectivity. In this paper, we report the EUV photoresist design strategies to acquire good AEI defectivity with the understanding of CAR’s property in a defined pattern transfer scheme with special focus on small molecule in photoresist. The CAR’s Litho performance and the corelated etch performance will be discussed, the component etch rate and its correlation to photoresist etch performance will be covered.
We report on the relationship between resist make-up, filtration process & CH AEI defectivity for an advanced CAR resist with fast dose. In particular, the effect of a pattern transfer scheme on a resist platform with formulation & filtration variation is examined. Resist design & manufacturing strategies for continuous improvement of EUV CAR lithographic performance will be discussed.
Chemically amplified resists (CAR) enable the transition of extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography to high-volume manufacture (HVM). Novel photoresists continue to be designed to meet the simultaneous improvement of resolution, line width roughness, and sensitivity (RLS) trade-off. The absorption of EUV photons in the photoresist film leads to emission of primary electrons to form secondary electrons by inelastic scattering events which in turn leads to the activation of the photoacid generator compound. A unique challenge for the use of CAR in EUV lithography is their poor absorption at 13.5nm wavelength. Understanding the photoresist EUV absorption impact on lithographic performance parameters is critical for photoresist design. In this study, we designed photoresist polymers with tuned EUV absorption coefficients by incorporating EUV absorption group(s) onto different CAR polymers. The effect of the EUV absorption increase on polymer properties as well as on resist lithographic performance will be presented.
Extreme Ultraviolet (EUV) lithography has emerged as the state-of-the-art technology for high-resolution patterning in semiconductor manufacturing. However, several challenges persist in the performance of current EUV photoresists, particularly in improving resolution, sensitivity, and line-edge roughness (LER), and local critical dimension uniformity (LCDU). In this study, we describe a novel chemical trimming overcoat process as a highly versatile post-lithography spin-on overcoat to enhance photoresist performance in EUVL, enabling significant dose reduction and z-factor improvement.
The drive toward tighter pitch and higher density integrated circuits requires continual advancement in lithography. Advanced photolithography tools use extreme ultraviolet (EUV) light with a wavelength of 13.5nm. The high energy nature of EUV light generates secondary electrons in the photoresist that are responsible for the photochemistry that induces the solubility switch. This distinct mechanism has provided the driving force for the development of new photoresists that are sensitive to EUV and highly reactive toward secondary electrons. Despite the considerable change in acid generation mechanism going from DUV to EUV, chemically amplified photoresists continue to be leading photoresist candidates for new process nodes at low NA EUV (0.33 NA) and their use is expected to extend into early high NA (0.55 NA). Herein the after-developer defects (ADI) and EUV P36 LS trench printing performance of a series of chemically amplified photoresists (CAR) with distinct chemistry developed specifically for EUV lithography are compared. In particular, the relationship of different leaving group chemistries and polymer manufacturing processes on stochastic defectivity is explored as well as the connection to photoresist polymer hydrophobicity and homogeneity. The insights gained from this study guide design strategies for improvement of advanced chemically amplified photoresists for EUV lithography.
Extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography technology empowers integrated circuit industry to mass produce chips with smaller pitches and higher density. Along with EUV tool advancement, significant progress has also been made in the development and advancement of EUV chemically amplified resist (CAR) materials, which allows for the improvement of resolution, line edge roughness, and sensitivity (RLS) trade-off. The scarce number of EUV photons has triggered the development of resist material with high absorption at 13.5 nm. However, a review of open literature reveals very limited reports on the effect of high EUV absorption elements on etch properties of advanced EUV resist. To ensure Moore’s Law continues to move forward, further resist performance improvement is required. In this regard, stochastic defects originating from photon shot noise, materials, and processing variabilities present a unique challenge for the extension of CAR platform for the patterning of smaller nodes. Notably, less attention has been paid to defects formed during the etching process used for pattern transfer. In this paper, we report on the relationship between resist make-up and etch properties. In particular, the effect of incorporation of EUV high absorbing elements are examined. New resist material design strategies for continuous improvement of EUV CAR lithographic performance will be discussed.
The semiconductor industry is on the rise of maturing EUV lithography in high volume manufacturing (HVM). There remain, however, challenges to be overcome in the advancement of photoresist to improve yield and reduce cost of ownership. Herein, we report a novel chemical trimming overcoat process as a post-lithography spin-on solution to enhance EUV photoresist performance, enabling effective photospeed reduction as well as process window enhancement, such as reducing bridging defect at underdose. This is a highly versatile and tunable process for most chemically amplified photoresists, therefore allowing it to become a general process for a wide range of applications across EUV lithography.
Chemically amplified resist (CAR) materials are widely used in advanced node patterning by extreme ultraviolet lithography (EUVL). To support the continuous requirement of reducing critical dimension (CD), CAR has been designed to process at tens of nanometer coating thickness while taking into consideration film roughness, aspect ratio, and etch transfer challenge. In this study, we investigated the impact of the photoresist’s different spin speed for same film thickness on resolution, line width roughness, and sensitivity (RLS) trade-off for Line and Space (L/S) patterns. We selected photoresists with identical chemical composition that differed only in total wt solid% in the solution. Photoresist films at constant thickness were investigated for the spin speed impacts on photoresist film density, hydrophobicity on the film surface, and film surface roughness. The corresponding EUV lithographic performance will be presented.
In extreme ultraviolet lithography (EUVL), underlayers have been introduced to improve process window, stochastic printing failures, LWR and even photo-speed. As a result, studies about chemical and physical interactions at resist-underlayer interface have been reported and appropriate designs of silicon based hardmasks and thin organic underlayers for EUVL have been proposed for recent years. EUV underlayers are required to have not only chemical moieties for EUV specific functions but also proper physical properties. The thickness of underlayer has continuously shrink down to a few nanometers to reduce dry etch burden for effective transfer of small patterned features to substrates. In this paper, we report noticeable property variation of an organic underlayer thin film by confinement effect upon thickness reduction. We investigated the thickness effect on key factors, such as film density, coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE), film Tg and surface energy, and consequent impact on EUVL performance while chemical composition of underlayers were not altered.
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