You have requested a machine translation of selected content from our databases. This functionality is provided solely for your convenience and is in no way intended to replace human translation. Neither SPIE nor the owners and publishers of the content make, and they explicitly disclaim, any express or implied representations or warranties of any kind, including, without limitation, representations and warranties as to the functionality of the translation feature or the accuracy or completeness of the translations.
Translations are not retained in our system. Your use of this feature and the translations is subject to all use restrictions contained in the Terms and Conditions of Use of the SPIE website.
6 April 2015Toward 10nm half-pitch in EUV lithography: results on resist screening and pattern collapse mitigation techniques
Extreme ultraviolet lithography (EUVL) is considered to be the most promising option to continue with the aggressive scaling required in high-volume manufacturing (HVM) of integrated circuits. One of the main challenges, however, is the development of EUV resists that fulfill the strict sensitivity, resolution, and line-edge roughness specifications of future nodes. Here, we present our EUV resist screening results of a wide range of EUV resists in their developmental phase from our collaborators from around the world. Furthermore, we have carried out extensive experiments to improve the processing parameters of the resists as well as to identify the optimal wafer pre-treatment methods in order to optimize the adhesion of the resist to the substrate. We show that even though significant improvements in performance of chemically amplified resists have been achieved, pattern collapse is still the major process-limiting factor as the resolution decreases below 14 nm half-pitch (HP).