Toward 10nm half-pitch in EUV lithography: results on resist screening and pattern collapse mitigation techniques

Tero S. Kulmala; Michaela Vockenhuber; Elizabeth Buitrago; Roberto Fallica; Yasin Ekinci

doi:10.1117/12.2085936

Translator Disclaimer

6 April 2015 Toward 10nm half-pitch in EUV lithography: results on resist screening and pattern collapse mitigation techniques

Tero S. Kulmala, Michaela Vockenhuber, Elizabeth Buitrago, Roberto Fallica, Yasin Ekinci

Author Affiliations +

Proceedings Volume 9422, Extreme Ultraviolet (EUV) Lithography VI; 942204 (2015) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2085936
Event: SPIE Advanced Lithography, 2015, San Jose, California, United States

Abstract

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).

Citation Download Citation

Tero S. Kulmala, Michaela Vockenhuber, Elizabeth Buitrago, Roberto Fallica, and Yasin Ekinci "Toward 10nm half-pitch in EUV lithography: results on resist screening and pattern collapse mitigation techniques", Proc. SPIE 9422, Extreme Ultraviolet (EUV) Lithography VI, 942204 (6 April 2015); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2085936

ACCESS THE FULL ARTICLE