Currently various materials are being tested as new EUV mask absorber for next-generation EUV lithography. The materials can roughly be divided into two groups: low-n and high-k. In order to determine what material to use, various properties such as wafer printability and mask process needs to be considered. In this work, wafer printability of low-n and high-k material was compared with current tantalum based conventional absorber by simulation. Material chosen from the n & k value showing promising results in the simulation where tested for durability in mask usage condition. Also, the chosen material was patterned with conventional tool applied for current photomask process, testing the etchability and resolution with temporal process used for initial testing.
In the semiconductor technology using the 193nm ArF excimer laser, the problem of radiation damage on photomask
becomes more serious. This phenomenon is regarded as serious issue for semiconductor device fabrication. Some
approaches have been tried to prevent the radiation damage. One of reports indicates that the radiation damage can be
reduced by using an exposure tool with ultra clean extreme dry air [1]. However, it is difficult to adopt dry air into all
exposure tools due to high cost. In our previous work, two facts were ascertained; radiation damage is caused by MoSi
film oxidation, and depends on MoSi film composition [2]. In this paper, radiation damage was tried to decrease by
MoSi film modification of att. PSM. MoSi film composition for PSM is optimized in consideration of cleaning durability,
mask defect repair and processability. The new PSM is named AID (Anti Irradiation Damage). Radiation damage of AID
PSM can be improved by 40[%] from conventional PSM. Cleaning durability can be also improved by AID PSM. The
other evaluation items such as CD performance, cross section, defect level and repair, are equal between the AID PSM
and conventional one. Additionally, the lithography performances by simulation of AID PSM are equivalent with that of
conventional PSM. Therefore, it can be expected that there is no difficulty in converting conventional PSM into AID
PSM. From these evaluation results, development of AID PSM was completed, and preparation for production is now
going.
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