Global critical dimension uniformity improvement for mask fabrication with negative-tone chemically amplified resists by zone-controlled postexposure bake

Lothar Berger; Peter Dress; Thomas M. Gairing; Chia-Jen Chen; Ren-Guey Hsieh; Hsin-Chang Lee; Hung-Chang Hsieh

doi:10.1117/1.1683338

1 April 2004 Global critical dimension uniformity improvement for mask fabrication with negative-tone chemically amplified resists by zone-controlled postexposure bake

Lothar Berger, Peter Dress, Thomas M. Gairing, Chia-Jen Chen, Ren-Guey Hsieh, Hsin-Chang Lee, Hung-Chang Hsieh

Author Affiliations +

Journal of Micro/Nanolithography, MEMS, and MOEMS, Vol. 3, Issue 2, (April 2004). https://doi.org/10.1117/1.1683338

Abstract

The multizone hotplate approach of the APB5500 bake system achieves temperature uniformity significantly superior to conventional bake tools, resulting in unmatched global critical dimension (CD) uniformity from the postexposure bake (PEB) process. Progress toward 65-nm next-generation lithography, however, requires the application of negative-tone chemically amplified resists (nCARs) like NEB22. This nCAR is characterized to show a strong sensitivity to postexposure delay (PED) in vacuum during electron-beam writing of 0.5 nm/h, and also a strong PEB sensitivity of 7.8 nm/°C, both resulting in systematic CD errors. These CD errors are compensated with the APB5500 bake system during PEB by automatically applying an appropriate nonuniform temperature profile. This temperature profile is calculated by an algorithm considering the resist and mask heat transfer properties. A CD uniformity improvement from 8.9 to 6.7 nm total range (≈25%) on a state of the art production mask is achieved.

©(2004) Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers (SPIE)

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Lothar Berger, Peter Dress, Thomas M. Gairing, Chia-Jen Chen, Ren-Guey Hsieh, Hsin-Chang Lee, and Hung-Chang Hsieh "Global critical dimension uniformity improvement for mask fabrication with negative-tone chemically amplified resists by zone-controlled postexposure bake," Journal of Micro/Nanolithography, MEMS, and MOEMS 3(2), (1 April 2004). https://doi.org/10.1117/1.1683338

Published: 1 April 2004

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