New advances in resist system for next-generation lithography

Yongqi Hu; Wei He; Kenneth E. Gonsalves; Lhadi Merhari

doi:10.1117/12.436811

24 August 2001 New advances in resist system for next-generation lithography

Yongqi Hu, Wei He, Kenneth E. Gonsalves, Lhadi Merhari

Proceedings Volume 4345, Advances in Resist Technology and Processing XVIII; (2001) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.436811
Event: 26th Annual International Symposium on Microlithography, 2001, Santa Clara, CA, United States

Abstract

A novel nanocomposite resist system was developed for sub-100 nm resolution e-beam lithography by dispersing surface-treated silica nanoparticles in a commercial ZEP520 resist. At 4.0 wt % loading of silica nanoparticles, the system exhibited a much higher resolution than ZEP520 without sacrificing the intrinsic sensitivity and contrast of the starting polymer. The first major result is that 46 nm-wide isolated lines were obtained in the nanocomposite system (~ 250 nm thick layer), whereas comparatively 130 nm-wide lines were obtained in ZEP520 under the same experimental conditions. Interestingly, this dramatic reduction of line broadening already occurred at 20 keV while higher energy e-beams (up to 100 keV) did not lead to further line broadening reduction. Moreover, it was shown that the addition of silica nanoparticles resulted in a higher resistance of the nanocomposite to plasma etching with O₂ gas. Extending the nanocomposite approach to the KRS-XE resist led to both enhanced resolution and mechanical stability. The major resolution improvement in both systems indicates that nanocomposite systems are promising candidates for sub-100 nm resolution e-beam lithography. A mechanism, explaining the electron-nanocomposite interactions at the origin of line broadening reduction, is proposed and tentatively backed by preliminary Monte Carlo simulations.

Citation Download Citation

Yongqi Hu, Wei He, Kenneth E. Gonsalves, and Lhadi Merhari "New advances in resist system for next-generation lithography", Proc. SPIE 4345, Advances in Resist Technology and Processing XVIII, (24 August 2001); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.436811

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