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The comment that typical clean room 'soft' defects (i.e., airborne, carbon-based
particles) are transparent to x-rays is stated as a fundamental attribute of x-ray
lithography. However, data showing lithographic conditions which result in a reduction
in defect density have not yet been widely published. This paper reports an
analysis of defect printability for soft x-ray lithography at wavelengths of 0.6 to
2.2nm and denotes exposure and resist development conditions under which representative
soft and 'hard' reticle defects did not print. Resolution reticles with features
down to 0.5pm were produced using Hampshire's baseline process which consists
of electroplated gold absorber on a silicon support membrane. Latex spheres ranging
in diameter from 0.36 to l.Opm were applied by VLSI Standards, Inc. to simulate soft
defects. The large exposure latitude for x-ray lithography allows using an overexposure
to reduce the impact of lower contrast defects without appreciable CD change.
The printability of soft defects and defect-induced wall angle perturbations in
resist patterns were also investigated through simulations using a modified version
of SAMPLE and the results agreed with the observations. Identification of what constitutes
a printable reticle defect for x-ray lithography is not as straightforward
as that for optical lithography.
Darryl Peters,Bernard J. Dardzinski, andRobert D. Frankel
"Defect printability for soft x-ray microlithography", Proc. SPIE 1263, Electron-Beam, X-Ray, and Ion-Beam Technology: Submicrometer Lithographies IX, (1 May 1990); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.20149
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Darryl Peters, Bernard J. Dardzinski, Robert D. Frankel, "Defect printability for soft x-ray microlithography," Proc. SPIE 1263, Electron-Beam, X-Ray, and Ion-Beam Technology: Submicrometer Lithographies IX, (1 May 1990); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.20149