The chemically-amplified resists have been exposed by hyper-NA 193nm immersion and EUV lithography. Patterns
with 45nm half-pitch and below are investigated for process windows and line-edge roughness. Although the 193nm
immersion and EUV lithography have totally different optics, an overlap of the resolution capability is clearly observed
around 45nm half-pitches. Both lithographic processes show comparable process windows for 45nm dense lines. The
193i resist better responds to its aerial image than that of the EUV resist. Although the EUV tool has the resolution
capability down to 20nm half-pitch, immature resist process limits the current resolution to 35nm half-pitch.
A production-preferred solution is 193-nm immersion resist without a topcoat. The challenge of 193-nm immersion resist is both low leaching level and high performance. We summarize the screening results of selected 193-nm immersion resists that are designed for use without top coatings. Our evaluation is divided into several phases. Leaching levels of resist samples are first tested. The leaching data are analyzed and compared to our specifications. Both binary intensity mask and alternating phase-shift mask exposures are performed to evaluate the process window, lineedge roughness, and resist pattern profile. Resist films are rinsed by deionized (DI) water prior to or after exposure, and contrast curves are measured to investigate the resist sensitivity change. The results are compared with resist systems that use developer-soluble topcoats.
193nm immersion resist without topcoat is production preferred solution. The challenge of 193nm immersion resist is both low leaching level and high performance. This paper summarizes the screening results of selected 193nm immersion resists which are designed for use without top coatings. Our evaluation is divided into several phases. Leaching levels of resist samples were first tested. The leaching data were analyzed and compared to our specifications. Both binary image mask and alternating phase-shift mask exposures were done to evaluate the process window, line-edge roughness, and resist pattern profile. Resist films were rinsed by DI water prior to or after exposure, and contrast curves were measured to investigate the resist sensitivity change. The results are compared with resist systems which use developer-soluble topcoats.
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