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Immersion Lithography: Photomask and Wafer-Level Materials ANRV380-MR39-05 ARI 27 May 2009 14:25 Immersion Lithography: Photomask and Wafer-Level Materials Roger H. French and Hoang V. Tran DuPont Co. Central Research, E400-5207 Experimental Station, Wilmington, DE 19880-0400; email: [email protected] Annu. Rev. Mater. Res. 2009. 39:93–126 Key Words First published online as a Review in Advance on by Dr. Roger French on 07/14/09. For personal use only. photoresist, pellicle, high-index fluid, phase shift, double patterning March 3, 2009 The Annual Review of Materials Research is online at Abstract matsci.annualreviews.org Optical immersion lithography utilizes liquids with refractive indices >1 This article’s doi: (the index of air) below the last lens element to enhance numerical aper- Annu. Rev. Mater. Res. 2009.39:93-126. Downloaded from arjournals.annualreviews.org 10.1146/annurev-matsci-082908-145350 ture and resolution, enabling sub-40-nm feature patterning. This shift from Copyright c 2009 by Annual Reviews. conventional dry optical lithography introduces numerous challenges re- All rights reserved quiring innovations in materials at all imaging stack levels. In this article, 1531-7331/09/0804-0093$20.00 we highlight the recent materials advances in photomasks, immersion fluids, topcoats, and photoresists. Some of the challenges encountered include the fluids’ and photomask materials’ UV durability, the high-index liquids’ com- patibility with topcoats and photoresists, and overall immersion imaging and defectivity performance. In addition, we include a section on novel materi- als and methods for double-patterning lithography—a technique that may further extend immersion technology by effectively doubling a less dense pattern’s line density. 93 ANRV380-MR39-05 ARI 27 May 2009 14:25 1. INTRODUCTION Photoresist: In semiconductor fabrication optical lithography, the main materials development has traditionally light-sensitive polymer been polymeric photoresists, which changed substantially each time the lithographic wavelength formulations used to decreased: from 436 nm (G-line) to 365 nm (I-line) to 248 nm [deep UV light (DUV)] to the define structural current 193 nm. For example, the shift to DUV (KrF excimer laser) coincided with the intro- features in integrated- circuit processing duction of chemically amplified resists. Currently, the transition to 193 nm (ArF excimer laser), along with a failed transition to 157 nm (F excimer laser), has expanded greatly the number and Deep UV light 2 (DUV): normally type of materials needed above and below the projection lens in lithographic scanners (Figure 1). referring to the These new materials include both photomask materials (Figure 2) as well as new types of wafer- 248-nm peak intensity level materials, such as immersion fluids (Figure 3). These new materials—photomasks, pellicles, of the KrF excimer laser Photomask Projection lens Illuminator by Dr. Roger French on 07/14/09. For personal use only. Alignment and Annu. Rev. Mater. Res. 2009.39:93-126. Downloaded from arjournals.annualreviews.org imaging stages Figure 1 ASML TwinScan XT:1950i scanner showing the illuminator, the reticle (photomask) and reticle handler, the projection lens, and the wafer stages. The illuminator, which prepares the ArF excimer laser light, is on the right. The photomask on the left side, above the large cylindrical projection lens, and the dual-wafer stages below the projection lens are shown, with the left wafer stage undergoing alignment procedures. Meanwhile, the right wafer stage, under the last lens element of the projection lens, is exposing the fields of the wafer under water immersion conditions. The numerical aperture of this water immersion stepper is 1.35, and the productivity is >140 wafers per hour imaged. Image reprinted courtesy of ASML Inc., Veldhoven, The Netherlands. 94 French · Tran ANRV380-MR39-05 ARI 27 May 2009 14:25 by Dr. Roger French on 07/14/09. For personal use only. Figure 2 Two photomasks with pellicles. The upper mask is a conventional binary-intensity mask, with the mask pattern and the pellicle on the lower surface of the 6 × 6 inch ultrahigh-purity fused silica photomask Annu. Rev. Mater. Res. 2009.39:93-126. Downloaded from arjournals.annualreviews.org substrate. The lower mask is a negative-tone phase shift mask, and the mask pattern and the pellicle are on the upper surface of the substrate. Photograph reprinted courtesy of Toppan Photomasks Inc., Round Rock, Texas. photoresists, bottom antireflection coatings (BARCs), and topcoats—coupled with the introduc- tion of immersion lithography, have enabled much larger optical scanner numerical aperture (NA) lenses (up to 1.35 NA with water as the immersion fluid), enabling 45-nm half-pitch feature print- Scanner (or stepper): ing using 193-nm light. Before the 1993 lithographic materials review published in this journal’s the processing tool predecessor (1), the focus was on photoresists and advances in chemically amplified resists. Today, used in the main immersion lithography’s development has led to the introduction of immersion fluids, topcoats, lithographic imaging step in advanced and novel photoresist components to manage fluid-resist interactions and to reduce any possible integrated-circuit lens contamination. Immersion lithography materials have become a broad, diverse, and complex processing family developed to help the industry’s advance to 32-nm half-pitch feature sizes. At the same www.annualreviews.org • Immersion Lithography 95 ANRV380-MR39-05 ARI 27 May 2009 14:25 n glass n fluid n topcoat θ n resist resist Figure 3 Immersion lithography imaging stack showing the projection lens optics, including the last lens element contacting the immersion fluid, and a topcoat layer on top of the photoresist layer. Adapted from Reference 34, with permission from SPIE. Photomask: lithographic time, the possible uses of second-generation immersion fluids, double or triple patterning, and photomasks are typically transparent novel resist processes indicate that the need for new and optimized materials will not be reduced fused silica blanks in the future. covered with a pattern defined with a chrome metal absorbing film 1.1. Microfabrication Pellicle: a thin Microfabrication—first developed for integrated circuit processing—has relied on photolithogra- transparent film phy as a critical pattern transfer process. From the first transistor in 1947 and the first integrated stretched over a frame that is glued over one circuit (IC) or semiconductor device in 1959, the basic microfabrication process steps have been side of the photomask deposition, etch, implant, and patterning (2). Patterning has included photolithography in either to serve as a dust contact or proximity modes (where the photomask and the IC have the same 1:1 feature size ratio) protector by Dr. Roger French on 07/14/09. For personal use only. as well as the now dominant projection mode (where there is a 4:1 or 5:1 optical reduction of Bottom the mask features to the IC feature sizes). Rayleigh’s equations (3) provide a simple relationship antireflection coating between the stepper/scanner optical parameters—such as the lithographic wavelength (λ), the lens (BARC): an inorganic numerical aperture [NA = sin(θ) where θ is the half cone angle of focus], the imaging medium’s or organic thin film refractive index (1 for air and higher for immersion fluids)—and the feature size (FS) and depth Annu. Rev. Mater. Res. 2009.39:93-126. Downloaded from arjournals.annualreviews.org used between the photoresist and the of focus (DOF) that can be achieved. These equations also include a process latitude factor (k), semiconductor wafer, where k1 corresponds to the FS equation (Equation 1) and k2 the DOF equation (Equation 2), used to control the = and where we define the scanner’s NA as NASystem NADry nImaging medium, where n is the index of reflectance of light refraction of the immersion fluid determined at the lithographic wavelength λ (4). k depends on from the wafer back up into the photoresist the overall process capability, and thereby includes the beneficial imaging contributions of phase layer shift masks, photoresists with improved imaging, and development characteristics along with step- λ Topcoat: a polymer per settings, such as dipole or quadrapole illuminations, which are beyond the simple NA and coating used above the characteristics of the scanner. Microfabrication’s progression down this Moore’s law (5–7) feature photoresist to reduce size path for complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) devices has been enabled by interactions between a technological advances in optics, usable lithographic wavelengths, and most recently, immersion photoresist and an fluids to allow projection lens NAs above 1. We summarize this lithography evolution in Table 1, immersion fluid where we include half pitch feature sizes and the corresponding Rayleigh’s equation parameters, 96 French · Tran ANRV380-MR39-05 ARI 27 May 2009 14:25 with the associated lithography tool characteristics and lithography materials choices. This can serve as a roadmap to the materials science discussed in this review. During this lithography evolution, microfabrication and optical lithography have also expanded beyond semiconductor Integrated circuit ICs to include flat-panel displays, microelectronic machines and devices, photovoltaic solar cells, (IC): also referred to and other applications, further driving the motivation to improve optical lithography’s capabilities. informally as a In addition, as IC feature sizes have decreased, physical limits on materials
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