Designing EUV negative tone resist and underlayer approaches exhibiting 14nm half-pitch resolution

Luong Nguyen Dang; Li-Ting Tseng; Anil Rajak; Thomas Gädda; Markus Laukkanen; Jagadish Salunke; Shima Moosakkani; Jyri Paulasaari; Juha Rantala; Michaela Vockenhuber; Dimitrios Kazazis; Yasin Ekinci

doi:10.1117/12.3014297

9 April 2024 Designing EUV negative tone resist and underlayer approaches exhibiting 14nm half-pitch resolution

Luong Nguyen Dang, Li-Ting Tseng, Anil Rajak, Thomas Gädda, Markus Laukkanen, Jagadish Salunke, Shima Moosakkani, Jyri Paulasaari, Juha Rantala, Michaela Vockenhuber, Dimitrios Kazazis, Yasin Ekinci

Author Affiliations +

Proceedings Volume 12957, Advances in Patterning Materials and Processes XLI; 129570I (2024) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.3014297
Event: SPIE Advanced Lithography + Patterning, 2024, San Jose, California, United States

Abstract

The main challenge in developing a suitable EUV photoresist, particularly for high Numerical Aperture (NA) EUV lithography anticipated for late 2024, lies in the Resolution, Line Width Roughness, and Sensitivity (RLS) trade-off. PiBond has been actively addressing this challenge by developing silicon photoresist (SiPR) based on chemically modified HSQ siloxane chemistry, consisting of a single polymer component. This resist, a non-metal negative tone, high Si-containing, employs the industry-standard TMAH developer. Previously, we achieved a resolution of 32nm pitch with a dose of 170mJ/cm² and a Line Width Roughness (LWR) of 5.3nm. In this study, we synthesized a novel chemically modified HSQ-type siloxane resist to enhance RLS characteristics, assessing its performance using both Electron Beam Lithography (EBL) and EUVL. Utilizing the EUV Interference Lithography tool at PSI, we obtained a 28nm pitch resolution with an improved LWR of approximately 3.2nm, while controlling the dose-to-size to about 120mJ/cm². Furthermore, by employing a suitable silicon hard mask underlayer developed in-house, we further enhanced sensitivity by 24% at 28nm pitch and 38% at 30nm pitch resolution. Crucially, we established correlations between EBL and EUV for our SiPR, leveraging the accessibility of EBL compared to EUV tools. Leveraging these correlations, we effectively utilized EBL to investigate the newly synthesized resist and optimize processing conditions. Our findings demonstrate the significant impact of both resist functionalization and processing conditions on the final lithography performance.

Conference Presentation

(2024) Published by SPIE. Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.

Citation Download Citation

Luong Nguyen Dang, Li-Ting Tseng, Anil Rajak, Thomas Gädda, Markus Laukkanen, Jagadish Salunke, Shima Moosakkani, Jyri Paulasaari, Juha Rantala, Michaela Vockenhuber, Dimitrios Kazazis, and Yasin Ekinci "Designing EUV negative tone resist and underlayer approaches exhibiting 14nm half-pitch resolution", Proc. SPIE 12957, Advances in Patterning Materials and Processes XLI, 129570I (9 April 2024); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.3014297

ACCESS THE FULL ARTICLE

INSTITUTIONAL
Select your institution to access the SPIE Digital Library.

SELECT YOUR INSTITUTION

PERSONAL
Sign in with your SPIE account to access your personal subscriptions or to use specific features such as save to my library, sign up for alerts, save searches, etc.

PERSONAL SIGN IN

No SPIE Account? Create one

PURCHASE THIS CONTENT

SUBSCRIBE TO DIGITAL LIBRARY

50 downloads per 1-year subscription

Members: $195

Non-members: $335 ADD TO CART

25 downloads per 1 - year subscription

Members: $145

Non-members: $250 ADD TO CART

PURCHASE SINGLE ARTICLE

Includes PDF, HTML & Video, when available