Critical Dimension Scanning Electron Microscope (CD-SEM) recipe creation needs sample
preparation necessary for matching pattern registration, and recipe creation on CD-SEM using the
sample, which hinders the reduction in test production cost and time in semiconductor
manufacturing factories. From the perspective of cost reduction and improvement of the test
production efficiency, automated CD-SEM recipe creation without the sample preparation and the
manual operation has been important in the production lines. For the automated CD-SEM recipe
creation, we have introduced RecipeDirector (RD) that enables the recipe creation by using
Computer-Aided Design (CAD) data and text data that includes measurement information. We have
developed a system that automatically creates the CAD data and the text data necessary for the
recipe creation on RD; and, for the elimination of the manual operation, we have enhanced RD so
that all measurement information can be specified in the text data. As a result, we have established
an automated CD-SEM recipe creation system without the sample preparation and the manual
operation. For the introduction of the CD-SEM recipe creation system using RD to the production
lines, the accuracy of the pattern matching was an issue. The shape of design templates for the
matching created from the CAD data was different from that of SEM images in vision. Thus, a
development of robust pattern matching algorithm that considers the shape difference was needed.
The addition of image processing of the templates for the matching and shape processing of the CAD
patterns in the lower layer has enabled the robust pattern matching.
This paper describes the automated CD-SEM recipe creation technology for the production lines
without the sample preparation and the manual operation using RD applied in Sony Semiconductor
Kyusyu Corporation Kumamoto Technology Center (SCK Corporation Kumamoto TEC).
For the purpose of finding feasible dual-BARC (Bottom Anti-Reflective Coating) parameters for immersion lithography that do not depend on the polarization of light, illumination conditions and pattern sizes and pitches, comprehensive optimizations of the dual-BARC parameters were performed. A computational code was developed that performs automatic and comprehensive optimizations of dual-BARC parameters under any kind of conditions. Margins of dual-BARC parameters, which assure the substrate reflectance to be lower than a desired value, were also estimated by using the code. Dual-BARC parameters to minimize the substrate reflectance were successfully obtained for the BARC formed on a silicon oxide and nitride layer for cases of NA being 1.0, 1.1, 1.2 and 1.3 to 1.4. The thickness of the silicon oxide and nitride layer was varied from 10 to 200 nm. It was found that the dual-BARC concept works up to NA = 1.1 and 1.4 for the BARC on a silicon oxide and a silicon nitride layer, respectively, although for the case of the dual BARC on a silicon oxide layer, the range of the thickness of the oxide layer where the dual-BARC concept works is limited. In addition, for both of the cases of the dual BARC on silicon oxide and nitride, it was calculated that the top-layer of the dual BARC has to be extremely thin. Feasibility of using a layer structure consisting of a planarization and hardmask layer as a reflection-control structure was also examined. This showed that this concept can work up to NA = 1.2 and 1.4 for the case on silicon oxide and nitride, respectively. Finally, a routine to optimize graded-BARC structure was successfully implemented into our computational code. By using the routine, advantages of the graded-BARC concept over the dual-BARC concept in terms of suppressing substrate reflectance were demonstrated.
Changes in chemical nature of an ArF photoresist caused by various plasmas were analyzed, and it was found that the HBr plasma treatment induces a selective detachment of a heterocyclic unit of the photoresist, and the detached unit remains in the photoresist film. Thermomechanical analyses were performed, which showed that the softening temperature of the photoresist decreases by the HBr treatment, indicating that the detached heterocyclic unit acts as a plasticizer in the photoresist film. These results showed that the HBr treatment can be regarded as a softening process of the photoresist. This HBr treatment was applied to the fabrication of line patterns and it was shown that the treatment remarkably improves LWR (line width roughness) after etching. This improvement was more pronounced for the case of an isolated pattern than the case of a dense pattern. Further investigations on the HBr treatment were performed by changing the copolymerization ratio of a monomer containing the heterocyclic unit. It was shown that the reduction of LWR by the HBr treatment becomes more enhanced when the copolymerization ratio increases. However, an intensive HBr treatment was found to deteriorate LWR, showing that there is an optimum condition of the HBr treatment in terms of improving LWR.
Proximity electron lithography (PEL) using the ultra-thin tri-layer resist system has been successfully integrated in our dual-damascene Cu/low-k interconnects technology for the 90-nm node. Critical comparison between conventional ArF lithography and PEL as to the via-chain yield for test element groups (TEGs) including approximately 2.9 million via chains was performed to demonstrate its production feasibility.
The lithographic performance of the low-energy electron-beam proximity-projection lithography (LEEPL) tool is demonstrated in terms of printability and overlay accuracy to establish the feasibility of proximity electron lithography (PEL) for the 65-nm technology node. The CD uniformity of 5.8 nm is achieved for the 1× stencil mask, and the mask patterns are transferred onto chemically amplified resist layers, coupled with a conformal multilayer process with the mask-error enhancement factor of nearly unity. Meanwhile, the overlay accuracy of 27.8 nm is achieved in the context of mix and match with the ArF scanner, and it is also shown that real-time correction for chip magnification, enabled by the use of die-by-die alignment and electron beam, can further reduce the error down to 21.3 nm. On the basis of the printability of programmed defects, it is shown that the most critical challenge to be solved for the application to production is the quality assurance of masks such as defect inspection and repair.
Low-energy electron-beam proximity projection lithography (LEEPL) has been developed for sub-65 nm lithography. Critical dimension (CD) control of resist patterns is critical to be a production-worthy lithography technique. In this study, the LEEPL mass-production tool was used to print 180-nm-pitch contact holes in a tri-layer resist and the CD uniformity of the contact holes was analyzed to know primary issues degrading process maturity. The intra-wafer CD uniformity in an 8" wafer was 15.8 nm. Temperature fluctuation during a resist-baking process had little impact on the inter-shot CD uniformity of 3.5 nm because the CD variation was less than 0.4 nm when the baking temperature increased by 1 degree C. The CD uniformity of the 8" silicon stencil mask used in this study was 4.7 nm, which was a primary factor of the intra-shot CD uniformity of 8.8 nm. The impacts of causes of a mask error enhancement factor (MEEF) on the intra-shot CD uniformity were calculated based on the quantitative analysis of the blur of a latent image profile. The electron-optical blur caused by lens aberrations and the Coulomb effect accounted for 4.5 nm of the total uniformity, and it would be improved by 4.0 nm if there was no blur by scattering of 2 keV electrons in a 70-nm-thick resist. Although causes of residual 12.6 nm were attributed to pattern edge roughness (10.1 nm), statistical fluctuation of exposure dose (3.2 nm), and traceability of a scanning electron microscope (1.6 nm), the origin for 6.7 nm remained unknown. This unknown CD variation jumped from 2.6 nm to 6.7 nm when the CD shrank from 150 nm to 90 nm. Since the pattern edge roughness accounts for the largest portion of the CD uniformity, making the contact holes perfectly round by optimizing process conditions is most effective in improving the CD uniformity for the current LEEPL process.
Low-energy electron-beam proximity-projection lithography (LEEPL) is considered the best candidate for the next-generation lithography (NGL) tool because a production tool will be available for 65nm-node mass production. Resolution capability has already exceeded the 65nm-node requirement and possibly also the 45nm-node requirement. Although LEEPL requires a resist less than 100nm thick to obtain the resolution, our tri-layer resist process provides the critical-dimension (CD) uniformity and dry-etching resistance necessary for fabricating 90nm-node via holes. As regards an overlay, a LEEPL tool aligned to an under layer printed by an ArF scanner attained 21.3nm (three sigma) overlay error, which exceeds the requirement for the 65nm node. Another concern with LEEPL application is mask contamination growth during exposure, however the contamination growth rate is gradual that the CD shift due to the contamination is under control. We applied LEEPL to 90nm-node via hole fabrication to examine whether it provides a higher resolution than an ArF scanner. We determined that the electrical-resistance limit for LEEPL is approximately 100nm diameter for a via hole and the limit for an ArF scanner is approximately 125nm diameter. Even without process optimization, LEEPL showed its advantages for via-hole fabrication over an ArF scanner.
The placement-error correction for low-energy electron-beam proximity-projection lithography (LEEPL) has been demonstrated to enable the overlay accuracy of 23 nm that meets the requirement for the 65-nm node. The overlay accuracy for LEEPL-ArF mix-and-match lithography has been analyzed, focusing separately on the intra-field error, the inter-field error, and the dynamic fluctuation over different wafers. It has been found that the intra-field error, mainly due to the distortion of a 1x stencil mask, can be effectively corrected for by using the fine deflection of the electron beam, a unique capability of the LEEPL exposure equipment. In addition, the inter-field error can be suppressed by correcting in real time for the magnification error of each chip detected by the die-by-die alignment system. The dynamic variation in the total overlay error is also small, and the overall alignment accuracy is fairly compatible with the preliminary overlay budget.
Imaging capabilities of low-energy electron-beam proximity-projection lithography (LEEPL) are discussed focusing mainly on the hole patterns for chemically amplified resist. LEEPL needs a multi-layer process with a resist layer less than 100 nm thick. To achieve the imaging performance of the 65nm node, we optimized intermediate spin-on-glass layer and top-layer resist, which were selected carefully. 80 nm hole patterns were achieved with 10% exposure latitude, and current imaging position and 45 nm node positions were investigated using σQBP. σQBP was improved from 64.5 nm to 48.9 nm.
The technological systematics for low-energy electron-beam proximity-projection lithography (LEEPL) is discussed with particular focuses on the key ingredients such as mask, resist and alignment. We have developed a mechanically rigid 1X stencil mask supported by a grid-work of struts, high-resolution chemically-amplified resists to be used for multi layer processes, and the accurate alignment method to overlay complementary split patterns. The LEEPL beta machine as combined with these techniques was successfully used to demonstrate its imaging capability for the 70 nm node.
A new high performance anti-reflective layer (ARL) for the i-line, KrF, and even for the ArF excimer laser lithography has been developed. It makes the KrF excimer laser (248 nm) lithography into a robust mass production tool beyond 2nd generation of 64 MDRAM class devices, and simultaneously the ArF excimer laser (193 nm) into a promising candidate for a 1 GDRAM class lithography tool. This new ARL, whose material is a type of hydrogenated silicon oxynitride film (SiOxNy:H), can be applied to both the various high reflective substrates by controlling the deposition conditions and the chemically amplified photoresist without pattern degradation caused by film compositions. On the actual device structures, notching effects by halation are completely reduced with these SiOxNy:H films as an ARL. Moreover, these SiOxNy:H films can be left in the device structure.
The frequency stabilization of a semiconductor laser has usually been performed by applying a small modulation directly to the injection current. This paper reports a few frequency stabilization methods without a direct modulation, i.e., without a frequency broadening. These stabilization methods use the Faraday effect and/or the Zeeman effect of a saturated absorption line of the Rb atoms to obtain a control signal which is feedback to the injection current. These methods provide a better frequency stability and frequency control compared with the method using the direct modulation.
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