Coater/developer-based techniques to achieve tight pitches towards high-NA EUV

Abstract

As the semiconductor industry continues to push the limits of integrated circuit fabrication, reliance on extreme ultraviolet lithography (EUVL) has increased. Additionally, it has become clear that new techniques and methods are needed to mitigate pattern defectivity and roughness at lithography and etching and eliminate film-related defects. These approaches require further improvements to the process chemicals and the lithography process equipment to achieve finer patterns [1]. This paper reviews the ongoing progress in coater/developer processes to enable EUV patterning with sub-30 nm line and space and sub-40 nm pillars by using metal oxide resist (MOR). We show that combining new material with optimized illumination and processes helped reduce the minimum critical dimension size, defectivity, and roughness