Benchmarking study of EUV resists for NXE:3300B

EUV lithographers have continued to reduce the barriers to high Volume Manufacturing (HVM) introduction. Tool, mask and photoresist manufacturers have made excellent progress on several fronts, including resolution of many EUV source related issues, resists for early imaging characterization, and defect inspection tooling. In this discussion, we will focus on photoresist development. For many years, the team at SUNY Polytechnic Institute (SUNY Poly) has provided results from a neutral photoresist benchmarking study, which has been quite useful in establishing the limits of currently available photoresist systems [1-5]. New photoresist systems are being developed with improving resolution, but they also have lower coated thicknesses. In an effort to continue to point out potential lithographic problem areas, SUNY Poly has been evaluating the ‘etch compatibility’ of the best performing photoresists available in order to determine if the decreasing aspect ratios would prove a detriment to etch performance. In this paper, we will show data from our most recent benchmark study. We will also include smoothing process results, as well as some post-etch results obtained using the NXE:3300B resident on the SUNY Poly campus.