BackgroundTo meet the challenging lithography targets for extreme ultraviolet (EUV) processes, the importance of EUV material development has been growing ever since. For a successful design of photolithography process exhibiting high sensitivity and high pattern uniformity without any pattern defect formation, the development of an underlayer (UL) material that is specifically designed for the photoresist (PR) is considered essential.AimTo this end, understanding of the interfacial interaction between the PR and UL is considered critical for the material design.ApproachWe investigated the intermixing between PR and UL designed for the EUV negative-tone development (NTD) process.ResultsBased on our investigation, we could design a pattern defect-free NTD UL material by controlling the intermixing between the two layers.ConclusionsTo maximize the effect of the UL, the diffusion of UL components into the PR layer was promoted while preventing the diffusion of PR components into the UL layer. To control the direction of interdiffusion between the layers, we present various ways to modify the physicochemical properties of UL, which was effective in reducing the pattern defect formation.
With the continuous scaling down of device size, the development of photoresist materials with high sensitivity and low pattern roughness has become of greater importance in order to achieve finer pattern structure required for advanced next-generation devices. The major obstacle that delays the material development process is the difficulty in predicting the changes in pattern profile depending on exposure conditions, such as dose, illumination system and reticle type. Moreover, the prediction becomes more difficult for schemes with complex pattern structures, since there can be discrepancy in photo-activity of different resist components according to the variation in the amount of incoming light intensity. Herein, we demonstrate a method to estimate the lithographic performance of a photoresist material by advanced contrast curve analysis. With this method, we were able to identify the key photoresist component leading to discrepancy between the pillar pattern profiles at bock-center and block-edge, and apply to the design of the best performing NTD CAR-type photoresist for fine pillar pattern with improved pattern uniformity. This contrast curve analysis method allows efficient material screening by assessing the lithographic performance of different resist materials without actual pattern evaluation by electron microscopy. We expect that this method will greatly contribute to the acceleration of the material development process for next-generation devices.
Access to the requested content is limited to institutions that have purchased or subscribe to SPIE eBooks.
You are receiving this notice because your organization may not have SPIE eBooks access.*
*Shibboleth/Open Athens users─please
sign in
to access your institution's subscriptions.
To obtain this item, you may purchase the complete book in print or electronic format on
SPIE.org.
INSTITUTIONAL Select your institution to access the SPIE Digital Library.
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.