Resist Materials for Extreme Ultraviolet Lithography: Toward Low-Cost Single-Digit-Nanometer Patterning
Paul D Ashby1, Deirdre L Olynick1, D Frank Ogletree1
1The Molecular Foundry, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, 1 Cyclotron Rd, Berkeley, CA, 94720, USA.
Advanced Materials (Deerfield Beach, Fla.)
|June 17, 2015
Summary
Developing advanced extreme ultraviolet lithography (EUVL) resists is crucial for next-generation semiconductor manufacturing. New high-absorbance materials show promise for patterning sub-10 nm features with improved resolution and reduced roughness.
Area of Science:
- Materials Science
- Semiconductor Manufacturing
- Nanotechnology
Background:
- Extreme ultraviolet lithography (EUVL) is essential for continued miniaturization of computational components.
- Next-generation resists must achieve 10 nm critical dimensions, 1.2 nm line-edge roughness, and 20 mJ cm(-2) exposure dose.
- Current EUVL resist development faces significant performance challenges.
Purpose of the Study:
- To review the current state of EUVL resist material development.
- To describe pattern formation in resist materials using the Hansen solubility sphere (HSS) model.
- To discuss recent progress in EUVL resist chemistry and characterization.
Main Methods:
- Review of existing literature on EUVL resist materials.
- Application of the Hansen solubility sphere (HSS) model to understand pattern development.
- Analysis of chemically amplified resist materials and novel high-absorbance materials.
Main Results:
- Incremental advances are achieved by adapting 193 nm lithography resists for EUV wavelengths.
- Synthesizing high-absorbance resist materials with heavier atoms offers significant potential for improvement.
- The HSS model provides a framework for understanding and optimizing resist material properties.
Conclusions:
- High-absorbance resist materials synthesized with heavier atoms show great promise for high-performance EUVL.
- Further development within the HSS framework can lead to resists capable of patterning sub-10 nm features.
- EUVL resist technology is critical for the future of semiconductor miniaturization.
