Pushing the boundaries of random logic metal patterning with low-n EUV single exposure

Syamashree Roy; Arame Thiam; Kaushik Sah; Yannick Feurprier; Nobuyuki Fukui; Kathleen Nafus; Kenichi Miyaguchi; Dieter Van den Heuvel; Balakumar Baskaran; Joost Bekaert; Andrew Cross; Mircea Dusa; Victor M. Blanco Carballo

doi:10.1117/12.3010868

10 April 2024 Pushing the boundaries of random logic metal patterning with low-n EUV single exposure

Syamashree Roy, Arame Thiam, Kaushik Sah, Yannick Feurprier, Nobuyuki Fukui, Kathleen Nafus, Kenichi Miyaguchi, Dieter Van den Heuvel, Balakumar Baskaran, Joost Bekaert, Andrew Cross, Mircea Dusa, Victor M. Blanco Carballo

Author Affiliations +

Proceedings Volume 12953, Optical and EUV Nanolithography XXXVII; 129530X (2024) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.3010868
Event: SPIE Advanced Lithography + Patterning, 2024, San Jose, California, United States

Abstract

As the semiconductor industry progresses towards the 2nm logic technology node in pursuit of improved chip performance and density, the demand for minimum pitch scaling in the back-end-of-line (BEOL) interconnect becomes crucial. Imec N3 logic design rules defined a minimum Metal 2 (M2) layer pitch of 30 nm, representing 2nm technology nodes. To further enhance semiconductor integrated circuit performance, attention is shifting towards advanced mask materials for current 0.33 NA EUV scanners. Low-n masks have been shown to improve extreme ultraviolet (EUV) imaging performance in terms of Local-CDU (LCDU), reduced mask 3D effects and improved optical contrast compared to a Tabased mask. In our study, we observed notable enhancements in optical contrast for real logic designs using a low-n mask. Our findings demonstrate an impressive LCDU of 5.5 nm and CGDU of 5.5 nm for Place’n’Route (PnR) structures at a pitch of 32. Furthermore, we successfully printed tip-to-tip (T2T) features as small as 20 nm on the wafer for regular tip-to-tip structures that didn’t get any Optical proximity Correction (OPC). These advancements mark significant progress towards manufacturability and developing a holistic patterning approach for random logic metal with EUV.

Conference Presentation

(2024) Published by SPIE. Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.

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Syamashree Roy, Arame Thiam, Kaushik Sah, Yannick Feurprier, Nobuyuki Fukui, Kathleen Nafus, Kenichi Miyaguchi, Dieter Van den Heuvel, Balakumar Baskaran, Joost Bekaert, Andrew Cross, Mircea Dusa, and Victor M. Blanco Carballo "Pushing the boundaries of random logic metal patterning with low-n EUV single exposure", Proc. SPIE 12953, Optical and EUV Nanolithography XXXVII, 129530X (10 April 2024); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.3010868

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