Proximity electron lithography (PEL) using the ultra-thin tri-layer resist system has been successfully integrated in our dual-damascene Cu/low-k interconnects technology for the 90-nm node. Critical comparison between conventional ArF lithography and PEL as to the via-chain yield for test element groups (TEGs) including approximately 2.9 million via chains was performed to demonstrate its production feasibility.
We report the first evaluation results for the printability and detectability of mask defects on a 1x stencil mask as used for proximity electron lithography (PEL). The defect printability has been defined for the patterns after the multi-step etching process through the tri-layer resist system inherently required for the use of low-energy electrons and the substrate. According to the three-dimensional lithography simulation, this definition is preferable to the conventional one based on the resist patterns prior to the etching process in the point that smoothing effects on defects are automatically taken into account. The critical size of printable defects as defined is 22 nm for 140 nm contact holes, while the stringent value of 16 nm is predicted in the conventional definition. Also, the detectability of the printable defects has been assessed by using the transmission electron-beam (EB) inspection tool. The assessment has been performed for both programmed defects and real defects occurred in contact-hole arrays. For the programmed defects, the perfect repeatability has been demonstrated for all the defects with printable sizes. In addition, real defects with the size of 15 nm have been successfully detected in the contact-hole arrays. Therefore, this study has demonstrated the manufacturability of PEL masks from the viewpoint of defect inspection.
The lithographic performance of the low-energy electron-beam proximity-projection lithography (LEEPL) tool is demonstrated in terms of printability and overlay accuracy to establish the feasibility of proximity electron lithography (PEL) for the 65-nm technology node. The CD uniformity of 5.8 nm is achieved for the 1× stencil mask, and the mask patterns are transferred onto chemically amplified resist layers, coupled with a conformal multilayer process with the mask-error enhancement factor of nearly unity. Meanwhile, the overlay accuracy of 27.8 nm is achieved in the context of mix and match with the ArF scanner, and it is also shown that real-time correction for chip magnification, enabled by the use of die-by-die alignment and electron beam, can further reduce the error down to 21.3 nm. On the basis of the printability of programmed defects, it is shown that the most critical challenge to be solved for the application to production is the quality assurance of masks such as defect inspection and repair.
Low-energy electron-beam proximity projection lithography (LEEPL) has been developed for sub-65 nm lithography. Critical dimension (CD) control of resist patterns is critical to be a production-worthy lithography technique. In this study, the LEEPL mass-production tool was used to print 180-nm-pitch contact holes in a tri-layer resist and the CD uniformity of the contact holes was analyzed to know primary issues degrading process maturity. The intra-wafer CD uniformity in an 8" wafer was 15.8 nm. Temperature fluctuation during a resist-baking process had little impact on the inter-shot CD uniformity of 3.5 nm because the CD variation was less than 0.4 nm when the baking temperature increased by 1 degree C. The CD uniformity of the 8" silicon stencil mask used in this study was 4.7 nm, which was a primary factor of the intra-shot CD uniformity of 8.8 nm. The impacts of causes of a mask error enhancement factor (MEEF) on the intra-shot CD uniformity were calculated based on the quantitative analysis of the blur of a latent image profile. The electron-optical blur caused by lens aberrations and the Coulomb effect accounted for 4.5 nm of the total uniformity, and it would be improved by 4.0 nm if there was no blur by scattering of 2 keV electrons in a 70-nm-thick resist. Although causes of residual 12.6 nm were attributed to pattern edge roughness (10.1 nm), statistical fluctuation of exposure dose (3.2 nm), and traceability of a scanning electron microscope (1.6 nm), the origin for 6.7 nm remained unknown. This unknown CD variation jumped from 2.6 nm to 6.7 nm when the CD shrank from 150 nm to 90 nm. Since the pattern edge roughness accounts for the largest portion of the CD uniformity, making the contact holes perfectly round by optimizing process conditions is most effective in improving the CD uniformity for the current LEEPL process.
Low-energy electron-beam proximity-projection lithography (LEEPL) is considered the best candidate for the next-generation lithography (NGL) tool because a production tool will be available for 65nm-node mass production. Resolution capability has already exceeded the 65nm-node requirement and possibly also the 45nm-node requirement. Although LEEPL requires a resist less than 100nm thick to obtain the resolution, our tri-layer resist process provides the critical-dimension (CD) uniformity and dry-etching resistance necessary for fabricating 90nm-node via holes. As regards an overlay, a LEEPL tool aligned to an under layer printed by an ArF scanner attained 21.3nm (three sigma) overlay error, which exceeds the requirement for the 65nm node. Another concern with LEEPL application is mask contamination growth during exposure, however the contamination growth rate is gradual that the CD shift due to the contamination is under control. We applied LEEPL to 90nm-node via hole fabrication to examine whether it provides a higher resolution than an ArF scanner. We determined that the electrical-resistance limit for LEEPL is approximately 100nm diameter for a via hole and the limit for an ArF scanner is approximately 125nm diameter. Even without process optimization, LEEPL showed its advantages for via-hole fabrication over an ArF scanner.
The performance of the LEEPL production tool is discussed from the framework of the litho-and-mask concurrent development schemes to establish the feasibility of proximity electron lithography (PEL) especially for contact and via layers in the 65-nm technology node. The critical-dimension (CD) uniformity of 4.7 nm has been achieved for 90-nm contact holes over the 1x stencil mask. Thus, the mask patterns can be transferred onto the resist layer with CD errors of less than 10%, even if the mask-error enhancement factor (MEEF) of 1.6 is taken into account. The mask manufacturability is improved if the MEEF further decreases via the use of thinner resists. Meanwhile, the overlay accuracy of 21.1 nm has been achieved in mix-and-match with the ArF scanner, with the intra-field error of only 5.1 nm owing to the real-time correction for the mask distortion. Also, the conditions for splitting dense lines into two complementary portions have been determined to avoid the pattern collapse in wet-cleaning and drying processes. The critical length of 2 mm is fairly safe for 70-nm lines if the low-damage drying is employed. The inspection tool based on transmission electron images cannot detect all printable defects without further optimization, hence a future challenge.
We propose the efficient on-site use of a 1x stencil mask for proximity electron lithography (PEL) for controlling image placement (IP) and critical dimension (CD). It has been demonstrated that the integrated approach to the IP-error correction on the mask-fabrication level using the data manipulation and the mask-exposure level using the deflection of an electron beam (EB) can meet the requirement for the overlay accuracy in the 65-nm technology node. Also, the time-dependent variation in mask CD due to EB-assisted contamination growth can be managed by using the combination of the dose control and the periodic dry cleaning of the mask.
The critical-dimension (CD) performance and the printability of 1x stencil masks used for low-energy electron-beam proximity-projection lithography (LEEPL) have been studied by using the LEEPL β-tool. The CD uniformity and the line edge roughness on the mask are 6.0 nm and 3.5 nm in 3σ, respectively. It has been found that the fidelity of the etching process is so high that the optimization of the electron-beam writing process is critical to perforate high-quality patterns. The mask error enhancement factor evaluated over 80-100 nm lies is nearly unity, demonstrating the excellent fidelity of image transfer from the mask to a wafer. The critical defect sizes are 14.5 and 22.8 nm for the protrusions on the edges of 100-nm lines and the 150-nm contact holes respectively, implying that defect inspection is a challenge. The current achievements and the final targets in the 65-nm node are compared to assess the gap that must be bridged.
LEEPL is a new electron beam exposure technology proposed in 1999. But, fundamental technologies used for LEEPL had been proposed and proved over the past one or two decades. By using existing technologies effectively, LEEPL can be developed in a short period. Fortunately, contact holes less than 100nm are required for 65nm-node lithography. We have the specific target for early implementation of the device fabrication. This paper describes the imaging capability, the image placement accuracy and the process application.
The placement-error correction for low-energy electron-beam proximity-projection lithography (LEEPL) has been demonstrated to enable the overlay accuracy of 23 nm that meets the requirement for the 65-nm node. The overlay accuracy for LEEPL-ArF mix-and-match lithography has been analyzed, focusing separately on the intra-field error, the inter-field error, and the dynamic fluctuation over different wafers. It has been found that the intra-field error, mainly due to the distortion of a 1x stencil mask, can be effectively corrected for by using the fine deflection of the electron beam, a unique capability of the LEEPL exposure equipment. In addition, the inter-field error can be suppressed by correcting in real time for the magnification error of each chip detected by the die-by-die alignment system. The dynamic variation in the total overlay error is also small, and the overall alignment accuracy is fairly compatible with the preliminary overlay budget.
Imaging capabilities of low-energy electron-beam proximity-projection lithography (LEEPL) are discussed focusing mainly on the hole patterns for chemically amplified resist. LEEPL needs a multi-layer process with a resist layer less than 100 nm thick. To achieve the imaging performance of the 65nm node, we optimized intermediate spin-on-glass layer and top-layer resist, which were selected carefully. 80 nm hole patterns were achieved with 10% exposure latitude, and current imaging position and 45 nm node positions were investigated using σQBP. σQBP was improved from 64.5 nm to 48.9 nm.
In order to solve the various problems associated with a LEEPL mask as originally demonstrated in the form of single-membrane diamond mask, we propose a new mask format termed COSMOS (complementary stencil mask on strut-supports). The COSMOS has small-area membranes with strut reinforcement and is somewhat similar to the masks used for other types of electron projection lithography (EPL). However, the exposure strategy is completely different from the other EPLs; a complete pattern image can be transcribed by overlaying complementary portions of a mask pattern via multiple exposures. The inter-membrane and intra-membrane distortions of image placement have been computed by the finite element method (FEM) simulation. It is concluded that the global distortion induced by the inversion of gravity can be corrected for by mask writing, and the intra-membrane distortion, induced by both the gravitational flexure of a membrane and the pattern density distribution, can be neglected with the membrane intrinsic stress of approximately 5 Mpa..
The technological systematics for low-energy electron-beam proximity-projection lithography (LEEPL) is discussed with particular focuses on the key ingredients such as mask, resist and alignment. We have developed a mechanically rigid 1X stencil mask supported by a grid-work of struts, high-resolution chemically-amplified resists to be used for multi layer processes, and the accurate alignment method to overlay complementary split patterns. The LEEPL beta machine as combined with these techniques was successfully used to demonstrate its imaging capability for the 70 nm node.
Line edge roughness (LER) of resist patterns in electron beam (EB) lithography was measured to evaluate aperture mask degradation. LER was quantified using a scanning electron microscope (SEM) and the influence of SEM resolution on measured LER value was investigated. Degrading the SEM resolution reduced the measured LER value of an identical line pattern because smaller ripple at pattern edge cannot be detected from inferior SEM image. Cross-sectional SEM observation revealed that 90-days EB irradiation deposited carbon-based contamination on the mask surface, which increased LER from 4.7 nm to 6.4 nm and aggravated the resolution limit from 74 nm to 81 nm. The increase ratio in LER of the left edge of a line pattern was larger than that of the right edge, indicating that the degradation of bottom aperture located at the lower part of an EB direct writer was severer. 95-days EB exposure caused no degradation of the aperture mask. It was concluded that the electrification of the contamination affecting aerial-image quality increased LER.
At-size beam blur at any given pattern size of an electron beam (EB) direct writer, HL800D, was quantified using the new edge roughness evaluation (ERE) method to optimize the electron-optical system. We characterized the two-dimensional beam-blur dependence on the electron deflection length of the EB direct writer. The results indicate that the beam blur ranged from 45 nm to 56 nm in a deflection field 2520 micrometer square. The new ERE method is based on the experimental finding that line edge roughness of a resist pattern is inversely proportional to the slope of the Gaussian-distributed quasi-beam-profile (QBP) proposed in this paper. The QBP includes effects of the beam blur, electron forward scattering, acid diffusion in chemically amplified resist (CAR), the development process, and aperture mask quality. The application the ERE method to investigating the beam-blur fluctuation demonstrates the validity of the ERE method in characterizing the electron-optical column conditions of EB projections such as SCALPEL and PREVAIL.
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