Section 2: Lithography

Jaeger Chapter 2
Litho Reader

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The lithographic process

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Photolithographic Process
(a) Substrate covered with silicon
dioxide barrier layer
(b) Positive photoresist applied to
wafer surface
(c) Mask in close proximity to
surface
(d) Substrate following resist
exposure and development
(e) Substrate after etching of
oxide layer
(f) Oxide barrier on surface after
resist removal
(g) View of substrate with silicon
dioxide pattern on the surface

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Photomasks - CAD Layout

• Composite drawing of the masks

for a simple integrated circuit
using a four-mask process

• Drawn with computer layout

system

• Complex state-of-the-art CMOS

processes may use 25 masks or
more

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 Photo Masks
• Example of 10X reticle for the metal
mask - this particular mask is ten
times final size (10 μm minimum
feature size - huge!)

• Used in step-and-repeat operation

• One mask for each lithography level

in process

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Lithographic Process

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 Printing Techniques
Contact Proximity Projection
printing printing printing • Contact printing damages the mask
and the wafer and limits the number
of times the mask can be used

• Proximity printing eliminates

damage

• Projection printing can operate in

reduction mode with direct step-on-
wafer

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Contact Printing

hv

Photo photoresist
Mask
Plate
wafer

Resolution R < 0.5μm

mask plate is easily damaged

or accumulates defects

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 Proximity Printing
hv

g~20μm Photoresist

wafer exposed

R is proportional to ( λ g ) 1/2

~ 1μm for visible photons,

much smaller for X-ray lithography

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Projection Printing

hv De-Magnification: nX

10X stepper
4X stepper
lens 1X stepper

focal plane
P.R.
wafer
~0.2 μm resolution (deep UV photons)
tradeoff: optics complicated and expensive

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 Diffraction

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Aerial Images
formed by Contact Printing, Proximity Printing and Projection Printing

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 Photon Sources
• Hg Arc lamps 436(G-line), 405(H-line), 365(I-line) nm
• Excimer lasers: KrF (248nm) and ArF (193nm)
• Laser pulsed plasma (13nm, EUV)

Source Monitoring

• Filters can be used to limit exposure wavelengths

• Intensity uniformity has to be better than several % over the collection area
• Needs spectral exposure meter for routine calibration due to aging

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Optical Projection Printing Modules

Optical System:
illumination and lens

Resist: exposure, post-exposure

bake and dissolution

Mask: transmission and

diffraction

Wafer Topography:
scattering

Alignment:

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 Optical Stepper
field size increases
with future ICs
scribe line

1 2
wafer
Image
field Translational
motion

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Resolution in Projection Printing

f = focal distance
d = lens diameter

Minimum separation of a
star to be visible.

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 Resolution limits in projection printing

=n.sinϴ, where n is the index of refraction

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Depth of Focus (DOF)

point

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Example of DOF problem

Photo mask

Δ
Field
Oxide

Different photo images

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 Tradeoffs in projection lithography
λ
(1) lm ≅ 0.6 want small lm
NA
λ
( 2) DOF = ± want large DOF
2( NA)
2

(1)
(1)and
and(2)
(2)require
requireaacompromise between λλand
compromisebetween andNA
NA!!

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Sub-resolution exposure: Phase Shifting Masks

Pattern transfer of two closely

spaced lines
(a) Conventional mask
technology - lines not
resolved
(b) Lines can be resolved
with phase-shift
technology

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 Immersion Lithography
•A liquid with index of refraction n>1 is introduced between the
imaging optics and the wafer.
Advantages
1) Resolution is improved
proportionately to n. For
water, the index of
refraction at λ = 193 nm
is 1.44, improving the
resolution significantly,
from 90 to 64 nm.
2) Increased depth of focus at
larger features, even those
that are printable with dry
lithography.

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Image Quality Metric: Contrast

Contrast is also sometimes referred as the Modulation Transfer Function (MTF)

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 Questions:

How does contrast change as a function of feature size?

How does contrast change for coherent vs. partially coherent light?

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Image Quality metric: Slope of image

* simulated aerial image of an isolated line

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 The need for high contrast
Optical image
Infinite
contrast Finite
contrast

resist resist resist resist

substrate substrate

Position x
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Resists for Lithography

• Resists
– Positive
– Negative

• Exposure Sources
– Light
– Electron beams
– Xray sensitive

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 Two Resist Types
• Negative Resist
– Composition:
• Polymer (Molecular Weight (MW) ~65000)
• Light Sensitive Additive: Promotes Crosslinking
• Volatile Solvents
– Light breaks N-N in light sensitive additive => Crosslink Chains
– Sensitive, hard, Swelling during Develop
• Positive Resist
– Composition
• Polymer (MW~5000)
• Photoactive Dissolution Inhibitor (20%)
• Volatile Solvents
– Inhibitor Looses N2 => Alkali Soluble Acid
– Develops by “etching” - No Swelling.

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Positive P.R. Mechanism

Photons deactivate
sensitizer

⇒ dissolve
in developer
solution

polymer +
photosensitizer

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 Positive Resist
hv
100%
mask (linear
scale)
resist thickness remaining

exposed
Q
E Q
E exposure
part is P.R. 10 fT photon
removed energy
(log scale)

1
Resist contrast ≡
⎛ Qf ⎞
log10 ⎜ Q ÷
⎝ 0⎠

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Negative P.R. Mechanism

% remaining
hv
mask
after
development photon
QET Q energy
f E1 0

hv => cross-linking => insoluble in

developer solution.

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 Positive vs. Negative Photoresists

• Positive P.R.:
9 higher resolution
9 aqueous-based solvents
8 less sensitive

• Negative P.R.:
9 more sensitive => higher exposure throughput
9 relatively tolerant of developing conditions
9 better chemical resistance => better mask material
9 less expensive
8 lower resolution
8 organic-based solvents

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Overlay Errors
alignment
+ + mask

wafer

+ +

photomask Alignment
plate marks
from
previous
masking
level

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 (1) Thermal Run-in/Run-out errors

R = r ⋅ (ΔTm ⋅αm −ΔTsi ⋅αsi )

run-out wafer
error radius

ΔTm , ΔTsi = change of mask and wafer temp.

α m , α si = coefficient of thermal expansion of
mask & Si
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Rotational / Translational Errors

(2) Translational Error

Al image

n+
p referrer
(3) Rotational Error

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 Overlay implications: Contacts
Al
SiO2 SiO2 “ideal”
n+
p-Si

Al
SiO2 SiO2
n+ “short”, ohmic contact
Alignment error Δ
p-Si
Solution: Design n+ region larger than contact hole

Al

SiO2 SiO2
n+

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Overlay implications: Gate edge

S/D implant
“Ideal” Fox n+ Electrical
short

“With
alignment
error”

poly-gate
Solution: Make poly gate longer to overlap the FOX

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 Total Overlay Tolerance

σ 2
total = ∑σi 2

σi = std. deviation of overlay error for ith masking step

σtotal = std. deviation for total overlay error

Layout design-rule specification should be > σtotal

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Standing Waves
hv

Higher Intensity Faster Development rate

Lower Intensity Slower Development rate

Positive
Photoresist

substrate
Positive
After development Photoresist.
substrate

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 Standing waves in photoresists

x
P.R. d

SiO2/Si substrate

λ
Intensity = minimum when x = d −m m = 0, 1, 2,...
2n
λ
Intensity = maximum when x = d −m m = 1, 3, 5,...
n = refractive index of resist
4n
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Proximity Scattering

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Approaches for Reducing Substrate Effects
• Use absorption dyes in photoresist
• Use anti-reflection coating (ARC)
• Use multi-layer resist process
1: thin planar layer for high-resolution imaging (imaging layer)
2: thin develop-stop layer, used for pattern transfer to 3 (etch stop)
3: thick layer of hardened resist (planarization layer)

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Electron-Beam Lithography

12.3 Angstroms
λ= for V in Volts
V
Example: 30 kV e-beam
=> λ = 0.07 Angstroms
NA = 0.002 – 0.005
Resolution < 1 nm
But beam current needs
to be 10’s of mA for a
throughput of more
than 10 wafers an hour.

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 Types of Ebeam Systems

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Resolution limits in e-beam lithography

resolution factors
• beam quality ( ~1 nm)
• secondary electrons ( lateral range: few nm)

performance records
organic resist PMMA ~ 7 nm
inorganic resist, b.v. AlF3 ~ 1-2 nm

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The Proximity Effect

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 Richard Feynman

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Dip Pen Nanolithography

Dip-Pen Nanolithography: Transport of molecules to the surface via water meniscus.

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Dip-pen Lithography, Chad Mirkin, NWU

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Patterning of individual Xe atoms on Ni, by Eigler (IBM)

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