Lithography

Outlines

What is lithography

Photolithography

Electron beam lithography

Nanolithography
What is Lithography
 Lithography comes from the Greek word, lithos, means "stone“ and
graphein, means "to write”.
 This method was invented in 1796 by German author and actor Alois
Senefelder as a cheap method of publishing art work on paper or to
print text.
 In this a pattern drawn onto a flat limestone and than paint the printing
ink onto the stone. While the stone background absorbs water, the
greasy substance holds wet ink on top.
 Press paper against the stone to transfer the pattern.
 In the 20th and 21st century, it becomes an important technique with
unique dramatic capabilities in the Art field.
 Many techniques of lithography have been developed in the last half a
century with various lens systems and exposure radiation sources
including photons, X-rays, electrons, ions and neutral atoms.
 Photolithography is the most widely used technique in microelectronic
fabrication, particularly for mass production of integrated circuits.
 Tool Kit for Lithography
In a semiconductor fabrication plant, the complete tool kit consists of at least the following steps:
(a) Oxidation
To place a protective layer of silicon dioxide of precise thickness onto the silicon.
(b) Masking
The photolithography step at which features are opened in the oxide window.
(c) Implantation
The doping step in which the exposed silicon is implanted with ions/e/x-rays/UV light to change its electronic
properties in the regions exposed through the oxide window. Doping is usually carried out with an ion accelerator,
and is combined with multiple steps of lithography to generate the needed regions of different types of doping.
(d) Etching
To remove oxide and cut other features into regions of the silicon. This includes making holes right through parts of
the structure for vertical wires called vias (enabling a three-dimensional layout of the devices).
(e) Metallization
For contacts, transistor gates, and interconnects between the various components. This is performed either by
evaporating or sputtering metal over an entire (masked) wafer. Metal can be deposited either by evaporation or by
electrochemical means.
(f) Lift-off
The complement of etching, is a process in which a number of layers are deposited on to a patterned photoresist
which is then dissolved, pulling away the layers on top of the removed resist and leaving them on top of the bare
semiconductor.
Photolithography
Photolithography is the process of transferring geometric shapes on a mask to the surface of a
silicon wafer.
Photolithography Steps:
1) Wafer Cleaning:
In the first step, the wafers are chemically cleaned to remove organic, ionic, and metallic
impurities.
2) Barrier Layer Formation:
After cleaning, silicon dioxide, which serves as a barrier layer, is deposited on the surface of
the wafer (100–2000 nm).
3) Photoresist Application:
Photoresist is applied to the surface of the wafer by high-speed centrifugal spinning. This
technique, known as "Spin Coating," produces a thin uniform layer of photoresist on the wafer
surface. In this process a liquid solution of photoresist is give out from the wafer by rapid spin
and produce uniform thin layer (0.5µm to 2.5µm). Spin coating/ spinner typically runs at
1200rpm to 4800rpm for 30sec to 60sec. Chemicals commonly use as photoresist are;
 Poly methyl methacrylate (PMMA)
 Poly methyl glutarimide (PMGI)
 Phenol formaldehyde resin (DNQ/Novolac)
a) Positive Photoresist:
Positive photoresists is exposed to UV light, the underlying material is to be removed.
In these resists, exposure to the UV light changes the chemical structure of the resist
so that it becomes more soluble in the developer. The exposed resist is then washed
away by the developer solution. In other words, "whatever shows, goes."
b) Negative Photoresist:
Negative photoresists behave in just the opposite manner. Exposure to the UV light
causes the negative resist to become polymerized, and more difficult to dissolve.
Therefore, the negative resist remains on the surface wherever it is exposed, and the
developer solution removes only the unexposed portions.
4) Prebaking:
Prebaking is the step during which almost all of the solvents are removed from the
photoresist. The photoresist become photosensitive after prebaking. Photoresist is
prebake at 90Co to 100Co for 5min to 30min.
5) Mask Alignment and Exposure:
A mask or "photo mask" is a square glass plate with a patterned combination of metal
film on one side pattern transferred onto the wafer surface. There are three primary
exposure methods: contact, proximity, and projection. They are shown in the figure
below.
 Contact Printing:
In contact printing wafer is brought into physical contact with photo mask. Because of
the contact between the resist and mask, very high resolution is possible. The problem
with contact printing is that fragments trapped between the resist and the mask, can
damage the mask and cause defects in the pattern.

 Proximity Printing:
The proximity exposure method is similar to contact printing except that a small gap,
10 to 25 microns wide is maintained between the wafer and the mask. This gap
minimizes (but may not eliminate) mask damage. Approximately 2 to 4 micron
resolution is possible with proximity printing.

 Projection Printing:
Projection printing avoids mask damage entirely. An image of the patterns on the
mask is projected onto the wafer, which is many centimetres away. To achieve high
resolution, only a small portion of the mask is imaged it has about 1-micron
resolution.
6) Development:
Development is a process in which exposed/non-exposed area is dissolved by
developer. Most commonly used developer is tetra methyl ammonium hydroxide is
used in concentrations of 0.2 - 0.26. Developer is important in controlling the
development uniformity. Therefore two methods are mainly used i.e. spin
development and spray development. During spin development wafers are spun and
developer is poured onto the rotating wafer. In spray development, the developer is
sprayed rather than poured, on the wafer by using a nozzle that produces a fine spray
over the wafer.

7) Hard-Baking:
The hard bake is used to harden the final resist image at the temperature (120°C -
150°C), so that it will hold out the harsh environments of etching.

8) Etching:
Etching is performed either using wet chemicals such as acids, or more commonly in a
dry etching (by exposing the material to a bombardment of ions) . The photoresist will
“resists” the etching and protects the material covered by the resist. When the etching
is complete, the resist is stripped leaving the desired pattern.
9. Stripping:
After the imaged wafer has been etched the remaining photoresist must be removed. There
are two classes of stripping techniques; wet stripping and dry stripping. A simple example of
stripper is acetone. Acetone tends to leave residues on the wafer. Most commercial organic
strippers are phenol-based.

Applications of Photolithography
Main application:
IC designing process
Other applications:
Printed electronic board, nameplate and printer plate.
Electron Beam Lithography
Electron Beam Lithography is a specialized technique for creating
extremely fine patterns. It is derived from the scanning electron
microscope. Electron beams can be focused to a few nanometres in
diameter.
The basic idea behind electron beam lithography is identical to
optical lithography. The substrate is coated with a thin layer of resist,
which is chemically changed under exposure to the electron beam, so
that the exposed/non-exposed areas can be dissolved in a specific
solvent.
Electron beam lithography is the most power full tool for the
fabrication of feathers as small as 3nm to 5 nm.
The EBL system is normally referred to as the column. An EBL column
(Fig. 4) typically consists of following components;
 Electron source:
Electrons may be emitted from a conducting material either by
heating or by applying an electricfield.
Stigmators:
A stigmator is a special type of lens used for the alignment of e-beam.
Stigmators may be either electrostatic or magnetic and consist of four
or more poles.
 Electron Lenses:
Electron lenses can be made only to converge, not diverge. Electrons
can be focused either by electrostatic forces or magnetic forces.
 Apertures:
Apertures are small holes through which the beam passes on its way
down the column. There are several types of apertures. A blanking
aperture is used to turn the beam on and off. A beam limiting aperture
has two effects: it sets the beam convergence angle through which
electrons can pass through the system, controlling the effect of lens
aberrations and thus resolution.
 Blanking Plates:
Blanking plates are use to modify the e-beam, these are simple
electrostatic deflector. One or both of the plates are connected to a
amplifier with a fast response time.
 Advantages of EBL
 Print complex patterns directly on wafers
 Eliminates the diffraction problem
 High resolution up to 20 nm(photolithography ~50nm)
 Flexible technique

Disadvantages of EBL
 Slower than optical lithography (approximately 5 wafers / hour at less than 0.1 µ resolution).
 Expensive and complicated
 Forward scattering
 Backward scattering
 Secondary electrons
 Applications of EBL

Electron beam Lithography (EBL) is used primarily for two

purposes
 Very high resolution lithography.
 Fabrication of masks.
Nanolithography
» Nanolithography concerns with the study and application of
nanometre-scale structures.
» Nanolithography is derived from the Greek words “nanos”, meaning
(dwarf) “lithos”, meaning (rock or stone) and “graphein” meaning (to write).
Therefore the correct translation is "tiny writing on stone“.
» Nanolithography is used e.g. during the nanofabrication of
semiconductor integrated circuits (nanocircuitry), for
nanoelectromechanical systems (NEMS) or for almost any other
fundamental application across various scientific disciplines in
nanoresearch. This method is different to various existing
nanolithography techniques like;
X-ray lithography
Atomic Force Microscope (AFM) nanolithography.
 Soft lithography
Nanoimprint lithography (NIL).
Dip-pen (DPN) nanolithography