Immersion lithography

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In immersion lithography, light travels down through a system of lenses and then a pool of water before reaching the photoresist on top of the wafer. Immersion lithography illustration.svg
In immersion lithography, light travels down through a system of lenses and then a pool of water before reaching the photoresist on top of the wafer.

Immersion lithography is a technique used in semiconductor manufacturing to enhance the resolution and accuracy of the lithographic process. It involves using a liquid medium, typically water, between the lens and the wafer during exposure. By using a liquid with a higher refractive index than air, immersion lithography allows for smaller features to be created on the wafer. [1]

Contents

Immersion lithography replaces the usual air gap between the final lens and the wafer surface with a liquid medium that has a refractive index greater than one. The angular resolution is increased by a factor equal to the refractive index of the liquid. Current immersion lithography tools use highly purified water for this liquid, achieving feature sizes below 45 nanometers. [2]

Background

The ability to resolve features in optical lithography is directly related to the numerical aperture of the imaging equipment, the numerical aperture being the sine of the maximum refraction angle multiplied by the refractive index of the medium through which the light travels. The lenses in the highest resolution "dry" photolithography scanners focus light in a cone whose boundary is nearly parallel to the wafer surface. As it is impossible to increase resolution by further refraction, additional resolution is obtained by inserting an immersion medium with a higher index of refraction between the lens and the wafer. The blurriness is reduced by a factor equal to the refractive index of the medium. For example, for water immersion using ultraviolet light at 193 nm wavelength, the index of refraction is 1.44. [3]

The resolution enhancement from immersion lithography is about 30–40% depending on materials used. However,[ clarification needed ] the depth of focus, or tolerance in wafer topography flatness, is improved compared to the corresponding "dry" tool at the same resolution. [4]

The idea for immersion lithography was patented in 1984 by Takanashi et al. [5] It was also proposed by Taiwanese engineer Burn J. Lin and realized in the 1980s. [6] In 2004, IBM's director of silicon technology, Ghavam Shahidi, announced that IBM planned to commercialize lithography based on light filtered through water. [7]

Defects

Defect concerns, e.g., water left behind (watermarks) and loss of resist-water adhesion (air gap or bubbles), have led to considerations of using a topcoat layer directly on top of the photoresist. [8] This topcoat would serve as a barrier for chemical diffusion between the liquid medium and the photoresist. In addition, the interface between the liquid and the topcoat would be optimized for watermark reduction. At the same time, defects from topcoat use should be avoided.

As of 2005, Topcoats had been tuned for use as antireflection coatings, especially for hyper-NA (NA>1) cases. [9]

By 2008, defect counts on wafers printed by immersion lithography had reached zero level capability. [10]

Polarization impacts

As of 2000, Polarization effects due to high angles of interference in the photoresist were considered as features approach 40 nm. [11] Hence, illumination sources generally need to be azimuthally polarized to match the pole illumination for ideal line-space imaging. [12]

Throughput

Throughput of immersion lithography tools vs. dose. The throughput vs. dose is compared to for different pulse powers at the same slit width. Immersion tool throughput.png
Throughput of immersion lithography tools vs. dose. The throughput vs. dose is compared to for different pulse powers at the same slit width.

As of 1996, this was achieved through higher stage speeds, [13] [14] which in turn, as of 2013 were allowed by higher power ArF laser pulse sources. [15] Specifically, the throughput is directly proportional to stage speed V, which is related to dose D and rectangular slit width S and slit intensity Iss (which is directly related to pulse power) by V=Iss*S/D. The slit height is the same as the field height. The slit width S, in turn, is limited by the number of pulses to make the dose (n), divided by the frequency of the laser pulses (f), at the maximum scan speed Vmax by S=Vmax*n/f. [13] At a fixed frequency f and pulse number n, the slit width will be proportional to the maximum stage speed. Hence, throughput at a given dose is improved by increasing maximum stage speed as well as increasing pulse power.

According to ASML s product information about twinscan-nxt1980di, immersion lithography tools currently[ when? ] boasted the highest throughputs (275 WPH) as targeted for high volume manufacturing. [16]

Multiple patterning

Double patterning by pitch splitting. Double patterning by pitch splitting involves assigning adjacent features to different masks, indicated by different colors. Pitch splitting.png
Double patterning by pitch splitting. Double patterning by pitch splitting involves assigning adjacent features to different masks, indicated by different colors.
Triple patterning by pitch splitting. Triple patterning by pitch splitting involves assigning adjacent features to 3 different masks, using three colors. LELELE patterning.png
Triple patterning by pitch splitting. Triple patterning by pitch splitting involves assigning adjacent features to 3 different masks, using three colors.

The resolution limit for a 1.35 NA immersion tool operating at 193 nm wavelength is 36 nm. Going beyond this limit to sub-20nm nodes requires multiple patterning. [17] At the 20nm foundry and memory nodes and beyond, double patterning and triple patterning are already being used[ when? ] with immersion lithography for the densest layers.

See also

Related Research Articles

Photolithography is a process used in the manufacturing of integrated circuits. It involves using light to transfer a pattern onto a substrate, typically a silicon wafer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Photoresist</span> Light-sensitive material used in making electronics

A photoresist is a light-sensitive material used in several processes, such as photolithography and photoengraving, to form a patterned coating on a surface. This process is crucial in the electronics industry.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Refractive index</span> Property in optics

In optics, the refractive index of an optical medium is the ratio of the apparent speed of light in the medium to the speed in air or vacuum. The refractive index determines how much the path of light is bent, or refracted, when entering a material. This is described by Snell's law of refraction, n1 sin θ1 = n2 sin θ2, where θ1 and θ2 are the angle of incidence and angle of refraction, respectively, of a ray crossing the interface between two media with refractive indices n1 and n2. The refractive indices also determine the amount of light that is reflected when reaching the interface, as well as the critical angle for total internal reflection, their intensity and Brewster's angle.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Photomask</span> Photolithographic tool

A photomask is an opaque plate with transparent areas that allow light to shine through in a defined pattern. Photomasks are commonly used in photolithography for the production of integrated circuits to produce a pattern on a thin wafer of material. In semiconductor manufacturing, a mask is sometimes called a reticle.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Electron-beam lithography</span> Lithographic technique that uses a scanning beam of electrons

Electron-beam lithography is the practice of scanning a focused beam of electrons to draw custom shapes on a surface covered with an electron-sensitive film called a resist (exposing). The electron beam changes the solubility of the resist, enabling selective removal of either the exposed or non-exposed regions of the resist by immersing it in a solvent (developing). The purpose, as with photolithography, is to create very small structures in the resist that can subsequently be transferred to the substrate material, often by etching.

Masklesslithography (MPL) is a photomask-less photolithography-like technology used to project or focal-spot write the image pattern onto a chemical resist-coated substrate by means of UV radiation or electron beam.

Nanolithography (NL) is a growing field of techniques within nanotechnology dealing with the engineering of nanometer-scale structures on various materials.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Extreme ultraviolet lithography</span> Lithography using 13.5 nm UV light

Extreme ultraviolet lithography is a technology used in the semiconductor industry for manufacturing integrated circuits (ICs). It is a type of photolithography that uses 13.5 nm extreme ultraviolet (EUV) light from a laser-pulsed tin (Sn) plasma to create intricate patterns on semiconductor substrates.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stepper</span> Photolithographic Tool

A stepper or wafer stepper is a device used in the manufacture of integrated circuits (ICs). It is an essential part of the process of photolithography, which creates millions of microscopic circuit elements on the surface of silicon wafers out of which chips are made. It is similar in operation to a slide projector or a photographic enlarger. The ICs that are made form the heart of computer processors, memory chips, and many other electronic devices.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nanoimprint lithography</span> Method of fabricating nanometer scale patterns using a special stamp

Nanoimprint lithography (NIL) is a method of fabricating nanometer-scale patterns. It is a simple nanolithography process with low cost, high throughput and high resolution. It creates patterns by mechanical deformation of imprint resist and subsequent processes. The imprint resist is typically a monomer or polymer formulation that is cured by heat or UV light during the imprinting. Adhesion between the resist and the template is controlled to allow proper release.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">ASML Holding</span> Dutch manufacturer of semiconductor production equipment

ASML Holding N.V. is a Dutch multinational corporation founded in 1984. ASML specializes in the development and manufacturing of photolithography machines which are used to produce computer chips.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Phase-shift mask</span> Resolution-improving photomask

Phase-shift masks are photomasks that take advantage of the interference generated by phase differences to improve image resolution in photolithography. There exist alternating and attenuated phase shift masks. A phase-shift mask relies on the fact that light passing through a transparent media will undergo a phase change as a function of its optical thickness.

Contact lithography, also known as contact printing, is a form of photolithography whereby the image to be printed is obtained by illumination of a photomask in direct contact with a substrate coated with an imaging photoresist layer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">LIGA</span> Fabrication technology used to create high-aspect-ratio microstructures

LIGA is a fabrication technology used to create high-aspect-ratio microstructures. The term is a German acronym for Lithographie, Galvanoformung, Abformung – lithography, electroplating, and molding.

A solid immersion lens (SIL) has higher magnification and higher numerical aperture than common lenses by filling the object space with a high-refractive-index solid material. SIL was originally developed for enhancing the spatial resolution of optical microscopy. There are two types of SIL:

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Multiple patterning</span> Technique used to increase the number of structures a microchip may contain

Multiple patterning is a class of technologies for manufacturing integrated circuits (ICs), developed for photolithography to enhance the feature density. It is expected to be necessary for the 10 nm and 7 nm node semiconductor processes and beyond. The premise is that a single lithographic exposure may not be enough to provide sufficient resolution. Hence additional exposures would be needed, or else positioning patterns using etched feature sidewalls would be necessary.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Microlens</span> Small lens, generally with a diameter less than a millimetre

A microlens is a small lens, generally with a diameter less than a millimetre (mm) and often as small as 10 micrometres (μm). The small sizes of the lenses means that a simple design can give good optical quality but sometimes unwanted effects arise due to optical diffraction at the small features. A typical microlens may be a single element with one plane surface and one spherical convex surface to refract the light. Because micro-lenses are so small, the substrate that supports them is usually thicker than the lens and this has to be taken into account in the design. More sophisticated lenses may use aspherical surfaces and others may use several layers of optical material to achieve their design performance.

Plasmonic nanolithography is a nanolithographic process that utilizes surface plasmon excitations such as surface plasmon polaritons (SPPs) to fabricate nanoscale structures. SPPs, which are surface waves that propagate in between planar dielectric-metal layers in the optical regime, can bypass the diffraction limit on the optical resolution that acts as a bottleneck for conventional photolithography.

Computational lithography is the set of mathematical and algorithmic approaches designed to improve the resolution attainable through photolithography. Computational lithography came to the forefront of photolithography technologies in 2008 when the semiconductor industry faced challenges associated with the transition to a 22 nanometer CMOS microfabrication process and has become instrumental in further shrinking the design nodes and topology of semiconductor transistor manufacturing.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Multiphoton lithography</span> Technique for creating microscopic structures

Multiphoton lithography is similar to standard photolithography techniques; structuring is accomplished by illuminating negative-tone or positive-tone photoresists via light of a well-defined wavelength. The main difference is the avoidance of photomasks. Instead, two-photon absorption is utilized to induce a change in the solubility of the resist for appropriate developers.

References

  1. ↑ Flagello, Donis (2004-01-01). "Benefits and limitations of immersion lithography". Journal of Micro/Nanolithography, MEMS, and MOEMS. 3 (1): 104. Bibcode:2004JMM&M...3..104M. doi:10.1117/1.1636768. ISSN   1932-5150.
  2. ↑ "DailyTech - IDF09 Intel Demonstrates First 22nm Chips Discusses Die Shrink Roadmap". Archived from the original on 2010-08-28. Retrieved 2009-12-07.
  3. ↑ Smith, Bruce W.; Kang, Hoyoung; Bourov, Anatoly; Cropanese, Frank; Fan, Yongfa (2003-06-26). "Water immersion optical lithography for 45-nm node". In Yen, Anthony (ed.). Optical Microlithography XVI. Vol. 5040. SPIE. pp. 679–689. Bibcode:2003SPIE.5040..679S. doi:10.1117/12.485489.
  4. ↑ B. J. Lin, J. Microlith Microfab. Microsyst. 1, 7 (2002).
  5. ↑ A. Takanashi, T. Harada, M. Akeyama, Y. Kondo, T. Karosaki, S. Kuniyoshi, S. Hosaka, and Y. Kawamura, U. S. Patent No. 4,480,910 (1984)
  6. ↑ Burn J. Lin (1987). "The future of subhalf-micrometer optical lithography". Microelectronic Engineering6, 31–51
  7. ↑ "A Whole New World of Chips". Business Week . Archived from the original on 2011-02-21.
  8. ↑ Y. Wei and R. L. Brainard, Advanced Processes for 193-nm Immersion Lithography, (c) SPIE 2009, Ch.6.
  9. ↑ J. C. Jung et al., Proc. SPIE 5753 (2005).
  10. ↑ B. Rathsack et al., Proc. SPIE 6924, 69244W (2008).
  11. ↑ C. Wagner et al., Proc. SPIE vol. 4000, pp. 344-357 (2000).
  12. ↑ B. W. Smith, L. V. Zavyalova, and A. Estroff, Proc. SPIE 5377 (2004).
  13. 1 2 "M. A. van den Brink et al., Proc. SPIE 2726, 734 (1996)" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2017-08-09. Retrieved 2018-07-16.
  14. ↑ I. Bouchoms et al., Proc. SPIE 8326, 83260L (2012)
  15. ↑ Inc, Rostislav Rokitski, R. Rafac, R. Dubi, J. Thornes, J. melchior, T. Cacouris, M. Haviland and D. Brown, Cymer (2013). "120-W ArFi Laser Makes Higher-Dose Lithography Possible". www.photonics.com. Retrieved 2022-11-09.{{cite web}}: |last= has generic name (help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  16. ↑ "The ASML NXT:1980Di lithography system". www.asml.com. nd. Retrieved 2022-11-09.
  17. ↑ Haley, G. (2023). 193i Lithography Takes Center Stage...Again. Semiconductor Engineering. Retrieved from https://semiengineering.com/193i-lithography-takes-center-stage-again
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