Nanoscale Reaction Analysis of Resist Materials for Nanolithography

Keywords:
nanolithogaraphy, resist, electron beam, EUV

Abstract:
Recently, in semiconductor industry, elaborate extension of photolithography is getting closer to its capacity limit and post-optical lithographies have attracted much attention ever. Because they are capable of fabricating features below 32 nm, they are also expected as a mass production tool for nanotechnology-related products. Introduction of ionizing radiation such as electron beam (EB) and EUV requires new materials whose reaction mechanism is quite different from photoresists.[1] For these materials, not only general properties such as high resolution and high sensitivity but also the control of nanoscale resist topography such as line edge roughness is required. For the development of high performance resists, it is important to understand chemical reactions induced in nanoscale region by the ionizing radiation. Also, modeling and simulation of resist processes is very useful for understanding resist pattern formation. These reactions involved in acid image formation are so fast that their observation requires a special detection system. Also, as they are inhomogeneous reactions, we can extract the information on spatial distribution of intermediates from their time dependent behavior. For the nanoscale reaction analysis, we developed a pomp & probe system, which consists of a femtosecond electron linear accelerator and a femtosecond laser. The evolution of acid distribution is simulated based on the model and experimental results. These nanoscale distribution of intermediates is essential to pattern formation below 32 nm node.

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Nanotech 2005 Conference Program Abstract