Resist Materials for Next Generation Lithography
- Detailed Technology Description
- Several molecular glasses are disclosed for use as photoresists in semiconductor lithography, especially in the Extreme Ultraviolet (EUV) regime with a radiation range of 10 - 100 nm, enabling features smaller than 0.18 µm.
- Others
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- Patent: 7,452,658;
- Patent Application: 2007-032339;
- *Abstract
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Several molecular glasses are disclosed for use as photoresists in semiconductor lithography, especially in the Extreme Ultraviolet (EUV) regime with a radiation range of 10 - 100 nm, enabling features smaller than 0.18 µm. Most current photoresists are highly opaque for sub-200 nm wavelengths, resulting in poorly resolved images when used with EUV radiation.
A possible advance in resist design has been the introduction of a molecular glass photoresist because it offers much smaller imaging unit size. Molecular glasses combine the beneficial aspects of small molecules along with many of the favorable aspects of polymers.
The invention’s molecular glass photoresists are low molecular weight, organic materials that have a glass transition temperature (Tg) significantly above room temperature as well as a low tendency towards crystallization. Silicon is selected as the photoresist’s core atom because it allows enhanced transparency at EUV wavelength and has superior etch resistance, as well as synthetic versatility. Testing of these molecular glasses through lithographic evaluation revealed favorable resist performance at EUV wavelengths (10-100nm). Further evaluations are also being made through e-beam lithography.
Potential Applications
- Extreme Ultraviolet Lithography (EUVL) applications, such as production of sub-50 nm features in Integrated Circuits (IC) manufacturing
- EUVL applications, such as designing Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems (MEMS) components as small as 20 µm in MEMS gyroscopes, Bio-MEMS devices etc.
Advantages
- Excellent resolution at EUV wavelength, with minimum feature size 2-6 times smaller than those from deep-UV or 193nm lithography
- Incorporation of silicon core, providing more favorable photoresist performance at EUV wavelength
- Tetrahedral structure that constructs diamond-like 3D architecture with promising glass forming properties
- *Licensing
- Martin Teschlmt439@cornell.edu(607) 254-4454
- Country/Region
- USA
