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Evaluation of the 3D Compositional Fluctuation Effect on Line-Edge-Roughness

Published

Author(s)

Shuhui Kang, Wen-Li Wu, B D. Vogt, Vivek Prabhu, Eric K. Lin, Karen Turnquest

Abstract

Line-edge-roughness (LER) and the relationship to resist processing and materials design is a critical problem for sub-65 nm photolithography. In this work we investigate how chemical composition fluctuations (heterogeneity) produced by the reaction-diffusion of photoacids in chemically amplified photoresists affect the resulting LER through computer simulation. A 3-dimensional microscopic picture of reaction-diffusion of individual photoacid accounts for the deprotection fluctuation formed by the post exposure bake (PEB). The resulting LER is related to both the gradient of average deprotection profile and the degree of local chemical heterogeneity. The effect of dose contrast, PEB time, diffusivity of photoacid and trapping strength on the chemical heterogeneity are evaluated and compared to neutron reflectivity measurements.
Proceedings Title
Proceedings of SPIE
Volume
6519
Conference Dates
February 25-March 2, 2007
Conference Location
San Jose, CA, US
Conference Title
SPIE Advanced Lithography

Keywords

diffusion, LER, line edge roughness, photo acid, photoresist, simulation, thin film

Citation

Kang, S. , Wu, W. , Vogt, B. , Prabhu, V. , Lin, E. and Turnquest, K. (2007), Evaluation of the 3D Compositional Fluctuation Effect on Line-Edge-Roughness, Proceedings of SPIE, San Jose, CA, US, [online], https://tsapps.nist.gov/publication/get_pdf.cfm?pub_id=852724 (Accessed March 28, 2024)
Created February 24, 2007, Updated October 12, 2021