Lateral Length Scales of Latent Image Roughness as Determined by Off-Specular Neutron Reflectivity

Published

February 14, 2008

Author(s)

Kristopher Lavery, Vivek Prabhu, Eric K. Lin, Wen-Li Wu, Sushil K. Satija, Kwang-Woo Choi, M Wormington

Abstract

A combination of specular and off-specular neutron reflectometry was used to measure the buried lateral roughness of the reaction-diffusion front in a model extreme ultraviolet lithography photoresist. Compositional heterogeneity at the latent reaction-diffusion front has been proposed as a major cause of line edge roughness in photolithographic features. This work marks the first experimental observation of the longitudial and lateral compositional heterogeneity of a latent image, revealing the buried lateral length scale as well as the amplitude of inhomogeneity at the reaction-diffusion front. These measurements aid in determining the origins of line edge roughness formation, while exploring the materials limits of the current chemically amplified photoresists.

Citation

Applied Physics Letters

Volume

92

Pub Type

Journals

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Keywords

diffusion, line edge roughness, neutron reflectivity, off-specular reflectivity, photolithography

Citation

Lavery, K. , Prabhu, V. , Lin, E. , Wu, W. , Satija, S. , Choi, K. and Wormington, M. (2008), Lateral Length Scales of Latent Image Roughness as Determined by Off-Specular Neutron Reflectivity, Applied Physics Letters, [online], https://tsapps.nist.gov/publication/get_pdf.cfm?pub_id=852777 (Accessed October 20, 2025)