Nanotechnology for engineers

Summer semester 2004-2005

(nano)Lithography

Lithography was originally

invented as a method for printing
in 1798 by Alois Senefelder, and
has been a valuable method for
reproducing artwork for centuries.
From the Greek lithos (stone) and
graphy (writing), lithography
literally means writing on rocks.
Illumination
In the context of nanotechnology, Light source
the method is widely employed by
Optical system
the semiconductor industry to
pattern the surface of silicon Mask
wafers. Resist
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Nanotechnology for Engineers : J. Brugger (LMIS-1) & P. Hoffmann (IOA)

(nano)lithography
CMOS in Nanometric dimensions

Nbr of
1 1K 1M 1G 1T devices
on 1 chip
10 mm
1947 1958

100 µm MEMS IC’s

Tra
nsi
sto
r
Human Brain
neurones
1 µm
Quantum dots dendrites
(30-100 nm)
2004
10 nm 2004 Nanowires (5nm) 2010
Proven
Nanotubes ( 1.3 nm)
Feasibility
1 Ang.
Limits of matter

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 (nano)lithography
Moore’s “law(s)”

The Law originated in 1965, when Gordon Moore, then head of

R&D at Fairchild Semiconductor Corp. and now chairman
emeritus of Intel Corp., Santa Clara, Calif., predicted that the
number of transistors on an IC would double every year for the
next 10 years [IEEE Spectrum, June 1997, pp. 52-59]. At that
time, Moore's astute prediction had not yet achieved law hood. It
was simply an extension of a straight line through five points on
a semi-logarithmic plot of transistor count per year for the first
six years of the neonatal IC industry, …

Moore's Second Law states that the cost of building a

semiconductor fab line is doubling every three to four years.
According to Dan Hutcheson, the president of VLSI Research,
"The price per transistor will bottom out sometime between 2003
and 2005. From that point on, there will be no economic point in
making transistors smaller. So Moore's Law ends in seven
years" (Forbes, 25 March 1995).

(nano)lithography
What are the challenges for NGL?

• Technical challenges
– Resolution
– Throughput (80-120 W/H)
NGL:
– CD control (10% of nominal CD) •Next
– Overlay (30% of the node) •Generation
– Resist issues •Lithography
– Pellicles issues
• Economical challenges
– Mask cost and fabrication delay
– Equipment cost
– Equipment ‘in time to market”

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 (nano)lithography
Content

Lithography:
• Brief survey
• Optical lithography
– Illumination methods
– Resolution limits
– Resolution enhancements
• Exposure wavelength and light sources
• Mask materials and optical systems
• Set-up of the optical path for short wavelength
• Extreme UV (EUV), X-ray lithography
• Electron beam lithography
– Electron direct write
– Scalpel
• Photoresist
• Alignment of several mask layers

(nano)lithography
Survey

Data of micro/nanostructure (CAD)

Electron beam writer / laser beam writer

Direct writing

Mask for contact, proximity or projection lithography

Electron Ion
DUV EUV X-ray
beam beam
157-250nm 11-14nm <10nm
UV: projection projection
365-436nm

Resist coated substrate / develop

Wet/dry chemical etching

Micro/nanostructure on substrate
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 (nano)lithography
Illumination methods and resolution limits
contact proximity
• 3 methods: Light
source
Light
source
– Contact
Condenser lens Condenser lens
– Proximity
– projection lithography
mask mask
gap
• Common point: resist
resist
substrate substrate
– Condenser lens for parallel
beam
projection
• Key issue: minimum feature Light
size (MFS) source

– Illumination method Condenser lens

mask
– Illumination wavelength
– Materials of optical system
– Resist used Optical system

resist
substrate

(nano)lithography
Illumination methods and resolution limits

contact proximity
Light
Light
source
source

Condenser lens
Condenser lens

mask
mask
resist gap
resist
substrate
substrate

contact proximity

MFS ≈ (d + g ) ⋅ λ
MFS = d ⋅ λ
d = thickness(resist )
d = thickness(resist )
g = gap
λ = wavelength
λ = wavelength

Example: Example:
d = 1 µm
d = 1 µm λ = 400 nm
λ = 400 nm g = 10 µm
MFS ~ 600 nm MFS ~ 2 µm
? ?
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 (nano)lithography
Illumination methods and resolution limits

projection
• Projection lithography Light
source
– Mainly used today for IC
industry Condenser lens
mask
– Not shadow projection
– Picture of the mask is
Optical system
projected
MFS = d ⋅ λ
– No contact d = thickness (resist )
resist
– No deterioration λ = wavelength
substrate

– Excellent resolution
(reduction e.g. 4x, 5x)
– Reduction of errors Rayleigh criterion says:
MFS=0.61*λ/NA
– Stepper, x-y movement,
from field to field
In microlithography:
MFS=k1*λ/ΝΑ
k1=technology cte (0.5-0.9)
Non-ideal behaviour of equipment
Lens error
Resist processing, shape, etc. 9

(nano)lithography
Hg arc emission spectrum

Hg-arc lamps: G-line (436 nm), H-line (405 nm), I-line (365 nm)
With typical k1 and NA values Æ ~ 400 nm resolution possible
Hg/Xe: wavelength λ = 248 nm, resolution ~ 300 nm
but low intensity
Æ New light sources, high intensity, excimer laser (exited & dimer)
Describes a molecule in exited state (KrF, ArF, F2) 248, 193 nm) 10

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 (nano)lithography
Exposure wavelength and light sources

Wavelength [nm] Source Range

436 Hg arc lamp G-line

405 Hg arc lamp H-line

365 Hg arc lamp I-line

248 Hg/Xe arc lamp, KrF Deep UV (DUV)

excimer laser
193 ArF excimer laser DUV

157 F2 laser Vacuum UV (VUV)

~ 10 Laser-produces plasma Extreme UV (EUV)

sources
~1 X-ray tube, syncrotonon X-Ray

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(nano)lithography
Optical path

• Two concepts for setting up an

optical path:
– Refractive elements (lenses):
here the light passes the mask
and lenses (transparent); Classical one-axis micro-lithography lens
transmission depends on
wavelength (first: borosilicate
glass (limit at 250nm)
– Reflective elements (mirrors)

• Design depends strongly on

the wavelength used
• Combined refractive/reflective
(catadioptric)

Generation of projection lenses

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 (nano)lithography
What is catadioptric?

• Catadioptric sensors are imaging sensors built with

combinations of mirrors (catoptrics), and lenses
(dioptrics). The main advantage of using mirrors with
cameras is that by using a curved mirror a wide field of
view can be obtained. Catadioptric sensors are
sometimes also known as omnidirectional sensors.

• The word "catadioptric" alone used to be used often to Catadioptric system

describe telescope designs that used mirrors. Here is
the definition that Google gives, from the Astrosoc (combined refraction/reflection)
Website Glossary :
Catadioptric (also spelled catadioptic): Reflecting
telescope, so-called because the beam of light is
'folded', i.e. reflected, back through a hole in the main
mirror, before reaching the eyepiece. The effect is to
increase the telescope's focal length, thus producing a
more portable but also costlier instrument.
Catadioptrics use a lens-like correcting plate in the
front for spherical aberration. The commonest types
are the Schmidt-Cassegrain and Maksutov-
Cassegrain.
So a catadioptric may be a telescope, microscope,
projector or an optical device not used for imaging at
all. In computer vision, the term catadioptric sensor
is used for sensors consisting of cameras and mirrors.
Catadioptric sensors are sometimes also known as
omnidirectional sensors , although this terminology
is misleading, since they rarely are omnidirectional in
the sense that they capture an image in all directions.

http://www.cs.drexel.edu/~ahicks/design/design.html
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(nano)lithography
Resolution enhancement of Optical Lithography

λ
Resolution: R = k1 ___
NA (Rayleigh)
λ
Depth of Focus: DOF = 2 k ___
NA2

to decrease R :
⇒ need to decrease λ and increase NA (stepper)
BUT: DOF decreases too!...

⇒ need to decrease k1->

k1 = Optical engineering = f(resist, mask, illumination)
OPC (Optical Proximity correction) mask
PSM (Phase Shift Masks)
OAI (Off-Axis Illumination) illumination
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 (nano)lithography
Resolution enhancement (by optical engineering)

OPC PSM
Optical Proximity Correction Phase Shift Mask
Original Anti-Serifs Chrome
Etched Quartz (d) d=l/2(n-1)

Mask
Quartz
Design
e

E-Field
Bright (+)

Dark (0)

Bright (-)

Resist
Threshold
Reticle

Intensity
i

i ∝ e2

Wafer

Wafer
Silicon
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(nano)lithography
Immersion lithography

NA= n sin α

R=k1λ/NA
DOF = k2λ/NA2

R=k1(λ/n)/sin α

Lens DOF = k2 nλ/NA2

Medium n λ/n

nα > 1 Air n=1 193 nm dry Air 1.0 193 nm

Wafer 193 nm H2O 1.44 134 nm

immersion
Stage 157 nm dry N2 1.0 157 nm

157 nm PFPE 1.37 115 nm

immersion nm

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 (nano)lithography
Immersion lithography

• Using an immersion fluid between

the wafer and the lens has two
benefits. First, it enhances depth of
focus or DOF for a given numerical
aperture. Second, immersion allows
lens designs with numerical
apertures significantly larger than
1.0, therefore allowing improved
resolution

• ASML
• NIKON

• Resolution = k (process factor) x λ

(wavelength of the illumination light)/NA
• NA = n x sinθ

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(nano)lithography
Companies

A few examples…
• ASML (NL)
• Intel (US)
• Motorola (US)
• Infineon (D)
• AMD
• Hitachi (J)
• EM Microelectronics (CH)
• …

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 (nano)lithography
Exposure Tool Cost Projections
13.5 nm
$100,000,000 157 nm
193 nm

193i
Stepper Capital Cost

$10,000,000

$1,000,000

$100,000

1975 1980 1985 1990 1995 2000 2005 2010 2015

Year
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(nano)lithography
Reticle set cost for production

2400

2000
M ask set cost ($x1000)

1600

1200

800

400

0
250 180 130 90 65 45 32
Node (nm) 20
Data from P. Silverman (Intel Corp.)

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 (nano)lithography
Success story of microelectronics

Une réduction des coûts unique dans l’histoire de l’industrie

EVOLUTION DU PRIX DE 1 Million de transistors

76 000 €

6100 €

460 €

120 €
30 €
5€
45 Cents
0.5 Cents
6 Cents

1973 1977 1981 1984 1987 1990 1995 2000 2005

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(nano)lithography
Nanoimprint lithography

Mold (Si,SiO2,.)

1. Imprint
Polymer
Substrat

2. Pattern transfer

RIE 200 mm imprinted wafer

Interest of this technology : low cost transfert of nano structures

(10-20 nm) on large area (200 mm)
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 (nano)lithography
Remember

• Optical lithography is the workhorse of modern

semiconductor industry. Performance depends on
– Illumination methods, optics, resist processing
• Resolution enhancements to reach sub-wavelength
resolution
• Currently DUV in production
• In future extreme UV (EUV)
• X-ray lithography? Electron beam lithography?
• New emerging nanolithography
– Nanoimprint lithography (ITRS roadmap 2004)

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(nano)lithography
What is today strategy ?

Rayleigh Criteria : R=k1´λ/NA Immersion Litho λÆ λ/n

λ CD(nm) 180 130 90 65 45 32 22

248 nm
Optical Litho.
With transmission
193 nm (131 nm)
masks
157 nm
EUV Litho. EUV
With reflexion
NGL (96)
masks 13,5 nm
2005 2007 2009 2011
For low volume (CoO)
EPL/Nanoimprint
E-Beam
Litho. Maskless
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