IC Fabrication

Technology

Lecture 21 – Photolithography (Part 2)

Dr. Parikshit Sahatiya

Department of EEE
Birla Institute of Technology and
Science-Pilani, Hyderabad Campus
2
1. Light source.
2. Wafer exposure system.
3. Resist
Light Spectrum and Wavelength
Light Sources
Decreasing feature sizes requires shorter λ.
• Hg vapor lamps: Hg plasma inside glass lamp
(Electrons are excited to higher energy levels by collisions in the plasma.
photons are emitted when the energy is released.)
– Produces multiple wavelengths
– Limited in intensity
“g” line: λ = 436 nm (used to mid 1980s)
“i” line: λ = 365 nm (early 1990s, >0.3 μm)
• Deep UV by excimer lasers
– Kr + NF3 + (energy) → KrF + (photon
emission)
• KrF: λ = 248 nm (used for 0.25 μm)
• ArF: λ = 193 nm (used for 0.12 μm
2.
 5. Post-Exposure Bake (PEB)
• A must for Deep UV Resists

•Typical Temperatures 100 to 110°C on a

hot plate Immediately after Exposure

• Has Become a Virtual Standard for

DUV and Standard Resists
6.Develop
7.
8
 IC Fabrication
Technology

Lecture 22 – Photolithography (Part 3)

Dr. Parikshit Sahatiya

Department of EEE
Birla Institute of Technology and
Science-Pilani, Hyderabad Campus
27
Recap
Fundamental of Photolithography

• Light Source

• Optics

• Photo Sensitive material (photo resist)

Huygens Fresnel Principle: States that every unobstructed point of the wave front at a given
instant of time acts as a source of spherical secondary wavelength of the same frequency as
that of primary source
 Airy Disk

The image is composed of bright centre disk surrounded by series of faint rings
Intensity v/s Position
Proximity Projection
printing printing
 Aerial Images formed:
Contact, Proximity and Projection Printing
 Three basic methods of wafer exposure

High resolution. But mask Less mask wear No mask wear/contamination,

wear, defect generation. /contamination, less mask de-magnified 4× (resist
resolution (depend on gap). features 4× smaller than mask).
Very expensive, mainly used for
IC industry.
Fast, simple and inexpensive, choice for R&D. 35
Near field/Fresnel diffraction for contact/proximity exposure
Figure 5.14
Near field:
(g is gap)

(t is resist thickness)

For g=10μm, λ=365nm

Wmin ≈ 2 μm

• Interference effects and diffraction result in “ringing” and spreading outside the aperture.
• Edges of image rise gradually (not abrupt) from zero.
• Intensity of image oscillates about the expected intensity.
• Oscillations decay as one approaches the center of the image.
• The oscillations are due to constructive and destructive interference of Huygen’s wavelets
from the aperture in the mask.
• When aperture width is small, the oscillations are large
• When aperture width is large, the oscillations rapidly die out, and one approaches simple
36
ray tracing when aperture >> λ.
Far field/Fraunhofer diffraction for projection exposure

Near field

Far field

37
 Diffraction
Fresnel diffraction - near field.

Fraunhofer diffraction - far field.

Metrics of optics (performance)

• Resolution
• Depth of focus
• Field of view
• Modulation transfer function
• Alignment accuracy
• Throughput
 Numerical aperture of a lens

Numerical aperture (NA) of an optical system is a measure of the ability of the lens to
collect light.
NA ≡ nsinα, n is refractive index for the medium at the resist surface (air, oil, water).
For air, refractive index n=1, NA = sinα ≈ (d/2)/f ∝ d for small α. 39
 Effect of numerical aperture on imaging
Pinhole masks

Lens NA Image results

Small lens (not in same scale)

Bad
Expo
sure
light

Poor

Good

Large lens
Diffracted light 40
 Light diffraction through a small circular aperture

Qualitative example of a small

aperture being imaged.

“Airy disk”
Light intensity on image plate

Image intensity of a
circular aperture in the
image plane.

A point image is formed only if λ→0, f →0 or d→∞.

41
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Airy_disk
 Rayleigh criteria for resolution

Lord Rayleigh
Figure

Rayleigh suggested that a reasonable

criterion for resolution is that the central
maximum of each point source lie at the
first minimum of the Airy pattern.
Resolved images Unresolved images
42
 Rayleigh criteria for resolution R

K1 factor has no well-defined physical meaning.

It is an experimental parameter, depends on the lithography system and resist properties.

S1
To increase resolution, one
can: S2
Increase NA by using large
lens and/or immersion in a
liquid (n>1).
S1
Decrease k1 factor (many
tricks to do so). S2
Decrease λ (not easy,
industry still insists on
193nm). S1
S2

43
 IC Fabrication
Technology

Lecture 24 – Photolithography (Part 5)

Dr. Parikshit Sahatiya

Department of EEE
Birla Institute of Technology and
Science-Pilani, Hyderabad Campus
44
 Depth of focus (DOF)
DOF for photography DOF is the range in which the image
Large DOF
is in focus and clearly resolved.

A small aperture was used to ensure the foreground

stones were as sharp as the ones in the distance.

Small DOF DOF Focal point

(background blurred)

What one need here is a

telephoto lens at its
widest aperture.
 Rayleigh criteria for depth of focus (DOF)
Rayleigh criteria: the length of two optical paths, one on-axis, one from lens edge or
limiting aperture, not differ by more than λ/4.

For small θ

B C
O
Again, like the case of resolution, we used k2
D
factor as an experimental parameter. It has
A no well-defined physical meaning.

Figure 5.9
On axis, optical path increased by OC-OB=δ.
From edge, increased by AC-AB=DC=δcosθ.
At point B (focal point), two branches have equal path.
46
 Depth of focus for projection photolithography

• It can be seen that larger NA gives smaller depth of focus!

• This of course works against resolution where larger NA improves this property.
• In order to improve resolution without impacting DOF too much, λ has been reduced and
“optical tricks” have been employed.

Large lens (large NA), small DOF Small lens (small NA), large DOF
47
 Optimal focal plane in photolithography
• Light should be focused on the middle point of the resist layer.
• In IC, DOF is << 1μm, hard to focus if wafer is not super flat.
• People talk more of resolution, but actually DOF can often be a bigger
problem than resolution.

Focal plane Depth of focus

48
Example: Calculate the resolution and the DOF for 248nm (KrF) exposure system with a NA = 0.6 (k1 = 0.75) (k2 = 0.5).
 Modulation transfer function (MTF)

Modulation transfer function is another useful concept.

It is a measure of image contrast on resist.

Figure 5.10 50
 IC Fabrication
Technology

Lecture 25 – Photolithography (Part 6)

Dr. Parikshit Sahatiya

Department of EEE
Birla Institute of Technology and
Science-Pilani, Hyderabad Campus
51
 Modulation transfer function (MTF)

Modulation transfer function is another useful concept.

It is a measure of image contrast on resist.

Figure 5.10 52
 MTF and spatial coherence
Usually MTF > 0.5 is preferred.
It depends on λ, light source size (coherency), and optical system.
It certainly also depends on feature size (or period for a grating pattern).
Spatial coherence of light source

Point source • Coherent light will have a phase to space relationship.

is coherent
• Incoherent light or light with only partial coherence will
Plane have wave-fronts that are only partially correlated.
wave
• Spatial coherence S is an indication of the angular range
of light waves incident on mask, or degree to which light
from source are in phase.
• Small S is not always good (see next slide).

Partially
coherent 54
Figure 5.12
 IC Fabrication
Technology

Lecture 26 – Photolithography (Part 7)

Dr. Parikshit Sahatiya

Department of EEE
Birla Institute of Technology and
Science-Pilani, Hyderabad Campus
61
Purpose of Photoresist
• To transfer the mask pattern to photoresist
on top layer of wafer surface.
• To protect the underlying material during
subsequent processing, i.e. ion
implantation
What is resist ?
Viscous Liquidwhich has solid form when
solvent are driven out.
Exposure of resist to energy /radiation leads
to photo chemical reaction and changes the
Types of Photo Resist
• Positive Photo resist (PPR)
- Wafer image is same to mask image
- Exposed resist soften and is soluble in
hydroxide developer
- Developer removed exposed resist.
• Negative Photo resist (NPR)
- Wafer image is opposite to mask image
- Exposed resist crosslinked and harden
is soluble in xylene developer
- Developer removed unexposed resist
Metrics of Photoresist
• Photo activity
• Resolution
• Contrast
• Sensitivity
• Etch resistant
• Viscosity
• Thermal stability
• Adhesion
• Contamination and particle
Photo activity

• Photo speed of recording Process

Component of Photo resist

• Hydrocarbon chain – Base/Resin

• Photoactive Component – PAC

• Solvent – To adjust the Viscosity

PAC + Resin 🡪 Insoluble

When exposed PAC 🡪 acid which makes Resin soluble
Conventional g-line and I-line photo resist
• Positive Photo resist
- Matrix (Novolac resign)
- Sensitizers (PAC~ diazoquinones)
- Solvent (xylene, n-butyl acetate, n-methyl
pyrrolidene (NMP) etc. )
- Developer (KOH, NaOH, TMAH)
• Negative Photo resist
- Cyclized synthetic rubber resign
- Sensitizers (PAC~ bisarylzide)
- Solvent (aromatic)
- Developer (organic solvent)
Schematic of Action Mechanism of NPR
Schematic of Action Mechanism of PPR
Positive Photoresist Chemistry
Contrast and Critical Modulation Transfer Function (CMTF)
Contrast and Critical Modulation Transfer Function (CMTF)
Positive and Negative Resist
Tutorial
 What happens to the Oxidation rate when
1. Doping is increased
2. Polycrystalline Si is used instead of single crystalline Si
What happens to the following parameters when NA increases

Resolution

Depth of Focus

Modulation Transfer Function

Spatial Coherence
 IC Fabrication
Technology
Lecture 28 – Tutorial and Dopant Diffusion (Part 1)

Dr. Parikshit Sahatiya

Department of EEE
Birla Institute of Technology and
Science-Pilani, Hyderabad Campus
83
(Consider K1 = K2)
(Consider K1 = K2)
Dopant Diffusion – Part 1
 Diffusion of dopant
•Why diffusion is important? (accurate
control of dopant placement)

e.g. As device shrinks by a factor K, junction

depths should also scale by K to maintain same
e-field patterns (assuming the voltage supply
also scales down by the same factor).

Diffusion cycle required to electrically activated

implanted dopant often limiting factor on junction
depth.
Sheet resistance
• Parasitic Resistance impacts drive current.
• Need high activation
• General guideline for design
R +R +R <10% of R
ext sou drain chan
Case for developing of Diffusion Model
R +R +R <10% of R
• ext sou drain chan

• To Decreases Sheet resistance required

higher drain and source depth

•While Present technology demand shallow

Source and drain other wise leads DIBL

So Modern device requirement is shallow

 Basic Concepts
• Diffusion is the redistribution of atoms from regions of high
concentration of mobile species to regions of low concentration. It
occurs at all temperatures, but the diffusivity has an exponential
dependence on T.

• Predeposition : doping often proceeds by an initial predep step to

introduce the required dose of dopant into the substrate.

• Drive-In : a subsequent drive-in anneal then redistributes the

dopant giving the required junction depth and surface
concentration
Schematic representation diffusion process step

Initial diffusion process: Modern dopant process:

Solid/Gas Phase Diffusion Ion implantation and annealing
Usually limited to solid solubility Precise dose control
Low surface concentration hard to achieve Accurate depth control
without a long drive-in Implant damage enhances diffusion
Low dose predeps very Dislocations caused by damage may
difficult No damage created cause junction leakage
by doping Batch fabrication Implant channeling may affect profile
 Dopant Solid Solubility
• Dopants are soluble in bulk silicon up to a maximum value before
they precipitate into another phase
• Dopants may have an “electrical” solubility that is different than
the solid solubility defined above.(may be limited by kinetic effect)
Diffusion Mechanism (Macroscopic viewpoint) “Fick’s First
law”
• Macroscopic dopant redistribution is described by
Fick’s first law , which describes how the flux (or
flow) of dopant depends on the doping gradient.

D = diffusivity
D is related to atomic hops over
an energy barrier (formation and
migration of mobile species) and
is exponentially activated.

D is isotropic in the silicon

lattice.
Negative sign indicates that the flow is
down the concentration gradient.
Fick’s Seconds law”
• Law of conservation of matter
•(how the change in concentration in a volume element is determined
by the change in fluxes in and out of the volume).

Solution at steady state

C=a+bx
Example1: Limited Source : Consider a fixed dose Q,
introduced as a delta function at the origin

Key Question: Is any physical process resembles?

If diffusion can take place from x = -∞ to +∞, the solution is:

Important consequences:
1. Dose Q remains constant
2. Peak concentration decreases as 1/(t)1/2
3. Diffusion distance from origin increases as 2 (Dt)1/2
 Example2:Constant source near the surface

Low energy ion implant

For the drive-in case, if no dopant can
diffuse into the x < 0 region,
the solution for the x < 0 region can be
considered as “reflected” back
into the x > 0 region
 Ex3: Infinite Source :
Solid-solubility limited Diffusion
Consider an infinite source of dopant made up of small
slices each diffusing as a Gaussian.

C i=n (x − x )i2
C(x, t) =
π
∑
exp − 2 Dt i=1 4Dt
Dose beyond x=0 continues to increase with annealing time.