Outline

Microelectronics Processing
Lithography

Introduction
Clean Rooms
Photoresists
Pattern Transfer
Masks
E-Beam Lithography

Historical Development and Basic Concepts

Photolithography

Electron
Gun

Light
Source
Condenser
Lens
Mask

Focus

Photolithography is the sequence of activities needed for transfer

a pre-designed pattern to the surface of a semiconductor wafer.

Deflection

Patterning process consists

of mask design, mask
fabrication and wafer
printing.

Reduction
Lens
Mask
CAD System
Layout
Simulation
Design Rule Checking

Uses photosensitive polymer (called photoresist), which is a

resistant
i t t coating
ti usedd to
t register
i t an image
i
on the
th desired
d i d surface
f
Features transferred to substrate surface by shining light through
glass plates (called masks).

Wafer

Mask Making

Wafer Exposure

It is convenient to divide the

wafer printing process into three
parts A: Light source, B. Wafer
exposure system, C. Resist.

Aerial
Image
(Surface)

The pattern can be registered on a mask, or supplied directly

from a computer to a scanning radiation source.

P+

P+

N+

N Well

Latent
Image
in Photoresist

Process

N+
P Well

TiN Local
Interconnect Level
(See Chapter 2)

Aerial image is the pattern of

optical radiation striking the top
of the resist.
Latent image is the 3D replica
produced by chemical processes
in the resist.

Process Sequence

(a) Substrate covered

with silicon dioxide
barrier layer
(b) Positive photoresist
applied to wafer
surface
(c) Mask in close
proximity to surface
(d) Substrate following
resist exposure and
development
(e) Substrate after
etching of oxide layer
(f) Oxide barrier on
surface after resist
removal
(g) View of substrate
with silicon dioxide
Resolution determined by the combination of
pattern on the surface
1. system 2. resist, 3. processing !

1) Clean wafer surface

bake (get rid of H2O)
RCA clean
apply adhesion promoter (HMDS = hexi-methyl-di-silizane)

2) Deposit photoresist (usually by spin-coating)

3) Soft bake (or pre-bake) - removes solvents from liquid
photoresist
4) Exposure (pattern transfer)
5) Development - remove soluble photoresist
6) Post bake (or hard bake) - desensitizes remaining
photoresist to light
7) Resist removal (stripping)

Page 1
046880 A. Kolodny

Yield

Yield for a 10-mask lithographic process

The Need for Cleanroom

Electronics fabrication requires a clean
processing environment for lithography.
Goal: minimize dust particles that can
settle on substrates or masks and cause
DEFECTS.
Dust on a mask looks like an opaque
feature; will get transferred to underlying
layers; can lead to short circuits or open
circuits.

Graphic Illustration

How Big of a Particle is Tolerable?

Particle 1 may result

in formation of a
pinhole in underlying
layer.

Example: 0.5 m CMOS technology

Lateral Features:
pattern size = 0.5 m
pattern tolerance = 0.15 m
level-level registration = 0.15 m
Vertical Features:
gate oxide thickness = 10 nm
field oxide thickness = 20 nm
film thicknesses = 250-500 nm
junction depths = 50-150 nm

Particle
P ti l 2 may cause
a constriction of
current flow in a
metal runner.
Particle 3 can lead to
a short between the
two conducting
regions.

Page 2
046880 A. Kolodny

Real Defects

Class
Numerical designation taken from maximum
allowable number of particles 0.5 m and larger
per ft3 (English system).
For IC fabrication, a class 100 clean room is
required (about four orders of magnitude lower
than ordinary room air).

Human hair on a
4MB memory-chip

For photolithography, class 10 or better is

required.

Masking error due to

a metallicparticle

Particle Size Distribution Curve

Sample Problem
A 300 x 300 mm square substrate is exposed for 1 minute under
laminar flow at 30 m/min. How many dust particles will land on
this substrate in a Class 1000 clean room?
SOLUTION:
1) Class 1000 => 35,000 particles/m3 (from graph)
2) Air flow volume over wafer/min = 30 m/min (0.3m x
0.3m) = 2.7 m3
3) # of particles = 35,000 x 2.7 = 94,500!!!
If each of these causes a defect, we are in serious trouble!

Sulfuric Acid has the highest number of particles and HF the lowest.
Adhesion of Particles:
1. Van der Waals Forces.
2. Forces due to the formation of an electrical double layer.
3. Forces due to capillary action around particle.
4. Chemical bond between the particle and the surface.
Particle removal mechanisms
1. Dissolution.
2 Oxidizing degradation and dissolution.
2.
dissolution
3. Lift-off by slight etching of the wafer surface.
4. Electric repulsion between particles.
H2O2 can oxidize the silicon surface and OH- group (from NH4OH) provide
negative charge on silicon.
The deposition of particles is a strong function of pH values of the solution.
With increasing pH value above 10 results in low particle deposition (SC-1
have the highest removal efficiency).

CONTAMINATION NATURE
PARTICULATES CHUNKS OF GRANULAR
MATTER
DUST from abrasion grinding
and handling.
INORGANIC GRIT-abrasive
particles, sand, clay (from airborne or chemicals).
LINT from clothing, skin, hair organic in nature, bacteria and etc.

FILMS ATOMIC, IONIC OR

POLYMERIC
ORGANIC
Resist residues
left by evaporation of solvents
Oil from water
and handling.

INORGANIC
Metal layers
Ions from resist
and reagents
Residues from
reagents, and
handling

Page 3
046880 A. Kolodny

IBM 300 mm FAB

IBM 300 mm FAB wet clean

IBM 300 mm FAB mask clean

Outline
Introduction
Clean Rooms
)Photoresist
Pattern Transfer
Masks
E-Beam Lithography

Photoresist

Photoresist (2)

Photosensitive polymer compound that either gets more

or less soluble when exposed to light.
Spun onto wafers and prebaked to produce a film of 0.5 to
a few microns thick.
Photolithography labs have yellow light because
pphotoresist is sensitive to wavelengths
g < 500 nm.

Page 4
046880 A. Kolodny

Positive Optical Resist

Requirements for Photoresists

Exposure to radiation leads to breakdown of PAC

Dissolution rate in developer (hydroxide) changes

Adhesion to substrate
Radiation induced solubility change
Etch resistance
Developabilityin solvent (in aqueous base or
other solvent)
Pinhole-free thin films
Transparency
Easy to Remove

Without sensitizer 150 /s

With sensitizer
10-20 /sec
After exposure
1000-2000 /s
Key idea is the differential solubility of about 100:1

Negative Optical Resist

Negative optical resist becomes insoluble in regions
exposed to light
Photochemical reaction generates cross-linking to form 3D
molecular network
New structure insoluble in developer (usually an organic
solvent)

Flow chart of a typical resist process

Types
1. Positive: gets more soluble after exposure

Substrate
cleaning

HMDS

Spin
coat

Develop

Pre-bake

900C

2. Negative: gets less soluble after exposure.

Post
exposure
treatment

Expose

1400C

Plasma
de-scum

Post
bake

Etch

Strip

*Steps

in dashed (pink)
lines are not always used

Page 5
046880 A. Kolodny

Image Reversal

Basic Properties of Resists

Basic Properties of Resists

Contrast:

Di= threshold exposure energy dose for resist removal or gel dose
Df= exposure energy dose for complete resist removal or complete insolubilization

Typical valuesp= 2-3 (Df= 100 mJ/cm2) & n= 1.5, (DUV)= 5-10
(Df= 20-40 mJ/cm2)
Resists with higher contrast result in better resolution because of
morevertical resist profile

Non-ideal Exposure

Critical MTF (CMTF)

CMTF is the minimal MTF value of the optical

system that results in a fully resolved pattern
in the photoresist

Page 6
046880 A. Kolodny

Other issues in Photoresist Exposure

Other issues in Photoresist Exposure

Other issues in Photoresist

Exposure

Post Exposure Bake

Constructive
interference

Destructive
interference

Development

Page 7
046880 A. Kolodny

Pattern Transfer
Photo Printing Process:
Light sources
Exposure
p
techniques
q
Mask engineering

Energy Sources: Waves or Particles

Metrics of Lithography Systems

Resolution (smallest dimension)

Wavelength Energy

Determined by optical system, resist, etch process

Light

Registration (alignment 3s=1/3 resolution)

Determined by optical system

Dimensional
e so
Control
Co o (dev
(device,
ce, die,
d e, wafer,
w e , lot
o uniformity)
u o
y)
Determined by optical system, mask, resist, etch process

Throughput (how many wafers/hour)

Determined by optical system, resist

Particles

UV

400 nm

3.1 eV

Deep UV

250 nm

4.96 eV

EUV

13 50 nm
13-50

25 eV
V

X-Ray

0.5 nm

2480 eV

Electrons

0.62

20 keV

Ions

0.12

100 keV

Depth of focus (how flat of surface)

Determined by optical system

Field of view (how large an area to print)

Energy sources are

required to modify the
photoresist.
The energy source is aerial
imaged on the photoresist.
The imaging can be done
by scanning the energy
beam or by masking the
energy beam.
Bright sources are usually
required for high
throughput.

Decreasing feature sizes require

the use of shorter wavelength.

Determined by optical system

Mercury Arc Lamp

Excimer Lasers

Traditionally Hg vapor lamps have been used which generate many spectral lines
from a high intensity plasma inside a glass lamp.
Electrons are excited to higher energy levels by collisions in the plasma.
Photons are emitted when the energy is released.

Brightest sources in deep UV

i-line (365 nm)

for 0.5, 0.35 um
g-line (435 nm)
Excimer laser etched hair
Mercury xenon arc lamps

h-line (405 nm)

Kr + NF3 energy
KrF photon emission
KrF ArF FF -

Damaged Hg vapor lamp is very dangerous

due to excessive UV irradiation.
(~100 times greater than daily allowable limit)

(used for 0.25 m, 0.18m, 0.13 m)

(used for 0.13m, 0.09m, . . . )
(used for ??)

Excimer Wavelength
F2

157 nm

ArF
KrF

193 nm
248 nm

XeBr

282 nm

XeCl

308 nm

XeF

351 nm

CaF2

193 nm

KrCl

222 nm

Cl2

259 nm

Page 8
046880 A. Kolodny

Contact Printing*

Proximity Printing

Contact between the resist and mask provides a

resolution of ~1 m.
Drawback: dust particles on the wafer can be
imbedded into mask where mask makes contact with
the wafer.
Imbedded particles cause permanent damage to mask
and result in defects with each succeeding exposure.

Small gap (10 50 m) between the wafer and the

mask.
Minimizes mask damage, but
Gap results in optical diffraction at feature edges
that degrades resolution to 25 m.
Minimum linewidth (or critical dimension):

* We use this in lab.

CD g
when = wavelength and g = gap

Contact Printer

Projection Printing
Wafer many centimeters from mask
To increase resolution, only small portion of the mask
is exposed at a time.
Small image area is scanned or stepped over the
wafer
f to cover the
h entire
i wafer
f surface.
f
After exposure of one site, wafer is moved to next
site and the process is repeated.
Called step-and-repeat projection, with a
demagnification ratio M:1

Scanner: Projection Printer

~$25 M
Proximity
Printer

Page 9
046880 A. Kolodny