ME 730: Ultra-Precision Machining

X-ray Lithography, LIGA

Dr. Rakesh G Mote

Department of Mechanical Engineering,

Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay, Powai, MUMBAI 400 076 (India)

Synchrotron X-Ray Lithography

X-day lithography is considered
to be the most powerful technique
for future ULSI.
X-ray lithography was proposed
by Spears and Smith in 1972.
X-rays have very short
wavelength (~0.5-1nm).
X-ray lithography is one-to-one
proximity shadow printing.
The X-Ray lithography can
replicate easily the patterns of size
200nm.
Principle of X-ray lithography
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Synchrotron X-Ray Lithography

An example of resist pattern of 200 nm thickness
and 30 micrometer gap between the mask and the
wafer can be fabricated by X-ray lithography.
The resolution and overlay accuracy of X-ray
lithography system depends strongly on the
mechanical positioning accuracy, which should be
of nanometer-order.

200 nm thickness structures formed by

X-ray lithography
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Synchrotron X-Ray Lithography

X-Ray Lithography

LIGA
Thick microstructures like microgear trains, motors
& generators, microturbines etc. can be made.
LIthographie

Lithography

Galvonoforming

Electroforming

Abformung

Moulding

LIGA
Developed at Karlsruhe Nuclear Research center in Germany
(Ehrfeld et al 1982)
Deep x-ray lithography

Metal molds

Plastic products by injection molding

Resist with desired pattern

Electroforming of
metal on pattern

Metal products

Major Fabrication Steps in LIGA Process

LIGA

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LIGA
Major Fabrication Steps in LIGA Process
Thick film of resist deposition
Patterning of resist with x-ray lithography

Since x-ray is used high resolution and high depth

achieved with short wavelength
(0.2 m line width; 100:1 aspect ratio)

Pattern is developed in suitable chemical

Electroforming is done on developed pattern
Pattern is stripped and electroformed metal may be a
product or can be used for molding plastic product
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LIGA

Alignment of substrate with mask is difficult

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X-Ray Mask

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Optimum X-ray radiation

Optimum wavelength for

optimum pattern transfer is
0.2 to 0.3 nm :
Diffraction increases as
wavelength increases
Secondary electron emission
increases as the wavelength
decreases

Variation in critical
dimensions at this wavelegth
between the ends of a 500
m high structure is
estimated at 0.2 m
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3D Devices

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3D Devices

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# EX. LIGA:

PRODUCT (Thick Micro Nickel Tube)

~ 5-10 m

Top view mask

> 500 m

Gold plated

Mask Si3N4
(1~1.5 m)

resist
PMMA

Base

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# EX. LIGA

After Electroplating
Developed resist after lithography

Used as mold or product

After resist removal

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LIGA
Advantage:
1. Unlimited aspect ratio
2. Only microfabrication technique that allows the production of
metallic microstructures
3. Compatibility with Silicon based processes
4. SOR set up affords continuous lithography (process beyond
batch fabrication)

Disadvantage:
1. Very expensive
2. Requires special synchrotron facility (x-ray generation)
3. Requires costly precision injection molding
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LIGA
DEVELOPER

20 (vol.) % tetrahydro-1,4 oxazine (azine) +5

% 2-aminoetanol-1 (primary amine) + 60 % 2-(2-butoxyethylene) ethanol
(glycolic ether) + 15 % Water; selectivity 1000:1

SUBSTRATE

Electric Conductor/Insulator coated with

conductive layer

PHOTORESIST

sensitive to x-ray (PMMA, SU-8)

ELECTROPLATING

Ni/Cu/Au

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ME 730: Ultra-Precision Machining

Focused Ion Beam Nanofabrication

Dr. Rakesh G Mote

Department of Mechanical Engineering,

Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay, Powai, MUMBAI 400 076 (India)

Focused Ion Beam (FIB)

Focused ion beam (FIB) microscopes are versatile
tools enabling inspection, characterization,
structuring or manipulation for a broad range of
materials.
The basic concept is very similar to scanning
electron microscopes (SEM) but uses charge atoms
(ions) instead of electrons.
Typically, a fine tungsten pin covered with liquid
Gallium is used as ion source from which Ga atoms
are extracted and ionized via high tensions.
Such Ga+ ions are then accelerated in the range of
0.5 - 30 keV and focused on the sample via
electrostatic lenses.
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Focused Ion Beam (FIB)

System

Ion Column in the Chamber

(FEI Inc)
FIB-SEM Dual Beam System
FIB system
(Tseng 2004)

(Nova 200 Nanolab, FEI Inc)

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Focused Ion Beam (FIB)

System
Sputtering mechanism (Nastasi et al. 1996)

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Stopping and range of ions

ion trajectories and recoil motion for 30 keV ions in Silicon

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FIB Milling

Simple milling in FIB refers to the

sputtering phenomenon due to
energetic impingement of focused
ion beam on the target material
Maskless etching: It is possible to
process several tens on nanometer
level area without using a mask.
In addition, provision to
observation of processing condition
under microscope makes very
accurate and high precise results
possible

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FIB Milling
Micro Channel
A: Ridge width
the distance between the ridge
peaks

B: Mouth width
the channel width w.r.t. the original
surface,

C: the depth from the original

surface,
D: Ridge height.

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FIB Milling
Process Parameters
Angle of Incidence

As the angle of collision between the ions and target atoms increases from
normal incidence, the possibility of the target atoms escaping from the surface
during the collision cascades increases and eventually this leads to an
increased sputter yield. After reaching a maximum, the sputter yield decreases
again as the ion approaches glancing incidence because of the increase in
reected ions and the fact that more and more collision cascades terminate at
the surface before they are fully developed.

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FIB Chemical Vapor Deposition

FIB-CVD

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FIB Chemical Vapor Deposition

FIB-CVD

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FIB Chemical Vapor Deposition

FIB-CVD - 3D Structures

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FIB Implantation
Micro-cantilever fabrication

a)
b)
c)
d)

Implantation or modification
by FIB scanning (cross
section),
Top view of a FIB-scanned
surface with a quadcantilever layout,
KOH etching for a nonimplanted substrate (cross
section),
SEM image of fabricated
quad-cantilevers, which are
30 nm thick, 500 nm wide,
and 5mm long
J. Brugger et al, Microelectron. Eng., 1997
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FIB Implantation
Maskless Nanocup fabrication

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Ion Beam Machining

In Ion Beam Machining (IBM) a stream of charged atoms
(ions) of an inert gas, such as argon (Ar), is accelerated in a
vacuum by high energies and directed towards a solid
workpiece.
The beam removes atoms from the workpiece by transferring
energy and momentum to atoms on the surface of the object.
When an atom strikes a cluster of atoms on the workpiece, it
dislodges between 0.1 and 10 atoms from the workpiece
The Kaufman source is the simplest source. A high current is
passed through a cathode lament (usually tungsten) that
heats it to the point of thermionic emission. The resulting
electrons are accelerated by a high voltage (>1 kV) towards
the anode and, enroute, collide with gas atoms, such as
argon, to produce argon ions by the following mechanism;

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Ion Beam Machining

The sputtering yield
increases with an increase
in the incident angle up to
60 deg.
An increase in the angle
causes increase in the
amount of energy
transferred from ion to
target atoms in the top two
or three atomic layers. So
target atoms are more
easily knocked off.
But an increase in the
incident angle further
causes reflection of atoms
from the work surface.
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Ion Beam Figuring (IBF)

Ion Beam Figuring (IBF) or Broad Ion Beam Figuring
(BIBF) is a technique used for machining and nishing a
wide range of materials including optical glasses and
Group IIIV semiconductors such as indium antimonide
(InSb) and indium arsenide (InAs)
Following other mechanical polishing methods, IBF is
usually performed as the nal step to remove the last
long spatial wavelength surface errors (hundreds of
nanometers) in optical components.
The only limitations are the suitability for vacuum and
high temperatures.

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Ion Beam Figuring (IBF)

It uses ions to remove a defined amount of material from the lens.
Each ion that hits the surface generates a collision cascade within
the sample
surface atoms at the end of the cascade may overcome the surface
binding energy and get removed from the sample surface, which
leads to a macroscopic removal of material.
A broad beam ion source is used to generate a defined energy and
spatial distribution of ions with an energy between 300 eV and 2,000
eV.
High vacuum conditions are required to avoid collisions during the
passing of a distance of a few cm between the source and the
surface.

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Ion Beam Figuring

For a given initial surface I(x, y) and a desired final
surface F(x, y), the removal function R(x, y) is obtained
by subtracting the initial surface from the final surface.
This removal surface is machined with an ion beam
having
a
material
removal
function
or a beam function B(x, y).
The beam function is governed by the physical
parameters of the figuring system.
The dwell function D(x, y) is computed by deconvolving
B(x, y) from R(x, y).
The dwell function D(x, y) is the map of dwell times per
unit area for which the beam is held stationary at each
point (x, y) during its sweep over the removal surface.
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Ion Beam Figuring

The ion-figuring process can be represented in 2D

The total work space is broken into square grids of unit

area, and the beam is positioned at the center of each
area for a time approximately equal to the product of the
computed dwell function at the squares coordinates (x,
y) and the area of the square

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Ion Beam Figuring

Beam Function B(x, y)
provides the depth removal rate of the beam as a function of the
radial distance from its centre
The beam function is typically Gaussianlike in distribution and is
characterized by its FWHM and maximum removal rate.
The beam width is directly measured from the depth profile,
and the maximum removal rate is calculated by dividing the
maximum depth of the hole by the overall machining time.

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Ion Beam Figuring

Removal Function R(x, y)
The removal function R(x, y) is obtained by subtracting the initial
height map I(x, y) of the optical surface from the final desired
surface F(x, y)
The initial map is measured with any suitable metrology
technique such as interferometry and surface profilometry
The work space is discretized into small squares of equal area,
and the surface height is given at the center of each square

The removal map as obtained from the interferometer has

positive and negative heights with respect to a zero reference.
Because ion machining can only remove material, it is important
that the removal function have only positive values. So the
dataset is offset by a suitable value.
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Ion Beam Figuring

Dwell Function D(x, y)
The dwell function D represents the rastering velocity
of a strip per unit width or the time the beam spends
at a location on the workpiece per unit area.
The dwell function can now either be broken into
areas and interpreted as a time, or it can be broken
into strips and interpreted as a velocity.
If the work space is broken into areas, each area has
a time associated with it. This is the amount of time
the beam must be positioned in that area and is equal
to the integral of the dwell function over the area.
Thus a dwell time at
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Ion Beam Figuring

Measurement result of a flat Zerodur glass of
diameter 100 mm

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Ion Beam Figuring

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Ion Beam Figuring

Measurement result of the
Zerodur glass after IBF process

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