Biosensors and BioMEMS

Photolithography, soft lithography, electron

beam lithography,
Micromachining, metal deposition and bonding
Lecturer : Dr Nashrul Fazli Mohd
Nasir

Contact mask Source: Freescale/ASM SEM

aligner
 Micro-electromechanical systems (MEMS) is
The overview of MEMS
originated in United States,
Referred also as Microsystems Technology (MST)
in Europe & Micromachines in Japan.

What is MEMS?
MEMS is a process technology used to
create tiny integrated devices or systems that
combine mechanical and electrical components.
They are fabricated using integrated circuit (IC)
batch processing techniques and can range in size
from a few micrometres to millimetres.
These devices (or systems) have the ability to
sense, control and actuate on the micro scale, and
generate effects on the macro scale.
WAFER CLEANING/CLEAN
ROOMS
Standard
garment
wore in a
cleanroo
m
CONTAMINATION EXAMPLE
Introduction
 Basic Lithography Process Steps

Substrate Clean to prepare surface; prime wafer.

Resist Coat (positive in this example), followed by a
bake to remove solvent.

Resist
Substrate
 Basic Lithography Process Steps
Align Photomask to wafer.
Expose pattern through photomask.

Light Source/Shutter

Photomask

Resist
Substrate
 Basic Lithography Process Steps
Post-Exposure Bake to reduce standing waves and/or
to make exposed (Deep Ultra Violet) DUV photoresist
soluble in the developer.
Develop away exposed areas and rinse.
Optional hardbake to enhance resistance to chemical or
physical attack.
Inspect image and measure overlay and critical
dimensions.

Resist
Substrate
I REPEAT THIS AGAIN!!!!!
Basic Steps of Photolithography
Photolithography Process Steps
1. Wafer Cleaning
2. Dehydration Bake
3. HMDS (Hexamethyldisilazane)Priming
4. Photoresist Coating
5. Softbake
6. Align and Expose
7. Photoresist Development
8. Post Exposure Bake
9. Hardbake
 Step 1: Dehydration bake

To remove moisture from the wafer surface

Moisture on wafer surface reduces resist
adhesion
Wafer on an oxide surface will allow wet
etchants to penetrate easily between the
resist and the wafer surface
Parameters : Temperature
 Step 2: HMDS PRIME
To promote adhesion of the
photoresist to the wafer surface
Hexamethyldisilazane
Parameters:
Temperature
Time
 Step 3: PHOTORESIST COATING
To coat a resist onto the Si wafer for patterning with a required resist
thickness and uniformity
Parameters :
1. Resist viscosity
2. Resist dispense method
3. Resist dispense velocity
4. Resist dispense volume
5. Resist dispense time
6. Nozzle position
7. Spin speed
8. Spread time
9. Acceleration / deceleration
10. Final spin speed
11. Final spin time
12. Chuck diameter
13. Chuck vacuum
14. Controlled exhaust
15. Ambient atmosphere (RH & Temperature)
16. Cup ambient (RH & Temperature)
17. Wafer centering
18. Machine and chuck leveling
19. Resist temperature control
Photoresist
Photoresist
 POSITIVE AND NEGATIVE PHOTORESIST
P o s itiv e r e s is t N e g a tiv e r e s is t
O x id e

S u b s tra te

U n e x p o s e d p h o t o r e s is t

U V lig h t

O paque C le a r O paque G la s s O paque C le a r O paque

m ask

E x p o s e d p h o to r e s is t

D e v e lo p e d I m a g e in t h e p h o t o r e s is t la y e r
 PR Spin Coater
Photoresist spread on spinning
wafer surface
Wafer held on a vacuum chuck
Slow spin ~ 500 rpm
Ramp up to ~ 3000 - 7000 rpm
 Step 4: SOFTBAKE

To remove a solvent from photoresist &

activates photoactive compound
To remove stress in the photoresist
To improve photoresist adhesion
Parameters
1. Type of heat transfer (Hot plate or
convection)
2. Temperature
3. Temperature uniformity
4. Time
5. Exhaust
6. Cool down rate
 Step 5: Align and exposure
Si wafer with a layer of photoresist on its top will
be aligned to the mask and exposed to the UV
light.
 What is a Photomask?
It provides the master copy of the pattern for the wafer.
The Design layout for the device to be fabricated will
typically have many mask patterns. Complex chips may
have 50 or so.
The substrate (blank) is made from some form of glass.
There is a chromium layer on one side of the glass that
acts as a light barrier. The chrome is selectively
removed to form the openings for light.
In many cases the patterns are created using
Lithography!!
Sometimes the mask is called a reticle (see later)
 Important Characteristics of
Masks
No Defects Permitted
In a reticle (mask with a pellicle, see later), a defect is
catastrophic it will be repeated for every field exposure (chip)
on the wafer.
Materials and the line creation process both must be defect-free.
Defect specifications are negotiated with the mask vendor.

High Transmission
The intensity of the light exiting the mask should be nearly equal
to the intensity of the light entering it.
Etch resistant
Both the substrate (blank) and light barrier must be resistant to
environmental chemical attack. If a mask must be cleaned, the
cleaning process must not harm the mask but still remove the
contamination.
Low Thermal Expansion
A high thermal expansion leads to registration runout.
 Mask Blank Materials
Soda-Lime
Very low cost mask used for large geometries or processes with
wide registration specs. Will cause runout of 0.24 m/C per inch
of substrate diameter during ebeam writing.
Borosilicate
Moderate cost, but seldom used. Has one third of the runout
problems. Has less transmission than soda lime.
Quartz
Is the industry standard for high precision registration. Has
excellent transmission, even with lower wavelengths (248 nm).
Has lower runout by a factor of 20 compared to soda lime.
Fused Silica
Necessary for 248 nm (extended lithography) and 193 nm nodes.
Quartz is too birefringent. Like soda lime, CaF2 has too high of a
coefficient of thermal expansion.
 Light Barrier Material
Chromium
Chromium 600 to 1000 thick, placed on one side of the
glass. An antireflective coating of 200 is sometimes applied,
made of CrO2.

Two sides of mask

Chromium side. The side of the mask facing the wafer
Glass side. The side of the mask facing the light source.

Glass Side

Chrome Side
 Pellicle (transparent polymer sheet above
mask/reticle)
Why?: contamination on chrome side of wafer.
Pellicle throws contamination out of focus by keeping it several mm
away from the chrome side of the mask. Little light is lost through a
pellicle.
Made of nitrocellulose or mylar.
Large particles will still cause transmission defects.
Good for projection aligners (scanners, steppers) only.

Frame is mounted to reticle or mask. Pellicle is attached to frame.

Special equipment required.

Pellicles are very susceptible to attack from solvents, even at weak

levels in the air. It is expensive and time consuming to replace them.
Pellicles are easily damaged from handling.
Glass side needs no pellicle. The thickness of the glass acts as one.
Remember: it is the presence of a particle near the chrome that is
costly.
 Step 6: POST EXPOSURE BAKE

To reduce the effect of standing waves which

occur during exposure
To increase the resistance of the resist prior to
the etching process
Parameters :
1. Type of plate (hot plate or convection oven)
2. Temperature
3. Temperature uniformity
4. Time
5. Exhaust
6. Cool down rate
Step 8: Development process
To remove area of resists that have been
exposed/unexposed to form a pattern
The development rate for positive resist much less
than negative resist
Parameters :
1. Development technique (Immersion/Spray/Puddle)
2. Developer type (Metal Ion/metal ion free)
3. Developer concentration
4. Developer temperature
5. Development time
6. Carbon dioxide absorption
7. Agitation
8. Time between exposure and develop
9. Time between develop and rinse
10.Resist thickness
11.Post exposure bake temperature
12.Exposure energy
Development
 Developer Solution

Soluble areas of photoresist are dissolved by developer solutions

(weak base solution)

Tetramethyl ammonium hydride (TMAH) is commonly used

Visible patterns will appear on the wafer

Quality Measures:

Line resolution
Uniformity
Particles and Defects
 Step 9: Hardbake
To increase the resistance of the resist
To remove any residual solvent
Parameters :
1. Type of plate (conduction or convection)
2. Temperature
3. Temperature uniformity
4. Time
5. Exhaust
6. Cool down rate
Let say, if your pattern doesnt meet your expectation
and you want to remove your photoresist, this step is
called STRIPPING. Usually we will use chemical i.e.
acetone to remove totally your positive photoresist &
methyl ethyl ketone for the negative photoresist.
Extra Reading Materials :
https://www.ee.washington.edu/research/microtech/cam/PROCESSES/PDF
%20FILES/Photolithography.pdf
http://www2.ece.gatech.edu/research/labs/vc/theory/photolith.html
 Key Quality Issues of Lithography

Exposure energy dose (under/over development)

Alignment of photolithography mask with

features on the wafer
Resolution smallest feature size available for
a given lithography process.
Depth of Focus (DOF) range of focus
settings that provide resolution at the same
exposure energy.

Contrast ability of a resist to

produce acceptably sharp images.
Low High
 Exposure energy
dose (under/over Desired pattern
development). For
a given exposure
system whether
the dose is
optimum or too Over-exposed pattern
much or too little
depends on
exposure time
Under-exposed pattern
 Alignment of photolithography mask with
features on the wafer

Features
on wafer

mask
alignment marks
wafer
Features
on mask

Flat alignment Mask

mark over
wafer

Alignment marks
used to register
two levels. Wafer
now ready to be
exposed.
 Soft Lithography Techniques

Soft lithography includes several techniques such as:

Replica Molding (REM)

Micro-contact printing (CP)
Micro-transfer molding (TM)
Micro-molding in capillaries (MIMIC)
Replica Molding (REM)

Master mold is replicated in

PDMS by casting and curing
PDMS pre-polymer.

PDMS mold is oxidized in

oxygen plasma for 1 minute
and exposed to fluorinated
silane for 2 hours to make a
surface with low adhesion to
PDMS.

PDMS is cast against this

negative replica, cured and
peeled off.

This will make the positive

replica of the original master.
 Micro-Contact Printing (CP)
It uses a PDMS stamp to form patterns
of self-assembled monolayers (SAMs) on
the surfaces of substrates.

PDMS stamp is coated with an ink of the

molecules and pressed onto the solid
surface

Inking creates a Self Assembled

Monolayer on the solid surface

the use of elastomers allows the

micropatterned surface to come into
conformal contact with the surfaces
over large areas
Micro-Transfer Molding (TM)

PDMS stamp is filled with pre

polymer

Excess prepolymer is removed

Press the rubber stamp

against the surface

Cure the polymer

Peel off the stamp

 Micromolding in Capillaries (MIMIC)

Push the PDMS stamp against the

substrate.

prepolymer is applied to access

holes in the mold (vacuum
assisted).

Prepolymer fills the channels

using capillary forces.

Cure the polymer

Peel off the PDMS mold

 e-Beam Lithography
Electron source: SEM
Equipment: SEM equipped with a
pattern generator and alignment
system
e-beam control:
accelerating voltage (kV)
operation current (pA)
exposure dose (C/cm2)
exposure dwell period (s)
 Steps involved in the EBL
process.

With a beam current of 600 pA and an accelerating voltage of 100 kV,

the beam diameter was approximately 3 nm.
J. Phys. Chem. B 2002, 106, 11463-11468
eBL followed by Self
Assembly

Langmuir, Vol. 20, No. 9, 2004, 3495

eBL changes the properties of coating
layers

Langmuir, Vol. 20, No. 9, 2004 3767

Applications of eBL

(a) Backscattered
electron (BSE) image of
ZnO patterns
on SiOx substrates
annealed in air at 700 C
for 20 min

(b) secondary electron

(SE) image before
annealing

(c) SE image after

annealing at 700 C for
20 min in air

(d) SE image of annealed

patterns over
Nano Lett., Vol.a 5,
large
No. 9, 2005
Applications of eBL

Proceedings of SPIE Vol. 5184

Anisotropy/nastrpi/ is the
property of being directionally
dependent, as opposed to isotropy,
which implies identical properties in
all directions.
Example of Wet Etching

Fig2.Final product of wet etching

EDP= Ethylene Diamine Pyrochatechol
Dry (Plasma) Etching
Developed and used for:
1. faster and simpler etching in a
few cases
2. more directional (anisotropic)
etching
Both chemical (highly reactive)
species and ionic
(very directional) species typically
Typical RF-powered plasma etch systems look just like
Plasma Enhanced Chemical Vapour Deposition (PECVD) or
sputtering systems.

Etching gases include halide-containing species such as

CF4, SiF6, Cl2, and HBr, plus additives such as O2, H2 and Ar.
O2 by itself is used to etch photoresist. Pressure = 1 mTorr
to 1 Torr.

Typically there are about 1015 cm-3 neutral species (1 to 10%

Physical Etching
Ion etching (below right) is much more directional (field
across plasma)
Etching species are ions like CF3+ or Ar+ which remove
material by sputtering.
Not very selective since all materials sputter at about the
same rate.
Physical sputtering can cause damage to surface, with
the extent and amount of damage a direct function of ion
energy (not ion density).
Ion Enhanced Etching (also known as Deep Reactive Ion
Etching, DRIE or the Bosch process)
Ion bombardment can enhance etch process (such as by
damaging the surface to increase reaction, or by removing
etch byproducts i.e. coatings resulting from etching), or can
remove inhibitor that is an indirect byproduct of etch
process (such as polymer formation from carbon in gas or
from photoresist).
Whatever the exact mechanism (multiple mechanisms may
occur at same time):
need both components for etching to occur.
get anisotropic etching and little undercutting because of
directed ion flux.
get selectivity due to chemical component and chemical
reactions.
WHAT ARE THE STEPS USED
HERE???????
 Laser Micromachining
Laser micromachining process is a process to create micro
size features using laser by removing excess materials

It can be used to cut, drill, & weld the features required during
microfabrication

Here, the laser is controlled by switching the laser on & off,

controlling the pulse energy & by positioning the substrate or
the laser focus

Laser is emitted from the source is passed through the energy

attenuator. After it is passed through the beam homogenizer
to homogenize the beam.

The target illuminator & machine vision controls the beam to

the focusing lens. The lens is moved by precision motion
stages.
The laser machine is
typically consist of laser,
mirrors for beam guide,
focusing optic and a
positioning system

General set up for the laser

micromachining equipment
Advantages
Easily automated
Forceless and contactless machining
Minor heat affected zone
Flexibility to design microstructures
High speed and precision
Constant machining quality
No solvent used

Disadvantages
Expensive
Need highly skilled operators
Material limitations ( can not be used for reflective materials)
Reflected laser is very hazardous
 Thermal Evaporation
In the early years of IC manufacturing, thermal evaporation
was widely used for aluminum deposition.
Aluminum is relatively easy to vaporized due to low melting
point (6600C).
 System needs to be under high vacuum (~ 10-6 Torr)
minimize residue of oxygen and moisture
Flowing large electric current through aluminum charge
resistive heating.
Aluminum starts to vaporized
When aluminum vapor reaches the wafer surface, it
re-condenses and forms a thin aluminum film.
 The deposition rate is mainly related to the heating power,
which controlled by the electric current.
The higher the current, the higher the deposition rate.
A significant trace amount of sodium Na, low deposition rate
and poor step coverage.
Difficult to precisely control the proper proportions for the
alloy films such as Al:Si, Al:Cu and Al:Cu:Si.
No longer used for metallization processes in VLSI and ULSI
 Electron Beam Evaporation
A beam of electrons, typically with the energy about
10 keV and current up to several amperes, is directed at the
metal in a water-cooled crucible in vacuum chamber.
This process heats the metal to the evaporation temperature.
IR lamp is used to heat the wafer (improve step coverage).
 Better step coverage (higher surface mobility due to
lamp heating)
Less sodium contamination (only part of aluminum charge is
vaporized.
Cannot match the quality of sputtering deposition, therefore
very rarely used in advanced semiconductor fab.
 Sputtering
The most commonly used PVD process for metallization.

Involves energetic ion bombardment, which physically

dislodge atoms or molecules from the solid metal surface,
and redeposit them on the substrate as thin metal film.

Argon is normally used as sputtering atom because it is

inert, relatively heavy, abundant, cost effective.
Sputtering = ejecting material from a
"target" that is a source onto a
"substrate" such as a silicon wafer
 When power is applied between two electrodes under
low pressure, a free electron is accelerated by the electric field.
When the free electron collides with Ar, another free electron
is generated (ionization collision). Ar becomes positively
charged.
The free electron repeat this process to generate more free
electrons.
 The positively charged Ar ions are accelerated toward a negatively
biased cathode, usually called target.

When these energetic argon ions hit the target surface, atoms of the
target material are physically removed from the surface by the
momentum transfer of the impacting ions and thrown into the vacuum
in the form of metal vapor.
 Sputtered-off atoms leave the target and travel inside the vacuum
chamber in the form of metal vapor.

Eventually, some of them reach the wafer surface, adsorb and become
so-called adatoms.

The adatoms migrate on the surface until they found nucleation sites
and rest there.

Other adatoms re-condense around the nucleation sites to form grain.

When the grains grow and meet with other grains, they form a
continuous poly-crystalline metal thin film on the wafer surface.
 Simple DC Sputtering
The simplest sputtering system.

Wafer is placed on the grounded electrode and the target is the

negatively biased electrode, the cathode.

When a high-power DC voltage (several hundred volts) is applied,

the argon atoms are ionized by electric field.
 These accelerate and bombard the target, then sputtered-off the
target material from the surface.
THANK YOU!