Levinson H J Principles of Lithography PDF

Principles of
Lithography
Third Edition
Principles of
Lithography
Third Edition
Harry J. Levinson
Bellingham, Washington USA

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Levinson, Harry J.
Principles of lithography / Harry J. Levinson. – 3rd ed.
p. cm. – (Press monograph ; 198)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-8194-8324-9
1. Integrated circuits–Design and construction. 2. Microlithography. I. Title.
TK7874.L397 2010
621.3815 031–dc22
2010026775
Published by
SPIE
P.O. Box 10
Bellingham, Washington 98227-0010 USA
Phone: +1 360.676.3290
Fax: +1 360.647.1445
Email: [email protected]
Web: http://spie.org
Copyright
c 2010 Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or distributed in any form or by any means
without written permission of the publisher.
The content of this book reflects the work and thought of the author(s). Every effort has been made to publish
reliable and accurate information herein, but the publisher is not responsible for the validity of the information or
for any outcomes resulting from reliance thereon.
Printed in the United States of America.

Contents
Preface to the Third Edition ........................................................................... ix
Preface to the Second Edition ....................................................................... xi
Preface ............................................................................................................... xiii
Chapter 1 Overview of Lithography ................................................................ 1

Problems........................................................................................................................... 6
Chapter 2 Optical Pattern Formation .............................................................. 7

2.1 The Problem of Imaging ................................................................................ 7
2.2 Aerial Images .................................................................................................... 9
2.3 The Contributions of Physics and Chemistry ......................................... 22
2.4 Focus .................................................................................................................... 32
Problems........................................................................................................................... 46
References ....................................................................................................................... 47
Chapter 3 Photoresists ................................................................................... 51
3.1 Positive and Negative Resists....................................................................... 51

3.2 Adhesion Promotion ....................................................................................... 54
3.3 Resist Spin Coating, Softbake, and Hardbake ........................................ 57
3.4 Photochemistry of Novolak/DNQ g- and i-line Resists ...................... 68
3.5 Acid-Catalyzed DUV Resists ...................................................................... 70
3.6 Development and Post-Exposure Bakes ................................................... 76
3.7 Operational Characterization ....................................................................... 81
3.8 Line-Edge Roughness ..................................................................................... 82
3.9 Multilayer Resist Processes .......................................................................... 92
Problems........................................................................................................................... 95
References ....................................................................................................................... 96
Chapter 4 Modeling and Thin-Film Effects ..................................................... 109
4.1 Models of Optical Imaging ........................................................................... 109

vi Contents
4.2 Aberrations ......................................................................................................... 114

4.3 Modeling Photochemical Reactions .......................................................... 122
4.4 Thin-Film Optical Effects ............................................................................. 125
4.5 Post-Exposure Bakes ...................................................................................... 130
4.6 Methods for Addressing the Problems of Reflective Substrates ...... 133
4.7 Development ...................................................................................................... 140
Problems........................................................................................................................... 141
References ....................................................................................................................... 141
Chapter 5 Wafer Steppers ............................................................................... 147
5.1 Overview ............................................................................................................. 147

5.2 Light Sources ..................................................................................................... 150
5.3 Illumination Systems ...................................................................................... 162
5.4 Reduction Lenses ............................................................................................. 166
5.5 Autofocus Systems .......................................................................................... 185
5.6 The Wafer Stage ............................................................................................... 187
5.7 Scanning .............................................................................................................. 193
5.8 Dual-Stage Exposure Tools .......................................................................... 195
5.9 Lithography Exposure Tools before Steppers ........................................ 196
Problems........................................................................................................................... 201
References ....................................................................................................................... 201
Chapter 6 Overlay ............................................................................................ 215
6.1 Alignment Systems.......................................................................................... 217

6.1.1 Classification of alignment systems .......................................... 221
6.1.2 Optical methods for alignment and wafer-to-reticle
referencing ......................................................................................... 221
6.1.3 Number of alignment marks ........................................................ 227
6.2 Overlay Models ................................................................................................ 228
6.3 Matching ............................................................................................................. 237
6.4 Process-Dependent Overlay Effects .......................................................... 247
Problems........................................................................................................................... 249
References ....................................................................................................................... 250
Chapter 7 Masks and Reticles......................................................................... 257
7.1 Overview ............................................................................................................. 257

7.2 Mask Blanks ...................................................................................................... 259
7.3 Mechanical Optical-Pattern Generators.................................................... 261
7.4 Electron-Beam Lithography and Mask Writers ..................................... 262
7.5 Optical Mask Writers ...................................................................................... 276
7.6 Resists for Mask Making ............................................................................... 277
7.7 Etching ................................................................................................................. 281
7.8 Pellicles ............................................................................................................... 281
Contents vii
7.9 Mask-Defect Inspection and Repair .......................................................... 289

Problems........................................................................................................................... 293
References ....................................................................................................................... 294
Chapter 8 Confronting the Diffraction Limit ................................................... 307
8.1 Off-Axis Illumination ..................................................................................... 307

8.2 Optical Proximity Effects .............................................................................. 316
8.3 The Mask-Error Factor ................................................................................... 326
8.4 Phase-Shifting Masks ..................................................................................... 330
8.5 Putting It All Together .................................................................................... 341
Problems........................................................................................................................... 343
References ....................................................................................................................... 343
Chapter 9 Metrology ........................................................................................ 351
9.1 Linewidth Measurement ................................................................................ 351

9.1.1 Linewidth measurement using scanning electron
microscopes ....................................................................................... 351
9.1.2 Scatterometry .................................................................................... 359
9.1.3 Electrical linewidth measurement .............................................. 361
9.2 Measurement of Overlay ............................................................................... 363
Problems........................................................................................................................... 366
References ....................................................................................................................... 367
Chapter 10 Immersion Lithography and the Limits of Optical Lithography .... 371
10.1 Immersion Lithography.................................................................................. 372

10.2 The Diffraction Limit...................................................................................... 377
10.3 Improvements in Optics ................................................................................. 380
10.4 Maximum Numerical Aperture ................................................................... 381
10.5 The Shortest Wavelength ............................................................................... 384
10.6 Improved Photoresists .................................................................................... 386
10.7 Flatter Wafers .................................................................................................... 387
10.8 How Low Can k1 Go? ..................................................................................... 388
10.9 How Far Can Optical Lithography Be Extended? ................................ 389
10.10 Double Patterning ............................................................................................ 395
10.11 Interferometric Lithography ......................................................................... 400
Problems........................................................................................................................... 401
References ....................................................................................................................... 402
Chapter 11 Lithography Costs .......................................................................... 407
11.1 Cost-of-Ownership .......................................................................................... 407

11.1.1 Capital costs ...................................................................................... 408
11.1.2 Consumables ..................................................................................... 416
viii Contents
11.1.3 Mask costs .......................................................................................... 417

11.1.4 Rework ................................................................................................ 419
11.1.5 Metrology ........................................................................................... 419
11.1.6 Maintenance costs ........................................................................... 420
11.1.7 Labor costs ......................................................................................... 420
11.1.8 Facilities costs ................................................................................... 421
11.2 Mix-and-Match Strategies ............................................................................. 421
Problems........................................................................................................................... 423
References ....................................................................................................................... 424
Chapter 12 Extreme Ultraviolet Lithography .................................................... 425
12.1 Background and Multilayer Reflectors ..................................................... 425

12.2 EUV Lithography System Overview ......................................................... 430
12.3 EUV Masks ........................................................................................................ 433
12.4 Sources and Illuminators ............................................................................... 436
12.5 EUV Optics ........................................................................................................ 441
12.6 EUV Resists ....................................................................................................... 443
Problems........................................................................................................................... 448
References ....................................................................................................................... 450
Chapter 13 Alternative Lithography Techniques .............................................. 459
13.1 Proximity X-ray Lithography....................................................................... 459

13.2 Electron-Beam Direct-Write Lithography ............................................... 465
13.2.1 Single-beam direct-write systems .............................................. 469
13.2.2 Multiple-electron-beam direct-write systems ........................ 470
13.2.3 Cell-projection lithography .......................................................... 474
13.2.4 Scattering-mask electron-projection lithography .................. 474
13.3 Ion-Projection Lithography .......................................................................... 477
13.4 Imprint Lithography ........................................................................................ 479
13.5 Directed Self-Assembly ................................................................................. 480
13.6 The Ultimate Future of Lithography ......................................................... 481
Problems........................................................................................................................... 483
References ....................................................................................................................... 483
Appendix A: Coherence ................................................................................. 491

Problems........................................................................................................................... 494
References ....................................................................................................................... 494
Index ................................................................................................................... 495
Color Plates Section follows page................................................................ 256

Preface to the Third Edition
The need to update Principles of Lithography only five years after the release
of the second edition is evidence of the quickly changing and exciting nature of
lithography as applied to the production of integrated circuits and other micro- and
nanoscale devices. Since the second edition was written, immersion lithography
has moved from development into volume manufacturing, double patterning
methods have been developed to maintain scaling using optical lithography,
extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography has started to move from the laboratory to
development pilot lines, and there has been a significant increase in skills in many
other aspects of lithography. I hope that the readers of this new edition are satisfied
with my efforts to explain the salient points of the newly developed technology.
For students, I have added more homework problems.
As a practical matter, not every contribution to lithography described in a
publication could be referenced, but I do hope that I have properly recognized
the work of others, while providing the reader with a tractable and useful list of
references.
I would like to thank the many people who contributed to this latest
edition of Principles of Lithography, providing figures, papers, and explanations.
Specific figures were provided by Lars Liebmann (10.18), David Kyser of
Applied Materials (Fig. 7.11), Simi George of Lawrence Berkeley Laboratories
(Fig. 12.18), David Brandt of Cymer (Fig. 12.17), Hiroko Takeuchi of Nuflare
(Fig. 7.6), Norihiro Yamamoto of Spansion (Figs. 7.26 and 7.27), Bruno La
Fontaine of Cymer (Figs. 12.1 and 12.2), Stefan Wurm of GLOBALFOUNDRIES
(Fig. 12.6), Wolfgang Holzapfel of Heidenhain (Fig. 5.36), Andreas Erdmann from
the Fraunhofer Institute (Fig. 5.45), Brigette Wehrmann and Leah Rickman of
Suss Microtec (Fig. 5.48), Kafai Lai of IBM (Fig. 8.34), and Paul Nealey from
the University of Wisconsin (Fig. 13.20).
Robert L. Brainard of the State University of New York (SUNY),
Albany, provided useful information on resists for next-generation lithography.
Conversations with Andrew Hazelton of Nikon regarding linewidth control and
double patterning were also very useful. Christian Buergel and Fritz Gans
of the AMTC supplied information on mask making and inspection. Anna
Tchikoulaeva and Paul Ackmann of GLOBALFOUNDRIES provided constructive
suggestions to improve the chapter on masks and reticles. Joe Daggett from
Sumika provided useful information on adhesion promotion. Assistance with
EUV transmission calculations from Erik Gulliksen of Lawrence Berkeley
Laboratories was most appreciated. Discussions with Uzodinma Okoroanyanwu
of GLOBALFOUNDRIES were helpful for understanding pinhole formation
in ultrathin resists. Yuansheng Ma, also from GLOBALFOUNDRIES, helped
significantly with the section on resist line-edge roughness. Vito Dai of
GLOBALFOUNDRIES supplied expert advice on data handling for direct-write
x Preface to the Third Edition
lithography. Copies of useful references were provided by Banqui Wu of Applied

Materials, John Burnett of NIST, and Bert Jan Kampherbeek of MAPPER.
Christian Wagner of ASML helped to clarify some subtle issues regarding EUV
lithography. Eli Dagan explained the status of mask-making tools at Applied
Materials. Gavin Rider generously provided information on electrostatic damage
to masks. Winfried Kaiser of Carl Zeiss helped to clarify issues relating to
high-performance optics. Timothy Groves of SUNY, Albany, provided useful
explanations and information on aspects of electron-beam lithography. Fabian
Pease, Edward Sebesta, and John Burnett pointed out specific errors in prior
editions, which I hope have now been corrected.
I continue to appreciate those people who provided figures and information for
the earlier editions.
I would like to thank Jerry Sanders, founder of Advanced Micro Devices, whose
commitment to excellence enabled many of the ideas in this book to be discovered,
learned, and applied by individual engineers in service to the customer.
Finally, I would like to thank my wife, Laurie, for her continuing, saintly
patience and support.
Harry J. Levinson
November 2010
Preface to the Second Edition
This book was written to address several needs, and the revisions for the second
edition were made with those original objectives in mind. First, and foremost, this
book is intended to serve as an introduction to the science of microlithography
for people who are unfamiliar with the subject. Most papers written for journals
or conference proceedings assume that the reader is familiar with pre-existing
knowledge. The same can be said for compilations of chapters written by experts
who are providing their colleagues and peers with useful summaries of the current
state of the art and of the existing literature. Such papers and books, while quite
useful to experienced lithographers, are not intended to address the needs of
students, who first need to understand the foundations on which the latest advances
rest. It is the intention of this book to fill that need.
For the experienced lithographer, there are many excellent books written on
specialized topics, such as photoresist and resolution-enhancement techniques, and
I have referenced many of those fine works. However, I have often felt that several
topics have not been well addressed in the past; most notably those subjects directly
related to the tools we use to manufacture integrated circuits. Consequently, this
book goes into a few subjects in depth. These include such topics as overlay, the
stages of exposure tools, and light sources. Finally, this text contains numerous
references. These are resources for students who want to investigate particular
topics in more detail, and they provide the experienced lithographer with lists of
references by topic.
A wise leader once told me that one of the most challenging tasks is to transform
complexity to simplicity; in other words, to make apparent the forest obscured
by all of the trees. I hope that I have succeeded adequately on the subjects
covered in this book. Of course, simplicity should never be confused with easiness
or completeness. To assist the student in recognizing these distinctions, more
problems have been added to the end of each chapter. It is expected that the reader
of this book will have a foundation in basic physics and chemistry. No topics will
require knowledge of mathematics beyond elementary calculus.
Lithography is a field in which advances proceed at a swift pace, and many new
topics have been included in this second edition, commensurate with the learning
that has taken place during the past few years, and several subjects are discussed
in more detail. Optical proximity corrections and next-generation lithography are
examples where the landscape looks quite different than it did just a few years ago.
Other topics, such as immersion lithography, were ideas that few took seriously
just a few years ago, yet today are considered quite mainstream.
It has been my good fortune to work with a number of outstanding lithographers.
In addition to the people acknowledged in the preface to the first edition, I would
like to thank several people who contributed to this update. These include Tim
Brunner of IBM, Wolfgang Henke of Infineon, Margaret Conkling of Nikon
xii Preface to the Second Edition
Precision, Nigel Farrar, Vladmir Fleurov, Palash Das and Charles Hindes of
Cymer, Andreas Erdmann of Fraunhofer-Institut für Integrierte Schaltungen, Doug
Resnick and John Algair of Motorola, Wilhelm Maurer of Mentor Graphics,
Christian Wagner and Robert Socha of ASML, Paul Graeupner of Carl Zeiss,
Johannes Nieder of Leica, John Ricardi and Harry Rieger of JMAR, Ray Morgan
of Canon, USA, Walter Gibson of XOS, and Sandy Burgan of DNS. Merry Schnell
and Sharon Streams of the publications staff of SPIE have been very helpful and
supportive. I apologize if I have failed to mention anyone who has helped me with
this update.
It has also been a privilege and joy to work on a more frequent basis with
some exceptionally outstanding lithographers in my own department, as well as
other lithography departments, at AMD. In particular, this includes manufacturing
organizations, where the principles discussed in this book have been skillfully
applied and expertly enhanced to produce high-performance nonvolatile memory
and the world’s most powerful Windows-compatible microprocessors. From AMD,
I would like to thank Bruno La Fontaine, Jongwook Kye, Ivan Lalovic, Adam
Pawloski, Uzodinma Okoroanyanwu, Rolf Seltmann, Wolfram Grundke, and Rick
Edwards for useful and informative discussions on lithography. I would like to
thank my wife, Dr. Laurie Lauchlan, and my daughters, Sam and Sarah, who
continued to exhibit amazing patience while I worked on the second edition of
this book. On September 11, 2001, the world witnessed the destructive power of
the irrational mind. I hope that this book will be a small reminder of the tremendous
capacity of the rational human mind to improve the world around us.
Harry J. Levinson
January 2005
Preface
This book has been written to address several needs. First, it is intended to serve as
an introduction to the science of microlithography for someone who is unfamiliar
with the subject. It is expected that the reader has a foundation in basic physics
and chemistry. No topic requires knowledge of mathematics beyond elementary
calculus. The book covers a number of advanced subjects as well, and it can be
used by experienced lithographers who wish to gain a better understanding of
topics that are not in their own areas of expertise. Numerous references are made to
literature in optical lithography, providing a guide for both novice and experienced
lithographers who want to learn about particular subjects in detail.
A number of discussions—such as thin-resist modeling, metrics for imaging,
thin-film optics, and the modeling of focus effects—first appeared in Advanced
Micro Design internal reports. Eventually, some parts of these reports were
published elsewhere. Their tutorial nature is not coincidental, as they were
analyses that I used to develop my own understanding of lithography. It is often
found that complex situations are best comprehended through simple models that
describe most of the relevant physics, with the remaining effects considered as
perturbations. This is the approach I used in learning lithography myself, and it is
the method used in this book. Students of the class on lithography science that I
periodically teach will recognize many of the figures and equations. A number of
these are also used in the first chapter in the SPIE Handbook on Microlithography,
Micromachining, and Microfabrication, Volume I: Microlithography. I coauthored
that chapter with Bill Arnold of ASM Lithography.
Additional topics have been added or expanded significantly, especially those
concerning light sources, photomasks, and next-generation lithography. The
chapter on overlay is an expanded version of a similar chapter found in my earlier
text, Lithography Process Control (SPIE Press, 1999). The chapter on photoresists
takes a different approach from that found in most books on lithography.
Here, resists are approached from the perspective of the practicing lithographer,
rather than the resist chemist. Some resist chemistry is discussed because this
knowledge is essential for using resists properly, but the emphasis is on operational
considerations.
A number of acknowledgments are in order. First, there are several people at
AMD to be thanked. Jongwook Kye provided the data for Figs. 8.8, 10.4, and 10.5.
Figure 12.8 shows two micrographs, generated by Janice Gray, of an EUV mask
fabricated at AMD. Dr. Uzodinma Okoroanyanwu has provided the author with
guidance through the world of resist chemistry. Figure 3.26 was contributed by
Marina Plat.
It has been my good fortune to have had the opportunity to interact with many
of the world’s experts in lithography, and their works are referenced throughout
this book. Quite a number of the ideas presented in this book first appeared in
xiv Preface
papers that I coauthored with Bill Arnold, who is now Executive Scientist at ASM
Lithography. I have also had a long association with Dr. Moshe Preil of KLA-
Tencor, and we have written several papers together.
Lithographers at semiconductor companies are integrators. We combine optics,
precision machines, photochemicals, and photomasks into working processes.
While chip makers often get the glory, the lens makers, resist chemists, and
tool makers are the unsung heroes of the microelectronics revolution. It has also
been my good fortune to be able to interact with many of the world’s experts in
optics, equipment, and lithographic materials. A number of people have provided
assistance in the writing of this book. Several people at Carl Zeiss (Dr. Winfried
Kaiser, Dr. Christian Wagner, Dr. Bernd Geh, and Dr. Reiner Gerreis) have
explained elements of lens optics and metrology to me. Bernd Geh donated the
data of Fig. 4.6, Winfried Kaiser provided Fig. 5.15, and Figs. 5.21 and 5.25
were provided by Dr. W. Ulrich. Figure 5.2 was obtained from Roy Wetzel of
ASM Lithography. Dr. Don Sweeney of Lawrence Livermore Laboratory provided
Fig. 5.19 and offered generally useful information on EUV technology, as did
Dr. Dan Bajuk, Dr. Saša Bajt, and Dr. David Attwood. Figure 5.9 was obtained
from Bob Willard of Lambda Physik. Figure 2.25 was provided by Wes Brykailo
of the Shipley Company. The data in Figs. 3.9, 3.10, and 3.11 were contributed
by Eddie Lee, Emir Gurer, Murthy Krishna, and John Lewellen of Silicon Valley
Group. Figure 3.14 was a donation from Will Conley of Motorola, and Dr. Sergey
Babin of Etec provided Fig. 7.14. Dr. Rainer Kaesmaier of Infineon and Dr. Hans
Löschner of IMS Vienna were particularly generous in providing information on
ion-projection lithography, including Figs. 12.13 and 12.14. Kurt Heidinger of the
Cyantek Corporation supplied information on wet chromium etchants. I want to
thank Phil Seidel for providing the data of Fig. 11.1. Dr. Chuck Gwyn of Intel
contributed Fig 12.10.
Dr. David Joy helped to improve my understanding of SEM metrology. Bill
Moffat of Yield Engineering tutored me as a young engineer and more recently
on adhesion promotion. The references would be far less complete without the
excellent services provided by AMD’s librarians, John Owen, Wendy Grimes, and
Sharon Shaw. I apologize to anyone who has helped me put together this book and
has not been acknowledged.
Finally, I would like to thank my wife, Dr. Laurie Lauchlan, who provided me
with a true appreciation of the importance of metrology, and for her apparently
infinite patience while I wrote this book. This book is dedicated to Laurie, and our
daughters, Samantha and Sarah.
Harry J. Levinson
April 2001
Chapter 1
Overview of Lithography
The patterns of integrated circuits are created on wafers by lithography. The steps
of this critical manufacturing process are listed in Table 1.1. Each step will be
discussed at length in later chapters of this book, but a brief description of each
will be given here. Most of this book is devoted to photolithography, where optical
methods are used to transfer the circuit patterns from master images—called masks
or reticles—to the wafers. Photolithography is the method used for patterning
nearly all integrated circuits fabricated today.
Adhesion promotion: The lithography process creates the patterns of integrated

circuits in films of specialized materials called resists, which are coated onto the
wafers on which the circuits are made. Resists typically do not adhere properly to
untreated surfaces of silicon or silicon-containing materials, such as silicon dioxide
and silicon nitride. To ensure proper adhesion, the wafer surfaces are treated prior
to resist coating.
Resist coat: Resists are typically comprised of organic polymers applied from a
solution. To coat the wafers with resist, a small volume of the liquid resist is first
Table 1.1 The steps in the lithography process. The steps in italic are optional.
2 Chapter 1
dispensed onto a wafer. The wafer is then spun about its axis at a high rate of spin,
flinging off the excess resist and leaving behind, as the solvent evaporates, a thin
(0.1–2 µm, typically) film of solid resist.
Softbake: After the resist coating has been applied, the density is often insufficient
to support later processing. A bake is used to densify the resist film and drive off
residual solvent.
Alignment: Integrated circuits are fabricated by a series of patterning steps. These

start with a lithography operation followed by an etch or ion implantation. Between
patterning steps, there may be film depositions, planarizations, and other processes.
Each new pattern must be placed on top of preceding layers, and proper overlay
of the new layer to the circuit pattern already on the wafer is achieved during the
alignment step by using specialized equipment.
Exposure: Photoresists are materials that undergo photochemical reactions when

exposed to light. There are two types of photoresists—positive and negative.
Positive resists are normally insoluble in the chemicals referred to as resist
developers, but are made soluble by exposure to light. Negative resists have
the opposite behavior: they are soluble in developer and rendered insoluble by
exposure. By exposing the resist selectively in some areas and not others, the
pattern of the circuit can be created in the resist film. This selective exposure is
accomplished in optical lithography by the imaging of a mask. Photomasks are
sheets of glass, partially covered by an opaque material, usually chromium, that
has been removed according to the pattern of the circuit. By shining light onto the
mask, and then projecting the transmitted image onto the resist film, the pattern of
one layer of the circuit is transferred to the resist film on the wafer.
Post-exposure bake: This is an optional baking step used to drive additional

chemical reactions or the diffusion of components within the resist film. The
purposes of the post-exposure bake are discussed in Chapters 3 and 4.
Development: This is the step by which a resist is removed, depending upon

whether or not it has been exposed.
Measurement and inspection: This is an optional operation where it is determined

by measurement if the resist features on the wafer are sized correctly and properly
overlay preceding patterns, and that they are sufficiently free from defects. These
measurements may be used for the purposes of process control or dispositioning.
Hardbake: This is another optional process. Because wafers with photoresist

patterns nearly always go into etch or ion implantation operations immediately
following the lithography step, a final bake is often used to drive out volatile
organic materials and water in order to preserve the vacuum integrity of the etch
and ion implantation equipment. The temperature required for this step is usually
Overview of Lithography 3
so high that it will degrade the photochemical properties of the resist. Had the
high-temperature hardbake been employed prior to the development step, the resist
would not have developed properly. Consequently, the hardbake is one of the
last steps in the lithography process, though it may precede measurement and
inspection.
The role of the lithography process in overall integrated circuit fabrication can
be appreciated by considering the sequence of deposition, lithography, and etch
steps used to establish electrical contacts to the transistors that make up integrated
circuits (Fig. 1.1). Electrical interconnections are made after the transistors have
been fabricated and covered with insulating oxide or another suitable dielectric.
The wafers are then covered with resist, and the resist is exposed in places
where electrical contacts to the transistors are desired. For reasons explained later,
positive resists are commonly used for making electrical contacts. The exposed
resist is developed out, exposing the oxide above the points where electrical contact
is desired. The wafer is then put into an environment of oxide etchant. The oxide
still covered by resist is protected against the etch, while the oxide is removed
where electrical contact is desired. The contact holes can then be filled with metal,
thus establishing electrical contact.
The primary tool used for projecting the image of the circuit from a photomask
onto a resist-coated wafer is the wafer stepper. Wafer steppers exist in two
configurations—step-and-repeat and step-and-scan. In a step-and-repeat system,
the wafer is positioned under a lens so that a projected image of the layer to be
exposed will properly overlay the patterns already on the wafer (Fig. 1.2). The
systems that allow the stepper to bring the wafer into proper position are discussed
in Chapter 6. Once the wafer is properly positioned and brought into focus, a
shutter in an illumination system is opened, allowing light to pass through the
Figure 1.1 The sequence of steps used to make electrical connections in a transistor in
an integrated circuit.
4 Chapter 1
Figure 1.2 Exposure of resist-coated wafers on wafer steppers.
photomask. The pattern on the mask is then imaged by the lens onto the wafer. The
image is reduced laterally by the amount N:1, where N is the lens-reduction factor,
most commonly equal to 4 in leading-edge systems today. Values of N of 1, 2, and
2.5 are found on steppers that have been designed primarily for high productivity.
Large values of N are desirable to the extent that they reduce the effects of
variations in linewidths and misregistration on the reticle, generally by the factor
of N, as the image of the reticle is projected onto the wafer. Defects are also reduced
in size to the point that they often fall below the resolution limit of the lens. The first
commercially available wafer stepper, the GCA DSW4800, had N = 10. However,
as chip sizes became larger, smaller values of N were required to avoid reticles
that were bigger than what was practical. For many years, most steppers had lens-
reduction factors of 5, but values of 4 began to appear in the early 1990s. They are
found on all leading-edge systems today. For a given mask size, larger exposure
fields on the wafer are possible with smaller values of N, and systems designed
for high productivity (but not necessarily to produce the finest patterns) often have
N < 4. With larger exposure fields, fewer fields need to be exposed in order to
pattern wafers completely, which gives an opportunity for higher throughput.
Because of reduction by the projection optics, only part of the wafer (an
“exposure field”) is exposed at any one time on a wafer stepper. After one field is
exposed, the wafer is moved on an extremely precise stage so that another part of
the wafer can be exposed. This process of exposure and wafer stepping is repeated
until the entire wafer is exposed. In the typical reduction stepper, the stage travels
in the horizontal plane beneath a fixed, vertically mounted lens.∗
In a step-and-repeat system, the entire area of the reticle to be exposed is
illuminated when the shutter is opened. In a step-and-scan system, only part of
∗
The Micrascan systems on which wafers moved vertically were exceptions. These exposure tools
were originally made by Perkin-Elmer. The Perkin-Elmer exposure tool business was purchased by
SVG, Inc., which in turn was acquired by ASML.
Overview of Lithography 5
the reticle, and therefore only part of the exposure field on the wafer, is exposed
when the shutter is opened (Fig. 1.3). The area exposed on step-and-scan systems
at any instant is usually a narrow rectangular region, referred to as the slit. The
entire field is exposed by scanning the reticle and wafer synchronously. The reticle
stage must be scanned at a speed of N times faster than the wafer, where N is the
lens-reduction factor. (The motivations for scanning are discussed in Chapter 5.)
Figure 1.3 Step-and-repeat and step-and-scan configurations.
This method of fabrication is extremely efficient, since many circuit features

are patterned in parallel. For example, a NAND flash memory will have two
contacts per bit in the memory arrays. With 34-nm design rules, four 32-Gb NAND
flash memory chips are exposed simultaneously on a step-and-scan system when
the mask is illuminated. Consequently, over 256 billion contacts are imaged in a
single exposure, which occurs in about 0.1 sec. If one thinks of this in terms of a
transfer of design information to the wafer, where each contact is considered to be
a single piece of information, this is a remarkable rate of information transfer: over
2.5 trillion bits of information are transferred per second. Moreover, this rate of
transfer continues to increase as lithography processes become able to print smaller
features. This increasing rate of transfer, driven by the ability to print features of
decreasing size, is the key factor in the reduction of the cost of microelectronics.
Each step of the lithographic process is discussed in this book. Pattern formation
is of central importance because the great functionality of modern microelectronics
has been enabled by the ability to pack large numbers of individual transistors in a
unit area of silicon. The principles of optics relevant to imaging small features are
covered in Chapter 2, while photoresists are discussed in Chapter 3. Methods of
predicting lithographic performance are presented in Chapter 4. The primary tool
6 Chapter 1
used in lithography—the wafer stepper—is described in Chapter 5, and this leads

into overlay, the topic of Chapter 6. Mask technology is the subject of Chapter 7.
Advanced methods of optical lithography are reviewed in Chapter 8. The problem
of measuring the small features created by the lithography process is addressed in
Chapter 9. The limitations imposed by the laws of physics on optical methods are
discussed in Chapter 10. Lithography costs, which can be as significant as technical
issues, are covered in Chapter 11. Finally, possible next-generation lithography
options that might succeed optical lithography are reviewed in Chapters 12 and 13.
Problems
1.1 For a mask that is 152 × 152 mm, and assuming that a 10-mm border at the
edges of the plate is required to hold the mask, show that the largest field that can
be patterned on the wafer is 13.2 × 13.2 mm if the lens-reduction factor is 10×.
What is the largest field if the lens-reduction factor is 5 × ? 4 × ?
1.2 The AMD Shanghai quadcore microprocessor has an area of 258 mm2 , and is
approximately square in shape:
Can such a die be printed in a single exposure with an exposure tool with 10× lens
reduction? 4× lens reduction? Why do you think that large lens-reduction factors
are not used, even though their use would reduce the criticality of reticle quality?
1.3 What are the nine principal steps in the lithographic process? Which steps are
optional?
1.4 In the lithographic process, what are the materials called in which patterns are
formed on the wafers?
Chapter 2
Optical Pattern Formation
2.1 The Problem of Imaging
The basic problem of imaging is shown in Fig. 2.1. Light from an illumination
source passes through a photomask, which defines the patterns. The simple
photomask illustrated here consists of two types of complementary areas—one
type that is opaque, while the other is transparent. In this example, the transparent
(or “clear”) area is a long space of uniform width, and the optical and resist
profiles shown in Fig. 2.1 are cross sections for this geometry. Some of the light
that passes through the mask continues through a lens, which projects an image
of the mask pattern onto a wafer. The wafer is coated with a photosensitive
film, a photoresist that undergoes a chemical reaction upon exposure to light.
After exposure, the wafer is baked and developed, leaving regions covered by
photoresist and complementary regions that are not covered. The patterning
objective of microlithography is to produce well-defined resist features, sized
within specifications. This is a challenge because of the shape of the light-
intensity distribution produced at the wafer plane by a lens of finite resolution.
This distribution lacks a clearly defined edge (Fig. 2.1). From the light-intensity
distribution alone, it is not possible to know where the edges of the feature are. If
the light-intensity distribution had the shape shown in Fig. 2.2, there would be no
such problem, because a clear delineation would exist between areas of the resist
exposed to light and areas unexposed to light.
The light distribution shown in Fig. 2.1 was not drawn arbitrarily or artistically.
Because light is a form of electromagnetic radiation, it is possible to use equations
that describe the propagation of electromagnetic waves to calculate optical image
formation,1 and the light-intensity distribution shown in Fig. 2.1 was generated
accordingly. The physics of image formation will be discussed in more detail in
this and later chapters.
Lithographic processes are easier to control the closer the actual optical images
resemble the ideal ones. If the light profile at the wafer plane is represented by the
distribution shown in Fig. 2.2, the edges of the feature could be clearly identified
by looking at the light-intensity distribution. The photoresist on the wafer would be
cleanly separated into exposed and unexposed areas. In the situations that actually
occur, the photoresist receives continuously varying doses of light in the regions
corresponding to features on the mask. Proper pattern definition on the wafer
8 Chapter 2
Figure 2.1 An illustration of the imaging process. Light passes through a reticle
(photomask). The resulting pattern is imaged onto a photoresist-covered wafer by a lens.
The finite resolution of the lens results in a light-intensity distribution that does not have
clearly defined edges. The particular light-intensity distribution shown in this figure was
calculated using PROLITH 1.5, for a 0.25-µm space on a 0.65-µm pitch (i.e., for a grating
pattern of 0.25-µm spaces and 0.4-µm lines), where the numerical aperture (NA) of the
aberration-free lens is 0.5, imaging at a wavelength of 248 nm, and with 0.5 partial
coherence. The parameter “numerical aperture” will be explained later in this chapter, and
partial coherence is discussed in Appendix A. Actinic refers to light that drives chemical
reactions in the photoresist.
Figure 2.2 An ideal light-intensity distribution.

Optical Pattern Formation 9
requires that small differences in exposure doses at the edges of pattern features be
distinguished through the resist processing. Edge control will be better for light-
intensity distributions that closely resemble the ideal case illustrated in Fig. 2.2.
Light-intensity profiles produced by two sets of optics, one of “higher
resolution” than the other, are shown in Fig. 2.3. (The parameters that affect
image sharpness and resolution will be discussed later in this chapter.) The image
produced by the higher-resolution lens is closer to the ideal image than the one
produced by the lens with lower resolution. For a given feature size, it is possible
to have better pattern definition with higher-resolution optics. However, because of
the highly competitive nature of the microelectronics industry, lithographers need
to operate their processes at the limits of the best available optics. With a given set
of optics, the light-intensity distributions are degraded further, relative to the ideal
case, with smaller features (Fig. 2.4). As features become smaller, the edge slope of
the light-intensity profiles become more sloped, and the peak intensity decreases.
The challenge for lithographers is to produce the smallest possible features on the
wafers, with shape and size well controlled, for a given generation of optics.
2.2 Aerial Images

The origin of the image-intensity profile of Fig. 2.1 is the physical phenomenon of
diffraction, a subject that was studied extensively in the nineteenth century and is
well understood.1 Diffraction effects are inherent to the wave nature of light. The
resolution of optical tools is fundamentally limited by the physical phenomenon
of diffraction, and as device geometries shrink, the lithography engineer must
ultimately contend with this barrier imposed by the laws of physics. This is
illustrated in Fig. 2.4, where aerial images are shown for features of varying sizes.
Figure 2.3 Light-intensity profiles for 150-nm isolated spaces (nominal). One image was
generated for an aberration-free 0.7-NA lens, with a partial coherence of 0.6, at a wavelength
of 248 nm (KrF), while the other image was generated for a 193-nm (ArF) unaberrated
lens, with a numerical aperture of 0.75 and a partial coherence of 0.6. These images were
calculated using the simulation program Solid-C.2 The ArF lens has higher resolution than
the KrF lens. All images are in the plane of best focus.
10 Chapter 2
Figure 2.4 Calculated light-intensity distributions for isolated spaces of varying sizes,
using parameters for an aberration-free 0.7-NA lens, with a partial coherence of 0.6, at
a wavelength of 248 nm. All of the features are normalized to a width of 1.0. All images are
in the plane of best focus.
As the feature size shrinks, the edge acuity of the light-intensity distribution is
degraded. If even smaller features are considered, at some point one must say that
features are no longer resolved, but it is clear from Fig. 2.4 that there is a gradual
transition from “resolved” to “unresolved.” A definition of resolution is not obvious
because of this lack of a clear delineation between “resolved” and “unresolved.”
Simple diffraction analyses lead to the most frequently cited quantitative definition
of resolution, the Rayleigh criterion, which will be introduced shortly. While
sufficiently instructive to justify discussion, the Rayleigh criterion does not provide
a measure directly applicable to the situation encountered in photolithography,
and one should use it with care. Discussion of the Rayleigh criterion in this book
emphasizes its assumptions, and therefore its applicability.
The subjects of diffraction and image formation are quite involved and, at best,
can only be introduced here. The mathematical formalism is particularly complex,
and the interested reader is referred to the references cited at the end of this chapter.
The phenomenon of diffraction will be introduced through two examples—the
diffraction grating and the circular aperture.
The origin of the resolution limits of optical systems can be appreciated by
considering the system shown in Fig. 2.5. A reticle with a diffraction grating with a
periodicity 2d (equal lines and spaces) is illuminated by a source of coherent light
of wavelength λ. (For readers unfamiliar with coherence, a short introduction is
provided in Appendix A.) For an angle of incidence of θi , the grating diffracts the
light into various beams whose directions are given by1
mλ
sin (θ) − sin (θi ) = , m = 0, ±1, ±2, . . . . (2.1)
2d
Here we are assuming that the index of refraction of air, which surrounds the mask
and lens, is ≈1.
Figure 2.5 A situation with coherent light and a diffraction grating on the reticle. A ray of
light is diffracted into beams that propagate in distinct directions given by Eq. (2.1).
Consider a lens with a collection angle of θ0 (Fig. 2.6) used to image the grating.
Due to Eq. (2.1), the lens collects only a finite number of diffraction beams.
Coherent light illuminating a grating diffracts into beams that correspond to the
object’s Fourier components, and a diffraction-limited lens will recombine those
beams that pass through the entrance pupil of the lens. If the lens collects all of
the diffracted beams, then the grating will be fully reconstructed in the image.
However, since the lens collects only a finite number of beams the image is only
a partial reconstruction of the original grating pattern. As light from increasingly
larger angles is collected, the image consists of more terms in the Fourier-series
expansion of the light-intensity distribution of the grating (see Fig. 2.7). For on-
Figure 2.6 The finite size of lenses limits the angles at which diffracted beams are
collected.
12 Chapter 2
Figure 2.7 Partial sums of Eq. (2.2), with I0 = 1. The image more closely approximates a
rectangular grating when more terms are added.
axis illumination (θi = 0),

2
∞
1 2 X (−1)m mπ mπx
I(x) = I0 − sin cos . (2.2)
2 π m=1 m 2 d
If the lens captures only a single beam, then there is no pattern in the image, since
a single plane wave has no spatial variation in its intensity:
~ 2

Intensity of a single plane wave = A0 eik·~x = |A0 |2 . (2.3)
At least two interfering plane waves are needed to generate spatial variation. To
retain more than the first (constant) term in the expansion of I(x), θ0 must be large
enough to capture diffracted beams for m ≥ 1. Equation (2.1) then leads to the
following expression for a minimally resolved feature:
λ
d = 0.5 . (2.4)
sin θ0
The resolution is found to be directly proportional to the wavelength of the light

and inversely proportional to sin θ0 . Resolution is limited because only a finite
number of diffracted beams pass through the entrance pupil of the lens.
The phenomenon of diffraction can be appreciated further by considering the
situation in which uniform illumination is normally incident on a masking screen
where there is a circular hole (Fig. 2.8). Such a situation arises, for example, if
the light is produced by a point source located far from the masking screen. The
light that passes through the hole illuminates another screen. In the absence of
diffraction, the incident light would simply pass through the aperture and produce
a circular illuminated spot on the second screen. Because of diffraction, in addition
to the normally incident rays of light, some light propagates at divergent angles.
Figure 2.8 A circular aperture illuminated by a point source of light.
For certain configurations, the light-intensity distributions resulting from

diffraction can be obtained analytically, and the circular aperture, illustrated in
Fig. 2.8, is one of these. The solution for the light intensity is plotted in Fig. 2.9.
Rather than a circular beam propagating in a single direction, the light is distributed
over angles that are functions of the wavelength of the light and the diameter of the
circular aperture. For light of wavelength λ, the light-intensity distribution at radius
r on the imaging screen is given by1
" #2
J1 (x)
I(x) = I0 2 , (2.5)
x
Figure 2.9 The light-intensity distribution from a point source (of unit intensity) projected
through a circular aperture in an opaque screen. The dimensions x and y are given in units
of πd/λz, where d is the diameter of the aperture and z is the distance between the two
screens.
14 Chapter 2
where x = πdr/λz, d is the diameter of the aperture, z is the distance between the
two screens, and J1 is the first-order Bessel function. I0 is the intensity at the peak
of the distribution. It should be noted that shorter wavelengths and larger apertures
lead to less angular divergence. The light-intensity distribution given by Eq. (2.5)
is called the Airy pattern, after G. B. Airy who first derived it.3 Because of the
diffraction that occurs at the entrance pupil or edges of a lens producing divergent
beams, the images of point objects are focused Airy patterns.
Rayleigh used the above property of diffraction to establish a criterion for the
resolving power of telescopes, using the following argument.4 Suppose there are
two point sources of light (stars) separated by a small angle. Being independent
sources, the light rays from different stars do not interfere, i.e., they are mutually
incoherent. Accordingly, the total light intensity is the sum of the individual
intensities. The two stars are said to be minimally resolved when the maximum
of the Airy pattern from one star falls on the first zero of the Airy pattern from the
other star. This occurs when
x
= 0.61. (2.6)
2π
The resulting total light intensity due to the two stars with an angular separation
given by x = πdr/λz = 0.61 × 2π is plotted in Fig. 2.10, where two peaks can
be clearly distinguished. It was thus learned that the resolving capability of optical
instruments is limited simply because of the finite entrance pupil.
For focusing optics, the minimum resolved distance δ between the peak of the
Airy distribution and its first zero can be related using criteria that must be satisfied
for focusing optics, resulting in
λ
δ = 0.61 , (2.7)
n sin θ
where n is the index of refraction of the medium surrounding the bottom of the
lens (n ≈ 1 for air), λ is the wavelength of the light, and 2θ is the angle illustrated
Figure 2.10 Light-intensity distribution of two light sources projected through a circular
aperture.
in Fig. 2.11. The quantity n sin θ is called the numerical aperture (NA) of the lens.
Proper lens design is required for the numerical aperture, and hence the resolution,
to be uniform across the exposure field. The minimum separation given by Eq.
(2.7) is referred to as the Rayleigh resolution.
Examples of wavelengths and numerical apertures typically used in
semiconductor processing are given in Table 2.1 along with the accompanying
Rayleigh resolution. As can be seen from this table, a high resolution (small feature
size) can be achieved with a large NA or a short wavelength. When focus is taken
into consideration, these two paths to resolution are not equivalent, as is discussed
shortly.
It is worth restating that the Rayleigh criterion for resolution is obtained by
considering the imaging of point sources of light, which is not the situation
encountered by photolithographers. The geometries on photomasks that must
be imaged onto the front surface of wafers are extended in size, generally
approximating the size and shape of a circuit element. The resolution problem
is shown in Fig. 2.4. As the features become smaller, the optical profile becomes
Figure 2.11 The angle defined by the aperture in a lens determines its numerical aperture.
Table 2.1 Typical parameters for stepper optics.
Wavelength Numerical Rayleigh Year of first Light source

(nm) aperture resolution (µm) use
436 0.30 0.89 1982 Hg arc lamp (g line)

365 0.45 0.49 1990 Hg arc lamp (i line)
365 0.60 0.37 1994 Hg arc lamp (i line)
248 0.50 0.30 1994 Hg arc lamp or KrF
excimer laser
248 0.60 0.25 1997 KrF excimer laser
248 0.70 0.22 1999 KrF excimer laser
193 0.75 0.16 2001 ArF excimer laser
16 Chapter 2
flatter, and it becomes increasingly difficult to locate the “edge” of a feature. As

is discussed later, linewidth control is directly related to the slope of the optical
intensity distribution. Although it was derived for a situation different from those
encountered by lithographers, the Rayleigh criterion for resolution is nevertheless
useful as a scaling equation. For example, if one increases the numerical aperture
by 20%, the optical resolution is also expected to change by ∼20%, even if the
exact value of the minimally printed linewidth is not given by Eq. (2.7). For
the microelectronics industry, the relevant issue is not the “resolution” of point
sources, but rather how small features that exist in real integrated circuits (IC) can
be printed. In the context of microelectronics processing, the minimum printable
feature size is also dependent upon the properties of the photoresist, while the
Rayleigh criterion was derived solely on the basis of optical considerations. As
resists improve, the minimum feature size that can be printed becomes smaller for
fixed optics. To take advantage of the scaling property of the Rayleigh criterion,
and the dependence on resist processes, Eq. (2.7) is often rewritten as
λ
smallest feature = k1 , (2.8)
NA
where NA is the numerical aperture, and the prefactor of 0.61, associated with point
sources, is replaced by k1 (usually referred to as the “k factor” for a given process).
For a given resist system, Eq. (2.8) provides scaling, and the prefactor changes if a
different photoresist process is used.
The imaging analysis of a grating structure contains a curious feature associated
with coherent illumination. For a particular set of optics, grating dimensions are
resolved to a certain point and then not resolved at all for smaller features, at the
point when the multiple beams no longer enter the lens. This behavior of optics,
where its performance falls off rapidly as the rated resolution limits of the lenses
are approached, is familiar to most photolithographers. The extremely sharp cutoff
in resolving power of the grating example in this book is an artifact of the complete
coherence of the light and single direction of the illumination. This cutoff led
to a situation in which terms of the expansion Eq. (2.2) were retained with their
complete magnitudes or not retained at all. For partially coherent and incoherent
light, the coefficients of the cosines in the image-series expansion decrease more
gradually as the diffraction limits are approached, and as the illumination includes
light incident from multiple angles.
Consider again the mask pattern consisting of a grating of a periodicity of
2d. Near the resolution limit, the image consists of only a constant plus a single
cosine term that has the same periodicity as the mask pattern, regardless of the
configuration of the optics. After passing through the optical system, the light-
intensity profile appears as shown in Fig. 2.12. The minimum light intensity Imin
is greater than zero, and the peak light intensity Imax is less than the illumination
Figure 2.12 Light intensity as a function of position, for a grating pattern on the reticle.
intensity. The optical contrast or modulation is defined as 5,6
Imax − Imin
C= . (2.9)
Imax + Imin
The optical contrasts of grating structures for different types of illumination, as

a function of spatial frequency, are plotted in Fig. 2.13. The spatial frequencies ν
are related to feature size by the relationship
1
ν= . (2.10)
2d
High spatial frequencies correspond to small features. In the case of diffraction-

limited optics (that is, optics where the imaging performance is limited only by
the phenomenon of diffraction and not by lens quality), the transfer characteristics
can be plotted in terms of normalized spatial frequencies ν/νo , where νo = NA/λ.
As shown in Fig. 2.13, there is a sharp cutoff for image contrast with completely
coherent illumination, with no image contrast resulting for features smaller than
0.5NA/λ. For incoherent and partially coherent light, the image contrast degrades,
and there is no similar distinction between features that can and cannot be imaged
with good contrast. The amount by which sinusoidally varying intensities of
incoherent light diminish as they pass through an optical system is called the
modulation transfer function (MTF)7 and has been used not only within the context
of photolithography, but also to characterize the resolving capabilities of optics.
For optics with circular apertures, the functional form of the modulation transfer
function is known and, for aberration-free optics, is given by
2
MT F(ν) = (φ − cos φ sin φ), (2.11)
π
for ν ≤ 2NA/λ, where ν is the spatial frequency and

!
λν
φ = cos−1 . (2.12)
2NA
18 Chapter 2
Figure 2.13 Contrast [defined in Eq. (2.9)] of the image of a grating, produced by an in-
focus diffraction-limited lens. The normalized spatial frequency is given by λ/2dNA, where
2d is the period (or pitch) of the grating, NA is the numerical aperture of the lens, and λ is
the wavelength of the light. The coherence factor σ is defined in Appendix A. For incoherent
light, the contrast equals the MTF.
The circular aperture MTF = 0 for ν > 2NA/λ. This MTF function is plotted in
Fig. 2.13. For incoherent illumination, the image of a diffraction grating is given
by7
∞
 m

 1 2 X (−1) m mπ mπx  .
I(x) = I0  −

MT F sin cos (2.13)
2 π m=1 m 2d 2 d 
The illumination used in microlithography is neither completely coherent nor

incoherent, and the curves shown in Fig. 2.13 for coherent or incoherent light
do not accurately characterize the transfer properties of mask features onto
wafers. The contrast of partially coherent light, more typical of the illumination
encountered in the context of optical lithography, is also shown in Fig. 2.13.
When operating in a region where the optical contrast curve is relatively flat, the
imaging variations among features of different sizes are small. As the resolution
limit of the lens is approached, the imaging capabilities of the lens fall off quickly.
The greater the coherence of the light, the greater the optical contrast is up to the
resolution limit, but there is a sharp cutoff for small features. Patterns in photoresist
can be generated for optical contrasts less than 1.0, but significantly greater than
zero; the exact number depends upon the resist system. The partial coherence of
exposure tools is chosen to provide the optical contrast necessary for patterning
minimum-sized features in single layers of photoresist. Metrics for optical-image
quality other than contrast are used more extensively today, and these are discussed
later in this chapter.
The preceding discussion has described several general properties of optical
systems. First and foremost, the resolution of an optical system is limited by
the physical phenomenon of diffraction. This limit may not be reached in actual
optical systems because of lens aberrations, which are discussed in Chapter 4.
The sharpness of the resolution “edge” of a lens is dependent upon the degree
of coherence of the illumination, and for exposure systems that have been used
in the past, the falloff in optical contrast becomes steep as the resolution limit is
approached, but it is not perfectly sharp.
Creating resist images within manufacturing tolerances, and on a repeatable
basis, from poorly defined optical profiles is the challenge confronting
microlithographers. Fortunately, there is more to lithographic pattern formation
than optics. Photoresist is a second key ingredient for patterning. One can think
of a lithographic-exposure system as essentially a camera in which the photoresist
plays the role of the film. Following the development process, a pattern is formed
in the photoresist. The quality of the final resist patterns is determined by the
resolving power of the optics, the focusing accuracy, the contrast of the resist
process, and an assortment of other variables that cause the final image to be a
less-than-perfect reproduction of the features on the mask. Just as common film for
personal cameras produces pictures of varying quality depending upon the film’s
photospeed, contrast, and graininess, as well as the focus setting of the camera, the
final images produced photolithographically are affected by the resist processes
and the optics used.
An understanding of the independent factors that contribute to pattern formation
and their interactions is essential for the photolithographer. For example, consider
the situation in which a production process has started to produce poorly defined
patterns. Is the problem due to the resist process or the exposure system?
An understanding of the various contributions to the final image enables the
lithography engineer to resolve the problem expeditiously. Process-development
engineers must also have a solid understanding of the fundamentals of lithography.
For a new process, advanced optics provide high resolution at the expense of
capital, while sophisticated resist processes might extend the capabilities of any
optics, but with a possible increase in process complexity (and other issues
discussed later). By appreciating the roles that the resist and optics play in pattern
formation, the photolithography engineer can design the most cost-effective and
capable manufacturing line. An overview of the lithographic process is presented
in this chapter whereby the separate contributions from the optics and the resist
process can be seen. Each subject is then discussed in more detail in subsequent
sections.
Two characteristics of the final resist pattern are of primary interest—the size
and the shape. Processes capable of producing the narrowest possible linewidths
are highly desired because they enable smaller chips to be produced, allowing
large numbers of devices to be produced on each wafer. Thus, there is a tight
connection between lithographic capability and profits. Short gates are also needed
for fast electronics. The requirements of the resist shape are usually imposed by
the post-lithographic processing. Consider, for example, the situation in which the
photoresist is to serve as a mask for ion implantation. If the edges of the resist
are nearly vertical, normally incident implantation is clearly delineated by the
20 Chapter 2
resist edge, resulting in a sharp doping profile. On the other hand, if the resist
has considerable slope, high-energy ions penetrate the partial thickness of the
resist at the edges of the pattern, and the resulting doping profile is graded. The
relevance of the resist-edge slope and its effect on the doping profile depends upon
the overall process requirements. Another common example in which the slope of
the resist is important occurs when the resist is to be used as a mask for plasma
or reactive ion etching, and the etching process erodes the photoresist. The slope
of the photoresist can be transferred to the etched layer, which may or may not
be desirable. There is no lithographic consideration that purely determines the
optimum process. However, once the requirements of the final resist pattern are
determined from considerations of the post-lithographic processing, the masking
process can be specified. Typically, the most preferred resist profiles are ones that
are nearly vertical. Since these are generally the most difficult to produce, as well
as the most desired, our discussion is oriented toward such profiles.
Regardless of the specific size and shape requirements of the resist patterns,
which may vary from one technology to another, all lithographic processes must
be consistent and reproducible, relative to manufacturing specifications, in order to
be appropriate for use in production. The parameters that affect process uniformity
and consistency must be understood, as well as those that limit the ultimate
performance of a lithographic tool or process. Identification of those parameters
is a subject of a significant portion of this chapter.
A typical resist profile is shown in Fig. 2.14. The shape of the cross section is
often idealized as a trapezoid. Three dimensions are of greatest interest: the width
of the resist line at the resist-substrate interface, the slope of the sidewall, and the
maximum thickness of the resist film after development.
Of course, actual resist profiles often depart significantly from the idealized
trapezoid. The Semiconductor Equipment and Materials International (SEMI)
standard that defines linewidth8 accounts for such departures, and linewidth is
Figure 2.14 (a) Cross section of Sumitomo PAR101 resist, printed on an ASML 5500/900
193-nm step-and-scan system, which had a 0.75 NA. (b) Idealized trapezoid cross section.
defined to be a function of the height from the resist-substrate interface (Fig. 2.15).
Throughout the next section, if the word “linewidth” is used with no further
clarification, it is understood to be the dimension L = y2 − y1 measured at the
resist-substrate interface. This definition has been chosen for three reasons. First,
the width at the base of the resist line is of greatest relevance to the result after
the post-lithographic processing. For example, in a highly selective etch where
there is little resist erosion, all other dimensions of the resist line have negligible
influence on the resultant etch. Moreover, in the presence of a sloped resist profile,
the definition adopted here for linewidth is unambiguous. Finally, the value of the
linewidth is decoupled from the slope of the resist line.
Figure 2.15 The SEMI standard definition for linewidth. Linewidths are given by the
quantities L = y2 − y1 defined at the distances x0 along the resist line and at height z0 .
At this point, the astute reader has noted that the term “resolution” has not been
given a rigorous definition. Since the ability of lithography to resolve small features
is a driving force in the microelectronics industry, a definition of this key quantity
might appear to be in order. The use of theoretically based measures, such as the
Rayleigh criterion, are useful for gaining insight into the lithography process and
estimating capability, but they are not completely adequate because they fail to
account for imperfect lens design and manufacture. They are also insufficient for
other reasons. For example, a lithography process might be unable to reproduce
a pattern coded for 50 nm on the reticle (50 nm times the lens reduction), but
adjustments to exposure in the same process might allow 50-nm features to be
formed on the wafer by overexposing larger features (for example 100 nm times
the lens reduction) on the reticle. Depending on one’s perspective, the resolution
of the lens could be considered either 100 nm or 50 nm. The resulting ambiguity
is a consequence of an additional variable, print bias, which is the difference
between the size of the feature on the mask (divided by the lens reduction) and
the size of the corresponding feature patterned in resist on the wafer. Similarly,
optics have different capabilities for imaging isolated lines, isolated spaces, square
contacts, or isolated islands. Should resolution be considered for one type of feature
or for all features, with or without print bias? The answers to these questions
22 Chapter 2
are user dependent, making it impossible to assign the parameter “resolution” to

particular optics, or even a particular lithography process, in a way that meets all
of the widely varying needs. Nevertheless, one can speak as to whether particular
features are resolved, within context. For a particular circumstance, limits can be
placed on linewidth, slope, resist thickness, etc. Once these limits are specified, a
feature can be said to be resolved so long as it fits within the limits. However, the
sizes and shapes of resist patterns that can be considered acceptable in the most
important circumstances (integrated circuit manufacturing lines) depend upon the
requirements of post-lithographic processing.
When considering the limits of optical lithography (a topic discussed in detail
in Chapter 10) the pitch is typically the most relevant parameter. The principal
benefit of advanced lithographic technology is the ability to pack large numbers of
connected transistors onto a small area of silicon. It is this capability that enables
enormous device functionality to be available at low prices. The smallest line
printable with an optical system is much smaller than the half pitch. One may
be able to print such small lines, but that capability does not directly address the
challenge of packing a large number of connected transistors onto a small area.
Such capability is useful for high-performance logic systems, so it is not without
value; however, when describing the limits of lithographic systems, it is most useful
to express them in terms of the half pitch.
For evaluating and comparing optical systems, these problems may be
circumvented by choosing a particular resist process as a reference process,
with pre-established requirements for linewidth variations, slope, etc. Other resist
processes can be characterized as well by comparison with the reference process.
Elegant definitions of resolution may be appropriate in a laboratory environment,
while the masking engineer needs quantities that can be determined with the tools
at hand. There are many ways to characterize the resolution capabilities of optical
systems,9,10 but in the end the resolving capabilities of a lithography exposure
system are usually determined by inspecting photoresist patterns. By using such
a method, the contributions from the resist process influence the patterning. It is
appropriate at this point to discuss the role of photoresist in pattern formation.
2.3 The Contributions of Physics and Chemistry

With some basic concepts in hand, we can now start to explore the
photolithographic process through some simple models.11,12 The first step in
developing a model is the assignment of numerical values to the light-intensity
profiles, such as those depicted in Figs. 2.1, 2.3 and 2.4. The light intensity
is modulated spatially by the mask and further modified by the optics of the
lithography equipment. Because we are considering only a long space of glass
in the photomask in this illustrative example, the light intensity I at the plane of the
wafer is a function I(x) of only one variable, where x is the distance at the wafer
plane along the direction perpendicular to the space. To simplify the discussion, we
also initially assume the substrate, which is coated by the resist film, to be flat and
nonreflecting. Effects due to substrate topography and reflectivity are addressed
later. The basic assumption for this simple model is that the thickness T (x) of
photoresist remaining after development is determined by the exposure energy dose
E(x) = I(x) · t, where t is the exposure time:
T (x) = T E (E) = T E [E(x)]. (2.14)
This is a reasonable assumption for very thin or high-contrast photoresist. For

positive photoresist, greater exposure results in thinner resist films, while negative
resist remains thicker with higher exposures. The current discussion is restricted to
positive photoresists.
A typical plot of T E (E), normalized to the initial thickness T 0 , is shown in
Fig. 2.16 and is called the “characteristic curve” of the resist, following similarly
named curves used for characterizing photographic films.13 Such a curve may be
obtained by exposing large areas on a wafer with different exposure energies and
then measuring the residual thicknesses in those areas after development. To be
precise, the characteristic curve is not only a property of the resist but also of the
entire resist process, and it depends upon the developer and process parameters
such as bake temperatures.
Several features of the curve should be noted. First, there is a flat region at low
exposure where little resist is removed. In this part of the curve, the final thickness
may not be equal to the thickness T 0 of the resist film before exposure, since the
developer may remove some of the resist even though it is unexposed. Typically,
resist-thickness loss in unexposed or less exposed regions is 20 to 200 Å. Second,
there is an exposure dose E0 above which the photoresist film is completely
removed. This dose is referred to as the dose to clear or E-zero. Finally, the curve
is linear (with a logarithmic scale for the abscissa) in the region around E0 :
T E (E) E
0
= γ ln , (2.15)
T0 E
Figure 2.16 A typical characteristic curve for photoresist, showing photoresist thickness
remaining after development as a function of exposure dose. Resist thickness is plotted on
a linear scale, while the exposure dose is plotted on a logarithmic scale to produce a curve
that is approximately linear in the vicinity of E0 .
24 Chapter 2
for E < E0. The slope γ is called the “contrast” of the resist process and is defined
by Eq. (2.15). Typical values for γ are shown in Table 2.2.
The dependence of the shape of the final resist pattern on the resist process can
be seen in the following analysis. The slope of the resist sidewall is simply
dT
= tan θ, (2.16)
dx
where the derivative is evaluated at the point x0 where the resist profile and the
substrate intersect (Fig. 2.17). Note also that
E0 = E(x0 ). (2.17)
Equation (2.16) can be expressed as14

! !
dT dT E dE
= . (2.18)
dx dE dx
Equation (2.18) neatly divides the factors that determine the resist profile.
The first factor, dT E /dE, is characteristic of the photoresist and development
process, independent of the exposure tool, while the second factor, dE/dx, is
completely determined by the optics of the exposure system. One obtains dT E /dE
by differentiating a curve such as the one shown in Fig. 2.16, but on a linear scale.
The function E(x) is discussed shortly.
In the vicinity of x0 , T E (E) is described by Eq. (2.15). This results in the
following expression for the slope of the resist profile:
" #" #
dT 1 dE(x)
tan θ = = −T 0 γ . (2.19)
dx E(x) dx
Steeper resist profiles are produced with high-contrast resists (large values of γ)
and steep optical profiles, which have large values for the normalized derivative,
(1/E)(dE/dx). Our simple model is based upon the assumption that the resist
development behavior that has been measured in large exposed areas can be
Table 2.2 Resist contrast for selected photoresists.15–18 As

noted, contrast is a property of the resist process, not just the
resist material. The contrasts listed in this table are for typical
optimized processes.
Resist Exposure wavelength (nm) Contrast (γ) Reference
AZ 1470 436 5.8 15

Shipley 511 365 6.9 16
Apex E 248 4.7 17
TOK IP3000 365 6.8 18
Figure 2.17 A space in (positive) resist is created by exposure and development. The
resist thickness T (x) is a function of x.
applied directly to situations where the light intensity is modulated over small
dimensions. This is equivalent to assuming that T (x) is solely a function of
E(x). Within the limits to which our assumption is valid, the dependence of the
profile slope is cleanly separated into the contributions from the optics [the factor
(1/E)(dE/dx)] and from the resist process (represented by γ), and each can be
studied independently of the other.
Theoretical models of image formation in projection optics have been
developed, usually starting from the Hopkins formulation for partially coherent
imaging.19 The Hopkins theory is based on scalar-wave diffraction theory from
physical optics. Imaging models provide the engineer with the ability to calculate
E(x) for various configurations of optics. Let us consider the optics term E(x) and
its normalized derivative, (1/E)(dE/dx). E(x) was calculated for a “perfect” lens
using a commercially available simulation program, Solid-C,2 and the results are
shown in Figs. 2.4 and 2.18. All profiles are shown in normalized dimensions
so that for each feature size the mask edges occur at +/−0.5. The normalized
derivative is shown only around the region of interest, close to the edge of the mask
26 Chapter 2
Figure 2.18 Absolute values of calculated normalized derivatives (image log slope)
(1/E)(dE/dx) of the intensity distributions shown in Fig. 2.4, near the position in the image
that corresponds to the mask edge at x = 0.5. The center of the feature occurs at x = 0.
Overexposure corresponds to values of x > 0.5.
feature. As one can see, for fixed optics the “sharpness” of the optical-intensity
profile degrades and the value of (1/E)(dE/dx) at the edge of the mask feature
is clearly reduced as the feature size is decreased. Lens aberrations or defocus
would also reduce the magnitude of (1/E)(dE/dx), while higher-resolution optics
would increase its value. Since Eq. (2.19) is nonlinear, substantial degradation of
the optical contribution to the profile slope can be tolerated if the contrast γ of the
resist process is large enough.
It should be noted that
! !
1 dE 1 dI
= , (2.20)
E dx I dx
where E is the exposure dose and I is the corresponding light intensity, since
E = I × t, (2.21)
where t is the exposure time. All of the expressions involving the normalized
derivative of the image can be written equivalently in terms of exposure dose or
light intensity.
One can express the normalized derivative of the intensity or dose as
!
1 dE d
= [ln (E)] , (2.22)
E dx dx
if one is willing to disregard technical rigor. (A logarithm of a parameter with

dimension, such as length, mass, etc., is not a well-defined quantity.) Because of
Eq. (2.22), the normalized derivative of the dose (or intensity) is often referred to
as the image log slope (ILS).
Another advantage of a high-contrast resist process becomes apparent when one

is trying to print over a surface that is not flat. Since resist, when spun on the
wafer, tends to planarize,20–22 masking over an underlying feature is equivalent to
patterning photoresist of varying thickness. This can be seen in Fig. 2.19. If the
thickness of the photoresist is changed from T 0 to T 0 + ∆T , with all other aspects
of the lithographic process remaining equal, then the edge of the photoresist line
moves from x0 to x0 + ∆x, and the minimum exposure energy required to clear the
resist to the substrate changes from E0 to E0 + ∆E. After exposing the thicker resist
with energy E0 , the amount of resist remaining is ∆T .
By drawing a new characteristic curve for thicker photoresist, as seen in
Fig. 2.20, the slope in the linear region is given as a result of:
∆T
T 0 + ∆T
γ= !, (2.23)
∆E
ln 1 +
E0
∆T
≈ , (2.24)
∆E
T0
E0
for small variations. (It is assumed here that the resist is on a nonreflecting
substrate. The more complex situation in which the substrate is reflecting is
discussed in Chapter 4.)
Figure 2.19 Resist (dark material at the top of the figure) spun over topography has a
relatively planar top surface.
28 Chapter 2
Figure 2.20 Characteristic curve for thicker photoresist. The ordinate is the thickness of
the resist remaining after development, normalized to the resist thickness T 0 + ∆T 0 , while
the abscissa is the natural logarithm of the dose normalized to E0 + ∆E.
The shift in the edge of the photoresist line that occurs due to the change in the
thickness ∆T of the photoresist is given by
∆E
∆x = , (2.25)
dE/dx
where the derivative is evaluated at the point x0 . From Eq. (2.24), this becomes
!#−1
∆T
!" !
1 dE
∆x = (2.26)
γT E0 dx
∆T
= (ILS )−1 . (2.27)
γT
The change to linewidth as a function of resist thickness is kept small by

having resists of high contrast, and optics with large image log slopes. Again,
there is a separation between the optical term, which reappears in the form of
the normalized derivative (or image log slope) (1/E)(dE/dx), and the photoresist,
whose contribution is expressed through the quantity γ.
It is also interesting to explore exposure latitude, i.e., the sensitivity of the
linewidth to the exposure dose, in terms of our simple model. If the exposure dose
is changed fractionally from E to (1 + f )E, then the edge of the resist line is moved
from x0 to x0 + ∆x (Fig. 2.21).
The edge of the resist line is still determined by Eq. (2.17):
(1 + f )E(x0 + ∆x) = E0 = E(x0 ). (2.28)

Figure 2.21 With a change in dose, there is a shift in position where the light intensity
equals a threshold value.
Accordingly,
!−1
dE
∆x = − f E (x0 ) , (2.29)
dx
letting
∆E
f = . (2.30)
E
We then obtain an expression for the change in linewidth (∆L = 2∆x):

#−1
∆E(x) 1
" !
d
∆L = 2 E(x) , (2.31)
E(x) E(x) dx
∆E(x)
∆L = 2 (ILS )−1 , (2.32)
E(x)
where all expressions are evaluated for x at the line edge. Our expression for
exposure latitude [Eq. (2.31)] contains only factors involving the exposure optics
and is independent of the photoresist process and its characteristics. Since it is
observed empirically that exposure latitude can be modulated to some degree
through the resist process, it is clear that the model presented here is not exactly
valid, but is good to the first order and best within the limits of thin- or high-contrast
photoresist.
30 Chapter 2
In several expressions—those for resist slope [Eq. (2.19)], variation of linewidth

with changing resist thickness [Eq. (2.27)], and exposure latitude [Eq. (2.32)]—it
can be seen that the lithography process is more controllable with a large image
log slope (see Table 2.3). For this reason, the image log slope was introduced as
a metric of image quality11 and continues to be widely used.23 Additional critical
parameters related to the image log slope are discussed in later chapters.
Higher resolution optics can affect the printing of large objects, as well as enable
the printing of smaller features. Consider the light-intensity profiles for a 150-nm
feature, shown in Fig. 2.3. The higher-resolution optics provide sharper images,
which results in larger image log slopes (Fig. 2.22), at least for the best focus. The
normalized derivative at the edge of the space increases from 15 µm−1 for the 0.7-
NA lens with 248-nm wavelength illumination to 27 µm−1 for the 0.75-NA lens at
193-nm wavelength illumination, an increase of nearly 2×. According to the results
of the previous section, this translates into direct increases in exposure latitude and
linewidth control. Such behavior has led to the proposal that resolution be defined
by exposure latitude.
From Fig. 2.22, it can be seen that the image log slope is not determined
uniquely by the parameters of the optics, such as exposure wavelength, numerical
Table 2.3 Several key lithography parameters in relation to the

image log slope.
Parameter Relation to the image log slope (ILS)
Resist profile tan θ = −T 0 γ (ILS )

Exposure latitude ∆L = [2∆E(x)/E(x)] (ILS )−1
Linewidth change with resist thickness ∆x = (∆T/γT ) (ILS )−1
Figure 2.22 Absolute values of normalized derivatives of the light-intensity distributions

shown in Fig. 2.3. The normalized derivative is given in units of µm−1 .
aperture, degree of partial coherence, aberrations, etc. The value of the normalized
derivative (1/E)(dE/dx), which affects the exposure latitude, resist wall profile,
and linewidth control over steps, depends not only on the resolution of the optics
but also on the print bias as well, that is, the point at which the derivative is
evaluated. The value of (1/E)(dE/dx) at the mask edge is different from that at
other positions. The normalized derivative is evaluated at the position x0 , which
is the edge of the resist line, and may not correspond to the edge of the feature
on the mask. The resist patterns may have dimensions different from the ones on
the mask. If the spaces in (positive) resist are printed larger than the ones on the
mask, then they are termed “overexposed,” and if they are printed smaller, they
are called “underexposed.” Resist patterns having the same dimensions as on the
mask are termed “nominal.” Resulting from overexposure or underexposure, the
quantities that depend upon the normalized derivative, such as exposure latitude,
are functions of the print bias. This is seen quite clearly in Fig. 2.22, where the best
exposure latitude occurs for overexposure. As is explained in the next section, this
result is true only so long as focus is well maintained, and the situation in which
the optics are significantly defocused is more complex.
Higher-resolution optics improve the image log slope, and hence many
parameters, such as resist profiles and exposure latitude. Unfortunately, higher-
resolution optics are never acquired simply to make the photolithographer’s job
easier. When higher resolution optics become available, the challenge is simply
shifted to smaller features, where the normalized derivative remains small. From
the preceding, an expression for the exposure latitude is given by
∆E ∆L L 1
( " ! #)
d
= E(x) . (2.33)
E L 2 E(x) dx
In terms of the image log slope, one can rewrite this equation as
∆E ∆L
= (L × ILS ) . (2.34)
E 2L
The quantity in parenthesis is referred to as the normalized log slope. This
is important to recognize, since image log slopes need to increase as feature
sizes decrease in order to maintain constant exposure latitude. When discussing
exposure latitude particularly among different feature sizes, the normalized log
slope is the appropriate parameter. As a consequence, a related metric, with an
additional normalization related to the nominal linewidth L is often used, namely,
the normalized image log slope (NILS):
! !
1 dE
NILS = L . (2.35)
E dx
The above results show how the optics and resist processes play separate and
somewhat independent roles in image formation. Of course, the performance
32 Chapter 2
of the lithographic process is also determined by practical issues not captured

in theoretical models, such as resist adhesion, and many of these problems are
discussed in later chapters. In the analysis presented in this section, the role that
photoresist plays is related to its development rate as a function of exposure. The
study of optics and its role in photolithography reduces to the analysis of E(x) and
the parameters that determine its values. The focusing of the image has a significant
effect on E(x), as is seen in the next section.
2.4 Focus
In earlier discussions, the light-intensity distributions were considered only in
the planes of best focus. In optical systems, defocus occurs when the separation
between the imaging plane and the lens is different from the optimum. From
common experience, one knows that defocus reduces the clarity of optical images.
The image produced by a common overhead projector may be slightly out of focus,
but the presentation may remain readable. If the defocus becomes too great, the
image is unintelligible. In lithography the depth-of-focus concept is the range of
lens-wafer distances over which linewidths are maintained within specifications,
and resist profiles are adequate. The problem of defocus is particularly acute in
optical lithography, where the depth-of-focus is becoming so small that it is a
concern as to whether optical wafer steppers are capable of maintaining the image
in focus.
The problem of defocus can be appreciated by considering the imaging of a point
source of light. In purely geometrical optics, where it is assumed that light travels
in straight lines, a point object will be imaged by ideal optics to a point located in
the focal plane (Fig. 2.23). However, in other planes, the point source of light is
broadened into a circle. When imaging, there is generally an amount of broadening
that is considered acceptable. Conceptually, the range of values of z over which this
broadening remains acceptable is the depth-of-focus. At a given distance z from the
focal plane, it can be seen that the broadening will be greater for larger values of θ.
Figure 2.23 In geometrical optics, a point source imaged by an ideal lens is focused to a
point in the focal plane. Away from the plane of best focus, the image is a circle of radius r.
It might therefore be expected that lenses will have decreasing depths-of-focus with
increasing numerical aperture. (Compare Figs. 2.11 and 2.23.) In the discussion of
the imaging of a grating structure, it was noted that gratings with smaller lines
and spaces created diffracted beams at larger angles [Fig. 2.5 and Eq. (2.1)]. From
this consideration, one can also expect that objects with smaller feature sizes will
have smaller depths-of-focus. This shows that there is a tradeoff between resolution
and depth-of-focus. Lenses with larger numerical apertures may be used to resolve
small features, but the resulting images will have smaller depths-of-focus than the
corresponding images of larger features imaged by lower-NA lenses.
The diffraction of a point source of light by a circular aperture discussed earlier
(Fig. 2.9) has been extended to the situation in which a lens is used to image the
point source of light. The resulting calculated light-intensity profiles in different
focal planes are shown in Fig. 2.24. With defocus, the peak intensity diminishes
and more light is diffracted away from the center spot. Using the criteria that the
peak intensity should not decrease by more than 20%, the following expression
results for a depth-of-focus (DOF):1
λ
DOF = ±0.5 , (2.36)
(NA)2
which is valid for small to moderate values of NA and imaging in air. Over this
range of focus, the peak intensity of a point object focused by a lens remains within
20% of the peak value for best focus, where NA is the numerical aperture of the
lens and λ is the wavelength of the light. This expression is usually referred to
as the Rayleigh depth-of-focus; one Rayleigh unit of defocus is 0.5λ/NA2 . The
situation for large values of NA will be discussed in Chapter 10.
Figure 2.24 Light-intensity profile of a point source of light imaged by a circular diffraction-
limited lens at different planes of focus. The horizontal axis is given in units of πdNA/λ,
where d is the diameter of the lens aperture. One Rayleigh unit of defocus is 0.5λ/NA2 .
34 Chapter 2
It is useful to use the Rayleigh criterion for estimating the depth-of-focus

encountered in photolithography. Typical parameters for 180-nm lithography are
λ = 248 nm and NA = 0.6, which results in a Rayleigh depth-of-focus of ±0.34 µm.
That is, the distance between the lens and the wafer needs to be controlled to
this very small amount. The small depth-of-focus in optical lithography, and the
associated process-control problem, is the reason that focus is given a great deal of
attention by lithographers (including the author of this book).
Just as the Rayleigh criterion for resolution was generalized, Eq. (2.36) is often
written in the form
λ
DOF = k2 . (2.37)
(NA)2
Equation (2.37) is expressed as a total range, instead of distances from a

midpoint, because the symmetry of the aerial image is broken by the photoresist
or optical aberrations in actual application, and the depth-of-focus is often
asymmetric about the plane of best focus in high-resolution optical lithography.
This asymmetry is discussed later in this section. The Rayleigh expressions for
resolution and focus both depend upon only two lens parameters—the wavelength
and the numerical aperture—and a pair of constants, k1 and k2 . One can then relate
resolution R and depth-of-focus:
R2
DOF = (constant) . (2.38)
λ
Within the framework of this analysis, one can see that the depth-of-focus
diminishes as one attempts to print smaller features (smaller R). From the Rayleigh
criterion for resolution, there are two options for improving resolution: decreasing
the wavelength or increasing the numerical aperture. Doing either of these also
decreases the depth-of-focus, at least according to Rayleigh. However, improving
resolution by decreasing the wavelength has less effect on the depth-of-focus than
by increasing the numerical aperture. This is the primary reason that leading-edge
optical lithography has involved the use of decreasing wavelengths in the pursuit
of smaller features.
The Rayleigh criteria might lead one to a false conclusion that the depth-of-
focus diminishes whenever one attempts to improve the resolution of the optics.
From the following argument, one can appreciate that this is not true. Suppose
one has a lens that has a resolution of 1.0 µm, i.e., it does not image features
smaller than this. One could therefore say that such a lens has zero depth-of-focus
for submicron features. A higher-resolution lens capable of submicron resolution
therefore has greater depth-of-focus for smaller features. This line of reasoning
leads to the observation that there is an optimum numerical aperture that is a
function of feature size.12,24–28
At one time, improper interpretations of the Rayleigh criteria led to the
conclusion that optical lithography would not be able to break the 1.0-µm-
resolution barrier. However, photolithography has produced, in volume production,

fully functional, large-scale devices with 140-nm pitches, i.e., minimum features
∼70 nm. Furthermore, it continues to be the dominant method of patterning feature
design rules to 45 nm and even smaller (using techniques that will be described in
Chapter 8). Just as the Rayleigh criterion was insufficient for defining the resolution
of optics, in the context of photolithography there are additional considerations to
be examined for understanding focus and depth-of-focus.
The depth-of-focus of the lens depends on the feature size and type being
imaged. As the NA is increased, the limiting resolution becomes finer, but the
depth-of-focus for larger features becomes smaller. The optimum NA and partial
coherence values depend on the size and type of geometry being imaged, as well as
the type of illumination and degree of coherence. The degree of partial coherence
σ is defined in Appendix A. For example, the optimum NA to image a contact hole
is higher than what is needed for a grating of equal lines and spaces of the same
size on the reticle, and greater depth-of-focus (for lines and spaces) is achieved
with higher values of σ. The dependence of imaging on feature size, shape, and
surroundings has led to wafer steppers with variable parameters, such as numerical
aperture and partial coherence. Because resolution is not useful without adequate
depth-of-focus, the concept of practical resolution29,30 —the resolution achieved
with some specified depth-of-focus—is helpful for defining the optimum NA, σ,
and other process parameters. For the situation encountered in lithography, the
effects of defocus can be readily observed. Shown in Fig. 2.25 are cross sections
of lines and spaces of resist as focus is varied. Clearly, the sidewall slope increases
for large defocus. As shown in Fig. 2.25, linewidths also vary with focus, and the
sensitivity of linewidths to defocus is a function of the exposure dose and print
bias.31
As defined earlier, the depth-of-focus is the distance by which the separation
between the lens and the wafer can be changed while maintaining linewidths within
specifications, with adequate resist profiles, and sufficient resist thickness.
The numerical value for the depth-of-focus can be compared to the capability of
the exposure tools for controlling the distance between the lens and the wafer. As
long as the exposure tools and the methodology used to control focus errors can
maintain this distance tighter than the depth-of-focus, the process is capable.
There are a number of detractors to the depth-of-focus relative to the diffraction
limit. Even with an aberration-free lens, the depth-of-focus found in practice may
be different than expected from consideration of the aerial image alone because the
finite thickness of the resist influences the depth-of-focus. This is a consequence
of refraction at the air-resist interface and the need to maintain a good aerial
image throughout the entire thickness of the resist film, not just in a single plane.
Typical resist thicknesses (0.1–0.2 µm) are on the order of the Rayleigh depths-of-
focus of contemporary high-resolution lenses. Consequently, one might expect that
variations in the light-intensity distributions in the direction parallel to the optical
axis should be relevant to how resist profiles are generated. In this case, the thin-
resist model discussed earlier does not provide accurate predictions. This can be
appreciated from simple geometrical optics.
36 Chapter 2
Figure 2.25 Resist profiles for imaging 105-nm lines (320-nm pitch) at best focus and
various amounts of defocus. The KrF resist was UV110, patterned on a SiON antireflection
coating, using annular illumination (σ = 0.75 outer, 0.50 inner) on an ASML 5500/300
(NA = 0.60). Annular illumination is described in Chapter 8.
Consider a point source of light focused by a lens, as shown in Fig. 2.26. In

the limit of geometrical optics, where diffraction effects are ignored, the light is
focused by the lens to a point in the plane of best focus. In any plane (perpendicular
to the optical axis) other than the plane of best focus, the image is a circle. The
distance along the optical axis in which such circles have an acceptably small
diameter is the depth-of-focus. If diameters of the focused image vary appreciably
throughout the thickness of the resist film, then a more sophisticated model for the
optical image than has thus far been discussed needs to be considered.
To understand the effects of thick resist on imaging, let us refer to Fig. 2.26.
Suppose that a maximum image radius r is acceptable. For an optical image in air,
the depth-of-focus would then be
2r
DOF = , (2.39)
tan θ0
where θ0 is the largest angle for incident rays of light and is related to the numerical
aperture by
sin θ0 = NA. (2.40)
When a thick layer of resist is placed in the vicinity of best focus, refraction
becomes a factor. In Fig. 2.26, two focused light rays converge to the point F1
instead of the focal point F0 because of refraction at the air-resist interface.
The angle θ1 between the normal and the refracted ray is related to θ0 by Snell’s
law:
sin (θ0 )
sin (θ1 ) = , (2.41)
n
Figure 2.26 Refraction of light at the air-resist interface, its effect on the position of focus,
and the spreading of the image due to defocus.
38 Chapter 2
where n is the index of refraction of the photoresist. The depth into the photoresist
through which these light rays can travel before they diverge a lateral distance
greater than 2r is increased from Eq. (2.39) to
2r
DOF = . (2.42)
tan θ1
This leads to an effective increase in the depth-of-focus, over the aerial image, by
a factor of
tan (θ0 )
. (2.43)
tan (θ1 )
For small angles, this is approximately equal to the photoresist’s index of refraction
n. That is, the reduction in the depth-of-focus due to resist thickness T is T/n. For
photoresist, typical values for n are in the neighborhood of 1.7. The refraction at
the resist-air interface also breaks the symmetry of an unaberrated image about the
plane of best focus, and is an effect seen in detailed lithography simulations.32
For well-defined and controlled patterns, good imaging needs to be maintained
throughout the thickness of the resist film that may vary over topography. A
rigorous capturing of the effect of device topography on the depth-of-focus is
tricky because there are linewidth variations due to thin-film optical effects (to
be discussed in Chapter 4) that reduce the overall process window. Even on
nonreflective substrates, there are changes in linewidths because of variations in
resist thickness, and these would occur even for aerial images with infinitely
large depths-of-focus. Consequently, the reduction in the depth-of-focus due to
topography can be considered to be T/n, where T is the largest-value resist
thickness across the topography.
It is important that linewidths are good simultaneously throughout the
entire exposure field. The concept of usable depth-of-focus follows from the
understanding that, in the practical world of integrated circuit manufacturing,
imaging needs to be good for all points within a field to ensure complete circuit
functionality. This philosophy, where all points within a field need to be good
simultaneously, was first discussed in detail in the context of overlay,33 but the
basic concepts are applicable to all lithographic parameters, including focus. The
depth-of-focus of a given feature in a particular orientation can be determined for
a given set of optics and resist process. However, this does not represent the depth-
of-focus that can be used for making integrated circuits because integrated devices
typically have geometries of many different orientations distributed over the area
of the chip. It has become accepted practice to distinguish between the usable
depth-of-focus (UDOF) and the individual depth-of-focus (IDOF).34 The IDOF is
the depth-of-focus at any one point in the image field, for one particular orientation.
The UDOF is the amount by which the separation between the wafer and the lens
can be changed and still keep linewidths and resist profiles adequate throughout the
entire exposure field. UDOF is the common range of all IDOFs over the printable
area and all orientations. This is generally much smaller than the depth-of-focus at
any individual point in the field (IDOF).
There are many factors that cause the UDOF to be less than the IDOF.
Astigmatism is one such factor, and it refers to situations in which lines of different
orientation have different planes of best focus. An example of the consequence
of astigmatism is shown in Fig. 2.27. In this figure, the vertical spaces are well
resolved, but the horizontal spaces are so defocused that the resist pattern is
bridged. This is an extreme example, patterned on an early 5× stepper. For modern
exposure systems, the distances between focal planes for objects of different
orientation are less than 50 nm and typically lead only to differences in linewidth,
rather than extreme consequences, such as bridging. For a cylindrically symmetric
lens, such as those typically found in lithography exposure tools, one would expect
astigmatism to occur between geometries parallel to a radius vector (sagittal)
and perpendicular to the radius vector (tangential). This is certainly true for
astigmatism that results from the design. However, astigmatism can occur between
geometries of any orientation in any part of the field because of lens manufacturing
imperfections. For example, the many lens elements that comprise a stepper lens
may not all be centered perfectly on a common optical axis, thereby breaking the
symmetry in the center of the lens field and potentially causing astigmatism where
none would be possible for a truly cylindrically symmetric system.
Another focus-related aberration is field curvature. As a result of this aberration,
the surface of best focus is a section of the surface of a sphere rather than a plane,
and focus is not constant throughout an exposure field. As seen in Fig. 2.28, good
focus can be maintained at some points within the exposure field, but most of the
field suffers from some defocus because of field curvature. For both astigmatism
and field curvature, the rays of light from a given point on the reticle are all focused
to a single point in the image, but the collection of such points are not always in
a single plane. Astigmatism and field curvature reduce the usable depth-of-focus,
Figure 2.27 An example of astigmatism. This is a top-down micrograph of rectangles of

resist separated by trenches. The vertical spaces in the resist are well resolved, but the
horizontal lines are so defocused that they are bridged.
40 Chapter 2
Figure 2.28 Field curvature.
which is the amount that the distance between the lens and wafer can be varied and
still maintain good imaging, as illustrated in Fig. 2.29.
Typical specified depths-of-focus for various wafer steppers are given in
Table 2.4. The amount of defocus that results in significant changes in either slope
or linewidth should be noted: it ranges between 1.5 and 0.4 µm, and has been
decreasing over time. This should be compared to the amount of focus variation
that can be induced within a process (Table 2.5). All parameters in Table 2.5, except
for stepper focus control and the metrology figure,35 refer to variations across an
exposure field. In the preceding discussion, it was shown that the relevant value for
circuit topography is the actual height of circuit features divided by the index of
refraction of the photoresist.
As lenses improved, with significant reductions in field curvature, astigmatism,
and other aberrations, the UDOF began to approximate the Rayleigh DOF. More
Figure 2.29 Usable depth-of-focus is smaller than the individual depth-of-focus because
of astigmatism and field curvature.
Table 2.4 Typical depths-of-focus for various wafer steppers. Resolution and depth-of-
focus are given for approximately comparable conditions across technologies and exposure
platforms. As will be shown in Chapter 8, techniques have been developed over time to
improve resolution and depth-of-focus significantly.
Stepper Resolution (µm) Usable depth-of-focus (µm) NA Wavelength Year
GCA 4800 1.25 1.50 0.28 g-line 1980

Nikon 1.00 1.50 0.35 g-line 1984
Canon 0.80 1.20 0.43 g-line 1987
ASML 5000/50 0.50 1.00 0.48 i-line 1990
Micrascan 2+ 0.30 0.80 0.50 KrF 1995
ASML 5500/300 0.25 0.70 0.57 KrF 1996
Canon ES2 0.15 0.40 0.68 KrF 1999
ASML 5500/950 0.15 0.40 0.63 ArF 2000
Table 2.5 Parameters in a typical focus budget.
Parameter Typical values (range, in nm)
Chuck nonflatness 30
Lens field curvature, astigmatism 20
Wafer nonflatness 40
Stepper focus control 20
Circuit topography 30
Metrology for determining focus 20
Total (sum) 160
Total (rss) 68
recently, new imaging methods, referred to as resolution-enhancement techniques

(RET), have been adopted. These new techniques have made it possible to achieve
larger depths-of-focus than the Rayleigh DOF. After the year 2000, the UDOF
specified by exposure-tool suppliers usually takes into account that some of these
techniques are used. Resolution-enhancement techniques will be discussed in more
detail in Chapter 8.
The actual focal range over which imaging must be good is typically somewhere
between the sum total of the parameters in Table 2.5 and the root-sum-of-
squares (rss) total, since some of the components tend to act randomly (wafer
nonflatness, stepper focus control), while others are systematic components (circuit
topography). As one can see, the values for these parameters are comparable to the
depths-of-focus for high-resolution optics.
One common misconception is that optical lithography is limited by diffraction
when the depth-of-focus becomes less than the thickness of photoresist. Such a
misunderstanding results from not rigorously distinguishing between the DOF of
the aerial image and the operationally measured DOF, which is performed using
resist of finite thickness. The operationally measured DOF automatically captures
the effects of resist thickness. Consequently, it is quite possible to speak of having
a process with a 0.5-µm-thick resist layer and a 0.4-µm DOF. The 0.4 µm refers to
42 Chapter 2
the range over which the 0.5-µm layer of resist can be moved while maintaining
resist linewidths and profiles within specifications.
Changes in linewidth as a function of focus and dose are shown in Fig. 2.30. At a
given dose, the linewidths change with defocus. It should be noted that the amount
of linewidth change as a consequence of defocus depends upon the exposure dose.
A dose at which there are minimal linewidth changes when the image is defocused
is referred to as the isofocal dose.
The thin-resist models used in the preceding section to illustrate the concepts
of resolution can be extended to considerations of focus. The light-intensity
distribution can be calculated for planes other than the plane of best focus;
examples are shown in Fig. 2.31. As can be seen, the optical-intensity profiles
degrade with defocus. However, there are positions where the light intensity
changes little, or not at all, with defocus. Processes that are set up to have
the edges of developed resist features correspond to these positions generally
have small changes in linewidth. These positions are known as the conjugate or
isofocal points,37 and they are usually close to the nominal line edges, i.e., the
resist linewidths have approximately the same dimensions as those on the reticle
(adjusted for the reduction ratio of the projection optics). They correspond to the
isofocal dose. Earlier, it was seen that the normalized derivative of the optical-
intensity profile at best focus was increased by having a substantial exposure
bias. As derived, parameters such as exposure latitude, linewidth control over
topography, and resist sidewall slope are improved with a large normalized
derivative. In the absence of defocus, one would conclude that a large print bias
would lead to an optimized process.
In the presence of defocus, the normalized derivative behaves differently, as
shown in Fig. 2.32. At best focus, the image log slope increases for a significant
Figure 2.30 Linewidth as a function of focus for dense lines.36 The process conditions
were: softbake and post-exposure bake at 110 ◦ C for 60 sec, and puddle development for
52 sec in AZ 300 MIF developer at 22 ◦ C exposed on a Nikon 0.54-NA i-line wafer stepper.
Curves such as these are referred to as Bossung curves.31
Figure 2.31 Calculated light-intensity distributions at different focus settings for a 300-nm
space exposed at λ = 248 nm, NA = 0.5, and σ = 0.6. Defocus is measured in units of
microns (µm).
amount of print bias. The magnitude of the image log slope diminishes at all
print biases for defocus, but the degradation is greater away from the conjugate
point. For sufficiently large defocus, the image log slope actually decreases with
print bias. Thus, one is led to a significantly different conclusion concerning the
advantage of large print bias when defocus is a significant concern. It was shown
earlier in this chapter that the process window is increased with a large image log
slope. However, it is often advantageous to compromise the image log slope if there
is a limited depth-of-focus.
The thin-resist model of the preceding section can be extended to include
defocus, in which case the light-intensity profile becomes a function of two
variables:
E(x) → E(x, ξ), (2.44)
where x refers to the distance parallel to the wafer plane and perpendicular to the
(long) resist lines and spaces, and ξ is the amount of defocus. The condition that
determines the position of the edge of the photoresist is
E0 = E (x0 , ξ) = E (x0 + ∆x, ξ + ∆ζ) . (2.45)
Expanding the right side of Eq. (2.45) in a Taylor series about the plane of best
focus, the linewidth change due to defocus ∆ζ is obtained:
!−1
∂2E ∂E
!
−1 1 1
∆x = (∆ζ)2 × 2 × . (2.46)
2 E0 ∂ζ E0 ∂ x
44 Chapter 2
Figure 2.32 Absolute values of the normalized derivative (image log slope) of the light-
intensity profiles shown in Fig. 2.31. The normalized derivative is in units of µm−1 and
defocus is measured in µm.
Derivatives in x are evaluated at the point x0 , and derivatives in ζ are evaluated at

best focus, ζ = 0. In the Taylor expansion, the linear terms in ζ are zero because
∂E
=0 (2.47)
∂ζ
in the plane of best focus, and higher-order terms in ∆x were dropped from Eq.
(2.46). The symmetry of the aerial image about the plane of best focus is expressed
by Eq. (2.47). In the presence of photoresist, or certain optical aberrations, this
symmetry is broken. This is not particularly problematic where the thin-resist
model is a valid approximation, but it can be relevant for situations involving high
numerical apertures and thick (relative to the Rayleigh DOF) photoresist.
In prior discussions, process latitude was improved when the image log slope
(the normalized derivative),
1 ∂E
× , (2.48)
E0 ∂ x
is increased. For example, as seen in Fig. 2.18, the image log slope at best
focus may be maximized for overexposed spaces, an operating point often distant
from the isofocal point. Consequently, there may be large variations in linewidths
because of defocus, offsetting any benefits of a large image log slope at best focus.
For situations involving large NAs, there is not a single definition for “best
focus.” For low-NA optics, where the Rayleigh DOF greatly exceeds the resist
thickness, most effects of defocus, such as linewidth and resist-slope variation,
behave symmetrically about some plane. Moreover, the smallest features are
typically imaged at that plane. In such a circumstance, it is reasonable to define
Figure 2.33 Focus correction versus pressure for a stepper equipped with a Zeiss 10-78-
46 lens (0.38 NA, g line).
that plane as the plane of best focus. However, for high-NA optics, asymmetry
is introduced, and the choice of best focus becomes less obvious. In particular, the
middle of the region over which linewidths are within specifications is no longer the
place at which the smallest features are resolved, nor the resist slope maximized.
Because of the significant effects on lithographic performance, focus needs to
be well controlled. Unfortunately, a number of factors can cause focus to vary. For
example, a change in barometric pressure can induce a shift in focus. Lenses with
glass elements create images by means of the physical phenomenon of refraction
where the direction of a beam of light changes at the interface between materials
of different indices of refraction. The angle of refraction, and hence the focal
distance, depends upon the indices of refraction of the glass and air. While the
index of refraction of the air is ≈1, it differs slightly, and changes as barometric
pressure changes. As the air pressure inside of wafer fabricators rises and falls with
the outside barometric pressure, the focal length of lenses containing refractive
elements also changes.38 The focus adjustment required to keep an exposure tool
at best focus while barometric pressure changes for an exposure system that does
not have automatic focus for pressure compensation is shown in Fig. 2.33. Modern
exposure tools control focus automatically for changes in air pressure. Some
systems use pressurized lenses, where the air pressure inside the lens is kept at
a fixed value regardless of the pressure of the air in the fab. An alternative method
of control involves the measurement of barometric pressure and compensation of
the focus through software. In addition to adjusting the focus when barometric
pressure changes, exposure tools also need to move wafers up and down, to adjust
their tilt, and to correct for changes in wafer thickness and flatness if the resist films
are to be maintained in focus. Automatic focusing systems are discussed in detail
in Chapter 5. Barometric pressure affects the reduction of the projection optics39 as
well as focus, and requires similar compensation.
46 Chapter 2
Figure 2.34 Reflections from mirror lens elements are purely geometrical and independent
of the index of refraction of the air.
Mirrors with curved surfaces can also be used for imaging. The imaging
properties from reflective surfaces are purely geometrical (Fig. 2.34), and are
independent of the refractive index of the air or wavelength of the light:
ΘI = ΘR , (2.49)
where ΘI and ΘR are the angles of incidence and reflection, relative to the normal,
respectively. Lenses that use mirrors have less sensitivity of focus to barometric
pressure than lenses that use only glass elements. Stepper lenses will be discussed
in more detail in Chapter 5.
FLEX (Focus-Latitude Enhancement eXposure) has been proposed as a method
for increasing the DOF; this method involves partial exposures at different
focus positions.40,41 With FLEX sharply focused images are superimposed with
defocused ones throughout the depth of the resist film. The contact holes are
extended by doing partial exposures at multiple locations along the optical axis.
FLEX is also known as focus drilling. The appropriate choice of exposure and
focus steps can lead to a 3× or 4× increase in contact-hole DOF, but the DOF
for line features is typically not improved. FLEX has been demonstrated to
improve the DOF, but with a loss of ultimate resolution by the multiple defocused
exposures.42 As we shall see in a later section, this is a general property of
most attempts to improve the DOF that do not address the fundamental issue of
diffraction at the reticle.
Problems
2.1 Assuming diffraction-limited optics, show that the optical resolution of a 0.54-
NA ArF lens is approximately the same as a 0.7-NA KrF lens. Which has the
greater depth-of-focus?
2.2 Derive Eq. (2.29).
2.3 The following table gives wavelengths and numerical apertures used in volume
manufacturing over time:
Year Wavelength NA
2001 248 nm 0.80
2003 193 nm 0.75
2005 193 nm 0.85
2007 193 nm 0.92
Calculate the Rayleigh DOF for each year. What is the trend for depth-of-focus
over time?
2.4 In Fig. 2.18, for a diffraction-limited 0.7-NA lens exposing at a wavelength of

248 nm, the normalized derivatives of the aerial images (image log slopes) at
the position of the nominal line edge are as follows:
Feature size Normalized derivative (1/µm)
250 nm 21.6
180 nm 17.7
150 nm 15.0
Using Eq. (2.32), show that the changes in linewidth for a 10% change in
exposure dose are 9, 11, and 13 nm for 250-, 180-, and 150-nm features,
respectively. Show that the dose control needs to be 27%, 16% and 11% for
250-, 180-, and 150-nm features, respectively, for linewidths to change by no
more than 10% of the feature size. How does the challenge of process control
change as smaller features are produced?
2.5 Assuming normally incident coherent light on a grating of equal lines and
spaces, show that the angles of incidence onto the wafer of the first-order
diffracted beams in air are 29.7, 43.5, and 55.8 deg for 250-, 180-, and 150-
nm lines, respectively. What are the minimum numerical apertures required to
image these features?
2.6 Show that the depth-of-focus is reduced by ∼59 nm by increasing the resist
thickness from 200–300 nm for a resist with an index of refraction of 1.7.
References
1. M. Born, and E. Wolf, Principles of Optics, 7th ed., Cambridge Univ. Press,
Cambridge (1999). Note that the sign convention for the angles employed by
Born and Wolf (and in this text) is not used universally. As used here, the
angles indicated in Fig. 2.5 are positive.
2. Solid-C was a simulation program produced by SIGMA-C GmbH of Munich,
Germany. SIGMA-C was acquired by Synopsys, Inc., in 2006. Synopsys
produces lithography simulation software called Sentaurus LithographyTM .
3. G. B. Airy, “On the diffraction of an object-glass with circular aperture,” Trans.
Camb. Phil. Soc. 5(3), 283–291 (1835).
4. Lord Rayleigh, “Investigations in optics, with special reference to the
spectroscope,” Phil. Mag. 8, 261–274 (1879).
48 Chapter 2
5. W. J. Smith, Modern Optical Engineering, 2nd ed., McGraw Hill, Boston

(1990).
6. W. Oldham, P. Jain, A. Neureuther, C. Ting, and H. Binder, “Contrast in
high-performance projection optics,” Proc. Kodak Microelectron. Sem., 75–80
(1981).
7. J. W. Goodman, Introduction to Fourier Optics, McGraw Hill, New York
(1968).
8. SEMI Standard P19-92, “Specification for metrology pattern cells for
integrated circuit manufacture,” Semiconductor Equipment and Materials
International (2007).
9. A. J. den Dekker and A. van den Bos, “Resolution: a survey,” J. Opt. Soc. Am.
14(3), 547–557 (1997).
10. F. Schellenberg, “Resolution enhancement technology: the past, the present,
and extensions for the future,” Proc. SPIE 5377, 1–20 (2004).
11. H. J. Levinson and W. H. Arnold, “Focus: the critical parameter for submicron
lithography,” J. Vac. Sci. Technol. B 5, 293–298 (1987).
12. W. H. Arnold and H. J. Levinson, “Focus: the critical parameter for submicron
lithography, part 2,” Proc. SPIE 772, 21–34 (1987).
13. L. Larmore, Introduction to Photographic Principles, 2nd ed., Dover
Publications, New York (1965).
14. P. D. Blais, “Edge acuity and resolution in positive type photoresist systems,”
Solid State Technol. 20, 76–85 (1977).
15. W. H. Arnold, and H. J. Levinson, “High resolution optical lithography using
an optimized single layer photoresist process,” Proc. Kodak Microelectron.
Sem., 80–92 (1983).
16. Shipley Co., Newton, Massachusetts, Private Communication (1996).
17. H. J. Levinson, unpublished.
18. Nick Eib, Private Communication (2000).
19. H. H. Hopkins, Wave Theory of Aberrations, Clarendon Press (1950).
20. L. E. Stillwagon, R. G. Larson, and G. N. Taylor, “Planarization of substrate
topography by spin coating,” J. Electrochem. Soc. 134, 2030–2037 (1991).
21. D. B. LaVergne and D. C. Hofer, “Modeling planarization with polymers,”
Proc. SPIE 539, 115–122 (1985).
22. L. K. White, “Approximating spun-on, thin film planarization properties on
complex topography,” J. Electrochem. Soc. 132, 168–172 (1985).
23. H. J. Levinson, Y. Ma, M. Koenig, B. La Fontaine, and R. Seltmann, “Proposal
for determining exposure latitude requirements,” Proc. SPIE 6924, 69241J
(2008).
24. C. Nölscher, L. Mader, S. Guttenberger, and W. Arden, “Search for the

optimum numerical aperture,” Microelectron. Eng. 11, 161–166 (1990).
25. K. Yamanaka, H. Iwasaki, H. Nozue, and K. Kasama, “NA and σ optimization
for high-NA I-line lithography,” Proc. SPIE 1927, 310–319 (1993).
26. W. N. Partlo, S. G. Olson, C. Sparkes, and J. E. Connors, “Optimizing NA
and sigma for sub-half-micrometer lithography,” Proc. SPIE 1927, 320–331
(1993).
27. B. Lin, “The optimum numerical aperture for optical projection micro-
lithography,” Proc. SPIE 1463, 42–53 (1991).
28. A. Suzuki, S. Yabu, and M. Ookubo, “Intelligent optical system of a new
stepper,” Proc. SPIE 772, 58–65 (1987).
29. H. Ohtsuka, K. Abe, Y. Itok, and T. Taguchi, “Quantitative evaluation method
of conjugate point for practical evaluation of wafer stepper,” Proc. SPIE 1088,
124–133 (1989).
30. H. Fukuda, A. Imai, T. Terasawa, and S. Okazaki, “New approach to resolution
limit and advanced image formation techniques in optical lithography,” IEEE
Trans. El. Dev. 38(1), 67–75 (1991).
31. J. W. Bossung, “Projection printing characterization,” Proc. SPIE 100, 80–84
(1977).
32. M. S. Yeung, “Modeling high numerical aperture optical lithography,” Proc.
SPIE 922, 149–167 (1988).
33. H. J. Levinson and R. Rice, “Overlay tolerances for VLSI using wafer
steppers,” Proc. SPIE 922, 82–93 (1988).
34. B. Katz, J. Greeneich, M. Bigelow, A. Katz, F. van Hout, and J. Coolsen, “High
numerical aperture I-line stepper,” Proc. SPIE 1264, 94–126 (1990).
35. T. A. Brunner, A. L. Martin, R. M. Martino, C. P. Ausschnitt, T. H. Newman,
and M. S. Hibbs, “Quantitative stepper metrology using the focus monitor test
mask,” Proc. SPIE 2197, 541–549 (1994).
36. AZ Electronic Materials, Branchburg, New Jersey (2000).
37. S. A. Lis, “Processing issues and solutions to conjugate lithography,” Proc.
Kodak Microelectron. Sem., 117–136 (1986).
38. K. Hale, and P. Luehrmann, “Consistent image quality in a high performance
stepper environment,” Proc. Kodak Microelectron. Sem., 29–46 (1986).
39. F. Sporon-Fiedler and J. Williams, “Atmospheric pressure induced reduction
errors in reduction stepper lenses,” Proc. SPIE 538, 86–90 (1985).
40. T. Hayashida, H. Fukuda, and N. Hasegawa, “A novel method for improving
the defocus tolerance in step-and-repeat photolithography,” Proc. SPIE 772,
66–71 (1987).
50 Chapter 2
41. H. Fukuda, N. Hasegawa, T. Tanaka, and T. Hayashida, “A new method for

enhancing focus latitude in optical lithography: FLEX,” IEEE Electron. Dev.
Lett. 8(4), 179–180 (1987).
42. C. A. Spence, D. C. Cole, and B. B. Peck, “Using multiple focal planes to
enhance depth-of-focus,” Proc. SPIE 1674, 285–295 (1992).
Chapter 3
Photoresists
As discussed in Chapter 1, the mask pattern is transferred to the wafer by means
of optical projection onto photosensitive materials known as photoresists. These
materials clearly play a critical role in lithography. The chemistries of the most
common classes of photoresists are outlined in this chapter. However, the emphasis
is on operational performance, i.e., the ways in which resists behave, as observable
by the practicing lithographer (in contrast to the resist chemist).
3.1 Positive and Negative Resists

Resists are broadly classified as positive or negative. Unexposed positive resists
normally have very low solubility in developer and become soluble by exposure
to light. Negative resists behave in the opposite manner; unexposed negative
resists are soluble in developer and lose their solubility upon exposure to light.
Negative resists were used predominately prior to the advent of wafer steppers.
Resists most widely used in the early years of the semiconductor industry, such as
Kodak’s thin-film resist (KTFR), were based upon the photoinduced cross-linking
of low-molecular-weight cyclized polyisoprene1,2 (Fig. 3.1). Azide additives were
used to improve their sensitivity to light and to facilitate cross-linking (Fig. 3.2).
Cross-linking reduced the material’s solubility in organic solvents such as xylene.
After exposure, an organic solvent was used to develop the resist by removing
the low-molecular-weight unexposed resist and leaving behind cross-linked, high-
molecular-weight material.
These early negative resists had a number of deficiencies. During development,
the cross-linked material would absorb some of the organic solvent used as the
developer, causing swelling. Because of the swelling, closely spaced geometries
would come into contact during develop, and would sometimes remain stuck
together, resulting in a patterning defect. This swelling limited the thickness and
resolution potential of these resists. The use of organic solvents for developing
also created safety and disposal problems that required engineering solutions. The
resists were also desensitized when exposed to air because of competing reactions
with oxygen that could reduce the amount of cross-linking. The wafers needed to
be kept in nitrogen ambient during exposure, complicating exposure-tool design.
With the advent of wafer steppers, the industry shifted to positive photoresists
for most critical applications. The earliest commercially available wafer steppers
52 Chapter 3
Figure 3.1 Cyclized polyisoprene.1
Figure 3.2 The cross-linking of cyclic polyisoprene, by means of a commonly used azide,
2, 6-bis(4’-azidobenzal)-4-methylcyclohexanone.3,4
were introduced in the late 1970s with optics that functioned at the mercury g
line (λ = 436 nm). The negative resists used at that time were not very sensitive
at such a long wavelength. There were good reasons to use g-line illumination,
such as it facilitated the design and fabrication of the stepper’s projection optics.
The mercury g line is visible (blue) light. Many lens designers were familiar with
designing at visible wavelengths, and a great deal of lens metrology involved visual
assessment of optical interference patterns. A transition to shorter wavelengths
would have required significant development by the lens makers (something that
occurred later). Fortunately, there were g-line-sensitive positive resists, based on
novolak resins, commercially available at the time steppers were first introduced.
This, along with other advantages of the positive resists, resulted in an industry-
wide transition from the use of negative resists primarily to the predominant
use of positive resists. With the exception of contact-hole patterning (discussed
Photoresists 53
shortly), there were no fundamental reasons that positive resists should have
been chosen over negative ones. However, the available positive resists had other
necessary attributes, such as the lack of swelling. The transition to positive resists
occurred not simply because of intrinsic advantages of positive resists (with the
exception of contact-hole patterning), but rather because of specific advantages
of the existing (novolak) positive resists relative to the existing (azide/isoprene)
negative resists5 (see Table 3.1). Recently, very high-resolution negative resists
that can be developed in the same aqueous developers as positive resists have been
introduced.6–8
In principle, there are no compelling reasons to use positive resists in preference
to negative resists, with some exceptions. Consider the aerial image of square
features—contact holes—shown in Fig. 3.3. For producing contacts with negative
resists, the feature on the mask is a square of chrome surrounded by glass, while
the mask feature for a positive-resist contact process consists of a square of glass
surrounded by chrome. As can be seen in Fig. 3.3, the negative-resist process
suffers from having undesirable exposure at the center of the contact region,
which can lead to closed contacts. The creation of contact holes on wafers is thus
facilitated by the use of positive resists, because the aerial image is superior.9 For
other patterns, the advantages of one tone of resist over the other are less clear. For
example, on a grating with lines and spaces of nearly equal size, the clear and dark
patterns are optically a rough equivalent, so one tone of resist is not going to be
fundamentally preferable to the other tone. There are recently developed negative
resists with very high performance.8
Resists are usually operational over specific wavelength ranges, and they are
usually optimized for application at very specific and narrow ranges of wavelength.
To work well at a given wavelength, there are several requirements:
(1) The resist photochemistry must take place efficiently. This is important for
cost-effective manufacturing, since lengthy times to expose the resists reduce
exposure-tool productivity. It should be noted that there is such a thing
as an exposure dose that is too low, leading to dose-control problems and
poor pattern fidelity because of shot noise.10,11 (Shot noise is discussed in
Section 3.8 and Chapter 12.)
(2) The resist must not be too optically absorbent. For high-resolution imaging,
resist films need to be exposed with a high degree of uniformity from the
Table 3.1 Properties of azide-negative resists, compared to

those of novolak-positive resists.
Azide/isoprene negative resists Novolak resists
Swells during develop No swelling during develop

Marginal step coverage Good step coverage
Organic solvent developer Aqueous developer
Toxic strippers Environmentally benign resist strippers
Sensitive to ambient oxygen Operates well in air
54 Chapter 3
Figure 3.3 Simulated cross sections of the aerial images of 250-nm contact holes. The
simulations were performed using Prolith2 and using the high-NA full-scalar model. The key
parameters were wavelength = 248 nm, σ = 0.5, and NA = 0.7. A chrome/glass binary mask
was assumed.
top of the resist film to the bottom, and light will not penetrate the resist film
adequately if it is too optically absorbent.
(3) There must not be competing positive and negative reactions. These can occur
when the light drives desired photochemical reactions in a positive resist but
may also induce polymer cross-linking, a negative-resist characteristic.
These are some of the broad issues related to resists. The remainder of this chapter
discusses specific technical issues in greater detail.
3.2 Adhesion Promotion

Adhesion promotion is required for photoresist to stick to surfaces of silicon,
silicon dioxide, silicon nitride, etc., during resist development and subsequent
etches. Silicon-dioxide surfaces are usually covered by a layer of physisorbed
water that remains after resist coating if not first removed12 (Fig. 3.4). This
adsorbed water layer enables water or solvent to penetrate the interface between the
resist and the substrate during resist development, causing a loss of adhesion. An
adhesion-promotion process—often referred to as priming—is required to avoid
this.
Photoresists 55
Figure 3.4 Thermal dehydration of a hydrated native oxide on a silicon substrate.
The first step in the adhesion-promotion process is dehydration. This is

accomplished most frequently by heating the wafers in a vacuum to temperatures
typically between 100 ◦ C and 200 ◦ C. The wafers are then introduced to a vapor
of an adhesion-promoting agent, the most common of which is hexamethyl-
disilazane, [(CH3 )3 Si]2 NH, usually referred to by its acronym HMDS. This method
of priming, where the priming agent is applied by exposing the wafer to a vapor, is
referred to as vapor priming. The HMDS forms a film on the surface (Fig. 3.5) to
which water does not adhere and prevents developer from undercutting the resist
during the development step. HMDS has a vapor pressure of ∼20 Torr at room
temperature, which facilitates its application to the wafer surface. The ambient
around the wafers can be reduced to ≤ 1 Torr, and then vapor can be introduced
from a container of HMDS kept under vacuum. Keeping the HMDS under
vacuum has the added advantage of extending its lifetime by avoiding reactions
with atmospheric wafer and oxygen, which can lead to HMDS decomposition.13
Alternatively, HMDS can be applied by bubbling nitrogen through the HMDS.
Maintaining the HMDS under a nitrogen atmosphere also prevents degradation.
A likely decomposition reaction for HMDS is [(CH3 )3 Si]2 NH + 2H2 O =
[(CH3 )3 Si]2 O + NH3 , and is very similar to the surface reaction. An ammonia
smell is an indicator that the HMDS has degraded. Other materials besides
HMDS are used for adhesion promotion, such as trimethylsilyldiethylamine
(TMSDEA), N, N-diethylaminotrimethylsilane (DEATS)—[(CH3 )3 SiN(C2 H5 )2 ],
or mixtures of DEATS and HMDS. Adhesion to untreated metals is usually not a
Figure 3.5 The adhesion-promoting agent, hexamethyldisilazane (HMDS), forms a water-

resistant film on the surface of a wafer that prevents developer from undercutting the resist
during the development process.
56 Chapter 3
problem for semiconductor processing, but adhesion promoters are available for
use on metals. For metal surfaces, chelating-silane adhesion promoters, such as
trimethylsilylacetamide, have been proposed.14,15
The adhesion-promotion process can be monitored by measuring surface
wettability. This is usually accomplished by placing a drop of water on a primed
wafer and measuring the contact angle θ (Fig. 3.6). Forces are balanced in
equilibrium such that
γLV cos θ = γSV − γSL , (3.1)
where γLV is the surface tension of the liquid in equilibrium with its saturated
vapor, γSV is the surface tension of the substrate in equilibrium with a saturated
atmosphere of water, and γSL is the surface tension between the water and the
primed substrate.16 The angle θ is shown in Fig. 3.6, and a properly primed surface
typically has values of 50–70 deg for the contact angle of water. Higher angles
indicate greater degrees of priming, i.e., more hydrophobic surfaces and smaller
values of γSL . From thermodynamic arguments, the work of adhesion of the liquid
to the solid has been shown to be17
WA = γLV (1 + cos θ). (3.2)
There is such a thing as overpriming.18 While priming has the positive effect
of ensuring resist adhesion during resist development, it often has the effect of
reducing the adhesion between the resist and the substrate. That is, the primary
purpose of the priming is to prevent liquid from penetrating the resist/substrate
interface during development19 (Fig. 3.7). Large amounts of priming reduce this
penetration, but may do so at the expense of true adhesion of the resist to the
substrate. With overpriming, the resist may not wet the surface of the wafer
adequately during the resist-coating operation, resulting in parts of the wafer that
are not covered by resist. The resist may delaminate—“pop”—during exposure,
because the resist is not adhering adequately to the wafer surface.
Vapor priming can be performed in stand-alone priming ovens or in single-
wafer modules. With stand-alone ovens, it is possible to bake the wafers for a long
time, thereby achieving maximum dehydration. On the other hand, full integration
with the rest of the lithography equipment is possible when priming takes place
in single-wafer modules. As might be expected, adhesion is a property that is
Figure 3.6 A drop of water on a surface.

Photoresists 57
Figure 3.7 The penetration of liquid at the interface between the resist and the substrate.19
modulated by the resist composition. Some polymers will adhere better to surfaces
than others.
3.3 Resist Spin Coating, Softbake, and Hardbake

Resist is applied to the wafer by a spin coating. In this method, photoresist is
dispensed in liquid form onto the wafer (Figs. 3.8 and 3.9). The wafer is then
spun about its axis at several thousand revolutions per minute (rpm). The resist
is subjected to centrifugal forces, spreading the resist, and leaving a thin uniform
layer adhering to the surface. The faster the spin speed, the thinner the resulting
layer of resist (Fig. 3.10). The attractive molecular forces that make the resist
viscous reduce the rate of thinning caused by centrifugal forces. Consequently,
resists with higher viscosity produce thicker films than resists based on similar
chemical platforms but of lower viscosity. As the large centrifugal forces near the
edge of the wafer pull on the resist, the attractive molecular forces within the resist
pull on resist material near the center of the wafer, where centrifugal forces are
smaller.
Figure 3.8 Schematic of the process of spin coating. (a) Resist is dispensed onto the wafer
in liquid form. (b) The spreading and thinning of resist during spinning.
58 Chapter 3
Figure 3.9 A bare silicon wafer being coated with resist in a DNS RF3 coat module. (Photo
courtesy of Dainippon Screen Mfg. Co. Ltd.)20
Figure 3.10 Resist thickness versus spin speed for resists of different viscosities from the
TDUR-DP069 family of resists, spun on 200-mm wafers, and using a ProCell from Silicon
Valley Group.21
Users select the rate of spin by first determining the final thickness desired.
Average thickness can be varied by adjusting the rate of spin and/or resist viscosity.
While a coater may be capable of spinning over a wide range of speeds, there is
usually a smaller range over which the coatings are uniform. Typically, spinning
either too fast or too slow produces nonuniform coatings, as illustrated in Fig. 3.11.
Approximate ranges over which uniform coatings are produced are listed in
Table 3.2. This range of spinning speed is also somewhat dependent on resist
material and solvent. The viscosity of the resist is chosen to provide the desired
thickness within the range of spin speed where uniform coatings are obtained.
Fine-tuning average resist thickness is accomplished by the final rate of spin.
Photoresists 59
Figure 3.11 Average resist thickness and uniformity of Shin-Etsu 430S resist, coated on
200-mm wafers on an SVG ProCell.21
Table 3.2 Optimum spin speeds for coating photoresist.
Wafer diameter (mm) Range of optimum spin speeds (rpm)
100 3000–5000
200 1500–3000
300 1000–2000
The process of fluid spreading on a spinning disk has been the subject of
considerable study since spin coating has emerged as the primary method for
applying resists. It is possible to gain insight into the spin-coating process by first
considering a simple situation in which a flat wafer (at rest) initially has a uniform
layer of fluid at a thickness of h0 . It is assumed that the fluid has constant viscosity
during the spin-coating process. If the wafer is then spun at a rotation rate of f ,
starting at time t = 0, then the balance of forces is22
∂ 2v
−η = 4π2 ρ f 2 r, (3.3)
∂z2
where η is the fluid’s viscosity, v is the velocity of material at radial position r and
height z, and ρ is the mass density. There is also a conservation-of-mass equation:
 2 3 
∂h −4π2 ρ  ∂ r h 
=  , (3.4)
∂t 3η  ∂r 

where h is the thickness of the resist at radius r and time t. If any other forces or
physical processes are ignored, these equations result in23
h0
h= s , (3.5)
16π2 f 2 2
1+ h0 t
3η
60 Chapter 3
where the thickness is independent of radius. This equation shows a film that thins
to zero thickness as t → ∞, while resists tend asymptotically to finite thicknesses.
What is missing from the preceding analysis is solvent evaporation, which causes
the viscosity to increase over time to the point where resist solidifies. It is this
effect that leads to resist thickness that is fairly independent of spin time, following
the initial transient thinning.23 Solvent evaporation causes the resist to cool, thus
affecting its viscosity and subsequent rates of evaporation. This evaporation takes
place nonuniformly over the wafer surface and is a function of spin speed, exhaust,
and solvent type. This variation in solvent evaporation rates can lead to resist-
thickness nonuniformity. It is possible to compensate for nonuniform rates of
solvent evaporation by choosing suitable initial temperatures for the resist, wafer,
and ambient atmosphere, which are independently adjustable on modern resist
coaters (see Fig. 3.12 in Color Plates). Since the resist thickness will depend upon
the solvent evaporation, the coating process depends upon the resist’s particular
solvent.24
Resist can be dispensed while the wafer is motionless or spinning. These two
methods are referred to as static and dynamic dispense, respectively. The dispense
nozzle can be held fixed above the center of the wafer during dispense, or, with
some hardware configurations, it can be moved. Movable dispense arms are useful
for obtaining good resist coatings while using a small amount of photoresist on
large-area wafers.
Figure 3.12 Resist uniformity contours as a function of air and resist temperatures for
Shin-Etsu 430S resist coated on an SVG ProCell. The data are single-standard deviations, in
units of Angstroms.21 The initial wafer temperature was 22 ◦ C. The most uniform coatings are
produced with resist and air temperatures slightly different from the initial wafer temperature
(see Color Plates).
Photoresists 61
Minimizing resist consumption is important for controlling the cost of

lithography because photoresist is expensive. Resists used for noncritical layers
can cost as little as $100 per liter, but deep ultraviolet (DUV) resists (particularly
for 193-nm exposures) can cost five times that, or more, while resists for emerging
technologies can cost as much as $2500 per liter. Since only a small percentage
of the dispensed resist actually remains on the wafer after spinning (see Problem
3.1), it is useful to minimize the amount of resist that is actually dispensed.
Because of this inefficiency, alternative methods of resist coating, such as the use
of microinjectors25 (such as found in ink-jet printers26 ) or spray coating,27 have
been pursued, but the quality of resist coatings produced by these techniques thus
far has not justified their adoption.
The pumps that dispense photoresists are critical components of every resist
coater. The pump ensures that defined and reproducible amounts of resist are
dispensed onto each wafer. Because it is impossible to produce and package resist
that is absolutely defect free, the resist is typically filtered at the point of use, from
within the resist pump. When packaged, resists are filtered to levels that are one-
half to one-third of the minimum feature size, which currently represents filtration
down to sizes of 20 nm and smaller. Resists are filtered to similar levels at the
point of use.28,29 As features become smaller, so do the sizes at which resists
are filtered. Because polymer solutions do not pass readily through filters with
pore sizes significantly smaller than 50 nm, additional engineering is required to
implement point-of-use filtration at very small pore sizes. Regardless, resists have
been successfully filtered at the point of use down to 10 nm, and antireflection
coatings (see Chapter 4) have been filtered to a size of 5 nm. An additional
mechanism for removing defects can be introduced by using filter materials that
have an affinity for defect-causing constituents in the resist.30,31 In addition to
particulates, defects in resist films can originate as bubbles in the resist. State-
of-the-art pumps must also remove bubbles, which are particularly problematic
when new bottles of resist are installed. When high volumes of resist are dispensed
rapidly, the pump pulls a significant quantity of resist from the bottle. If the pull on
the resist is too great, the resist cavitates, with the resist solvent forming bubbles.
This can be avoided by using a suitably large diameter tube between the pump and
resist bottle. Bubbles can also be pulled into the resist as the pump draws out the
last of the resist from the bottle. This can be avoided by installing a new bottle
of resist well before the prior one is empty, but this wastes expensive resist. This
problem has been addressed by improved packaging where the resist containers
consist of pouches, similar to those used to dispense blood. These pouches are
often contained within a bottle32 to ease storage and transport, and to secure the
pouches against puncture.
Another task that the pump needs to perform in order to avoid defects is suck-
back. After resist is dispensed, a meniscus of resist will form at the end of the resist
nozzle (Fig. 3.13). If the pump does not actively provide some draw on the resist
back into the dispense nozzle, a small quantity of resist may drop on the wafer. The
suck-back mechanism of the pump prevents this from happening. If the suck-back
is too large, there is the potential for bubble formation on subsequent dispenses, or
62 Chapter 3
Figure 3.13 Various levels of suck-back in resist dispense nozzles.
the amount of resist dispense may not be well controlled. An optimum amount of
suck-back is necessary, and is dependent upon the viscosity of the resist.
Resists are spun to different thicknesses to satisfy different requirements. The
best resolution is often obtained with thin resists; however, resist films need to
be thick enough to serve as etch masks or to block ion implantations. High-
resolution lithography today typically employs resists with thicknesses in the range
of 0.1–0.2 µm. Very thin coatings have not been used for several reasons, in spite
of the resolution potential. First, the resist film needs to be intact throughout the
entire etch process, during which the resist film erodes. In typical plasma-etch
processes, the etch rate of the resist is less than one-third that of the underlying
film, but in some instances can have essentially the same etch rate as the substrate
film. The resist film must be thick enough to have resist remaining at the end
of the etch process over those areas of the substrate that are not supposed to be
etched. This includes areas involving substrate topography, where the minimum
resist thicknesses often occur.33 A profile of resist over topography is shown
schematically in Fig. 3.14. Prior to the widespread use of chemical-mechanical
polishing, requirements imposed by wafer topography often determined resist
thicknesses. In particular, the resist thickness, as measured in large flat areas, must
generally be much thicker than the underlying topography.
Besides the problems resulting from substrate topography and etch selectivity,
ultrathin resist coatings were long avoided because of concerns with defects,
particularly pinholes. Early studies showed large increases in pinhole density for
resist coatings thinner than 150 nm.34,35 However, subsequent studies36,37 showed
that low-defect ultrathin resist coatings could be obtained by applying the same
careful attention to the coating parameters for ultrathin resists that was applied
to coating production resists where yields are critical. However, ultrathin resist
coatings are fundamentally susceptible to pinhole formation. Insight into the
problem was provided by Okoroanyanwu,38 who (referencing earlier work) showed
that the thickness at which instabilities occur in spin-coated films is material-
Photoresists 63
Figure 3.14 Substrate topography results in regions with thinner resist than found on flat
wafers coated under identical conditions.
dependent,39 and also depends on the interaction between the liquid resist and the
substrate.40
This can be understood as follows. Consider a liquid film of nominal thickness
h0 on a flat solid surface. Perturbations in the surface, such as those that arise
during spin coating, will induce a pressure gradient.38 At position x̃ and time t these
perturbations induce modulations in the thickness h ( x̃, t), which will be described
by sums of terms of the form40
h ( x̃, t) = h0 + ueiq̃· x̃ e−t/τ . (3.6)
The time constant τ of the perturbation is given by40
1 q2
" !#
A
= 2 3
γq h0 − , (3.7)
τ η 2πh0
where η is the fluid’s viscosity, γ is the surface tension, and A is a material-

dependent parameter. For a given wave number q and sufficiently thick film (large
values of h0 ), the time constant is positive, and the waves are damped. However,
for films thinner than
! 41
A
hc = , (3.8)
2πγq2
the instabilities will grow with time, until the depth of the instability is the same as
the nominal resist thickness. At this point, a pinhole forms (Fig. 3.15). Note that
the thicknesses at which the instabilities occur are material dependent. Thus, some
early observations of pinhole formation were a consequence of intrinsic material
properties, not simply the failure to ensure clean coating processes. For future
technologies that may require ultrathin resist layers, resists need to be formulated
so that they are robust with respect to pinhole formation.
64 Chapter 3
Figure 3.15 Critical resist thickness versus wavenumber for polystyrene.39 A = 8 × 10−20 J
and γ = 40 × 10−3 J/m2 .
Somewhat thick coatings (0.5–3 µm) tend to be required for implant masks, but
the resolution required for these layers is usually less than for the most critical
layers. Extremely thick coatings, where the thickness can be as thick as 100 µm,41
are used for processing thin-film heads for disk drives and for micromachining
applications.42,43 The coating of very thick resists involves special considerations.
One approach that reduces material consumption and improves uniformity is to use
a closed coater bowl which has a solvent-saturated atmosphere.44 This approach is
also advantageous for coating square substrates, such as those used for fabricating
photomasks, where obtaining good resist uniformity at the corners has always been
a challenge.45
After the resist is dispensed and the wafer has completed its spinning, there is
a thick ring of resist at the edge of the wafer referred to as an edge bead.46 The
edge bead exists not only on the upper surface of the wafer, but also on the wafer
edge. It may even extend to the bottom surface of the wafer, near the wafer edge
(Fig. 3.16), and because it can chip and flake, leading to defects, it is desirable to
remove the edge bead prior to post-lithographic processing. In the steps that follow
lithographic patterning, the wafer may be subjected to elevated temperatures,
which will harden the resist and cause the remaining edge bead to be particularly
difficult to remove. Consequently, it is best to remove the edge bead during the
lithography process. Oftentimes, immediately following resist coat or softbake, the
edge bead can be removed by using solvent streams or by exposure. Solvent edge-
bead removal is usually applied in the resist-coating module, and the edge bead is
typically removed by this method following resist coating. Alternatively, a separate
unit may be used to expose the resist at the edge of the wafer, and the edge bead
will be removed during the develop step. Optical edge-bead removal avoids solvent
splashing that can sometimes occur with solvent edge-bead removal. However,
there are some films applied by spin coating, such as organic antireflection coatings
(to be discussed later), that are not photosensitive, and their edge bead cannot be
Photoresists 65
Figure 3.16 At the edge of wafers there is extra resist, known as the edge bead.
removed by optical exposure and subsequent develop.47 One of the advantages of

coating substrates in a solvent-saturated atmosphere is the reduction of the edge
bead.
Recently there has been increased attention on edge-bead removal. One reason
is the highly competitive nature of the semiconductor electronics business, which
compels minimizing the width of the edge-bead removal in order to maximize
the number of potentially good die on the wafers. As the width of the edge bead
becomes smaller than 2 mm, control requirements become increasingly stringent.
The introduction of immersion lithography, which is discussed in more detail in
Chapter 10, injects additional motivation for a high-quality edge-bead-removal
process.
Following coating, the resist film on the wafer usually does not have the
desired dissolution properties in developer. For a positive resist, the develop rate
of unexposed resist should be very low, but the resist, as coated, is often porous,
retains considerable solvent, and has a high develop rate as a consequence. The
most common method of densifying the resist is baking. The bake that immediately
follows resist coating is referred to as the softbake, prebake, or post-apply bake.
Several methods of baking resist-coated wafers have been used. Convection
ovens were used commonly in the early days of semiconductor processing, but
they provided poor consistency and were not amenable to integrated, single-wafer
processing. Several other methods were used, including infrared ovens, microwave
ovens, and hot plates. Of all the baking methods tried, hot plates have provided the
best temperature control, and they are used for all leading-edge resist processing
today. On state-of-the-art tools, across-wafer temperature uniformity is < 0.1 ◦ C,48
while the mean temperature can be controlled to within ±0.05 ◦ C of the set point.
Convection ovens continue to be used to bake very thick (5–100 µm) resists, where
long bakes are required to evolve solvent from the depth of the resist film. Batch
processing is most efficient in such cases. Thick resists are used in the making of
thin-film heads for disk and tape drives, and for micromachining applications.49
Once wafers are removed from hot plates, they begin to cool, and this cooling
needs to occur in a controlled way. Wafers simply removed from hot plates cool
in an irregular fashion, depending upon the airflow, proximity to other still-warm
wafers, and handling. The most effective way to ensure consistent cooling is to
transfer baked wafers to chill plates after baking where they can be returned to
room temperature consistently. However, consistency with chill plates still requires
66 Chapter 3
attention. Consider the data shown in Fig. 3.17, which shows the temperature of
wafers as they are placed on a hot plate, removed, and finally set on a chill plate.50
When the wafers are placed at time equal to 0 on the hot plate, their temperatures
rise quickly to the hot-plate temperature of 105 ◦ C. After 60 sec on the hot plate, the
wafers are lifted above the plate on pins, so that the wafers can then be picked up
by a wafer-transfer arm and moved to a chill plate. The temperature of the wafers
declines slowly while the wafers are sitting on the pins. Because the wafer-transfer
arm may or may not be occupied with moving other wafers, the wafers may sit
on the pins for variable times. The change in critical dimensions was measured
for a 10-sec variation in time on the pins and was found to be 7.4 nm when the
relative humidity was 42%, and 10.8 nm when the relative humidity was 49% for a
conventional g-line resist.50 Chill plates were introduced to semiconductor resist
processing in order to provide reproducible bake processes,51 and the example
shown in Fig. 3.17 illustrates that even subtle aspects of the bakes need to be
considered in order to squeeze out the last few nanometers of process control.
Hot plates need to be well designed in order to ensure good process control. A
hot plate receives a thermal shock when a wafer is first placed on it, and the heating
elements respond accordingly. If the hot plate controller is not well designed,
there may be a temperature overshoot before the wafer temperature is returned
to the desired value. This overshoot can cause statistically measurable shifts in
linewidth.52 In order to have a well-controlled process, the wafer temperature
needs to be controlled across each wafer, wafer-to-wafer, and during the entire
heating and cooling cycle for each wafer. State-of-the-art hot-plate designs control
temperature throughout the heating cycle and meet uniformity specifications even
while the wafer is heating, not just during the steady state.
Solvent evolves from the resist film during the softbake, and the rate of
solvent evolution depends upon the transfer rate at the resist-gas interface.53,54
Solvent content is an important characteristic because resist-development rates and
diffusion during post-exposure bakes (discussed later in this chapter) depend upon
Figure 3.17 Changes in effective baking because of variable times between bake and
chill.50
Photoresists 67
the solvent content of the resist. Thus, exhaust and airflow that play a role in resist
baking need to be properly controlled.
For very thick resists, the need for long bakes is illustrated in Fig. 3.18,
which shows scanning electron micrographs of cross-sectioned contacts formed
in 100-µm-thick Shin-Etsu SIPR 7120 i-line photoresist. The contact on the left
[Fig. 3.18(a)] received a hot-plate bake at 100 ◦ C for 8 minutes, followed by a
lengthy two-hour oven bake at 110 ◦ C, while the contact on the right received much
less baking. Pitting occurred in the developed resist because too much solvent
remained in the resist as a consequence of inadequate softbake. Because it takes
a long time for solvents to percolate through the polymer matrix comprising the
resist, long bakes are required for very thick resists in order to remove solvent
adequately from the portions of the resist film closer to the substrate.
After the lithography patterning process is completed, the wafers usually go
into another processing step, such as reactive ion etch or ion implantation, that
takes place in a vacuum. To preserve the vacuum integrity of the post-lithographic
processing equipment, it is usually desirable to bake the wafers one last time in
order to drive off low-molecular-weight materials that might otherwise outgas
in the equipment used for post-lithographic processing. To achieve the desired
goal, the required temperature for this bake is often above the decomposition
temperature of key constituents of the photoresist, such as photoactive compounds
or photoacid generators. For this reason, the high-temperature bake—usually
referred to as a hardbake—is deferred until after the critical photochemistry and
pattern formation has been completed.
The tools used for resist processing are often referred to as “tracks” because, in
their earliest configurations, the wafers were moved along a track from the input
cassette, to resist coat, then to bake, and finally to the output cassette. Modern
resist-processing equipment often contains several, or all, of the modules needed
to address various aspects of resist processing: vapor priming, resist coating, edge-
bead removal, bakes, and develop. The straight-line track configuration has been
replaced, and the sequence of processing can now be chosen more flexibly by the
Figure 3.18 Cross sections of contacts in 100-µm-thick resist. (a) Softbake consisting of a
hot-plate bake at 100 ◦ C for 8 min, followed by a two-hour oven bake at 110 ◦ C; (b) inadequate
bake.55
68 Chapter 3
user. Wafers are moved by robots from station to station, and operations that occur
sequentially in time no longer need to be processed in adjacent processing modules.
Nevertheless, lithographers still often refer to the resist-processing equipment as
“tracks.”
A number of companies, listed in Table 3.3, produce equipment for resist
processing. Most of these companies produce tools that have capability for baking,
developing, and removing edge bead, in addition to resist coating. Others make
equipment that is more specialized or designed for laboratory applications, in
which resist materials may be hand-dispensed.
3.4 Photochemistry of Novolak/DNQ g- and i-line Resists

Nearly all g- and i-line resists are based on a particular photochemistry.56 These
resists contain novolak resin (Fig. 3.19) and a diazonaphthoquinone (DNQ)
photoactive compound. There are numerous papers and books that discuss the
photochemistry of DNQ resists in detail,57 and the interested reader can refer to
such publications for additional details. The essentials are presented in this section.
Novolak resin is soluble in aqueous basic solutions, such as NaOH, KOH,
or tetramethylammonium hydroxide [(CH3 )4 NOH] in water, that comprise the
developers for DNQ resists. Tetramethylammonium hydroxide is usually referred
to by its acronym TMAH. Diazonaphthoquinone is an insoluble material in such
solutions, and when a sufficient amount of DNQ is mixed with novolak resin, the
resulting mixture dissolves at extremely slow rates in basic solutions. However,
DNQ reacts photochemically under exposure to light of a proper wavelength
(300–450 nm). After absorbing a photon, the DNQ molecule evolves molecular
nitrogen and forms a ketocarbene, a short-lived intermediate that rearranges into a
more stable ketene structure (Fig. 3.20). This ketene is reactive with water, which
is usually available in adequate amounts within the resist film for such reactions
to occur, and the ketene ultimately converts to indenecarboxylic acid. This acid,
unlike unexposed DNQ, is soluble in basic solutions and does not inhibit the
dissolution of the novolak. This transformation of the DNQ under exposure to
light from a compound that is insoluble in developer to one that is soluble is
the foundation for the photochemistry of g- and i-line resists. Because the DNQ
is a substance that reacts to light, it is referred to as photoactive compound.
It is important that there be adequate water for the ketene to ultimately form
indenecarboxylic acid, for the ketene may otherwise react with the novolak resin,
Table 3.3 Resist-coating equipment suppliers.
Company Location
Tokyo Electron (TEL) Tokyo, Japan

Sokudo Kyoto, Japan
Headway Garland, Texas
Suss MicroTec Vaihingen an der Enz, Germany
Photoresists 69
Figure 3.19 Novolak resin (ortho-ortho coupling).
Figure 3.20 The basic photochemistry of diazonaphthoquinone photoactive compounds.
causing cross-linking. Such cross-linking is a negative resist behavior, rather than

the desired positive one.
The original DNQ resists consisted of three constituents: novolak resin,
photoactive compound, and solvent. It was found that coatings produced by such
resists are susceptible to thickness nonuniformities, called striations, induced by
the spin-coating process. Later families of resists contained leveling agents, which
are materials that improve coating uniformity.58
Manufacturers of DNQ resists distinguish their products through different
novolak structures and molecular weight distributions, and by using varying forms
of the photoactive compound. The substituent R shown in Fig. 3.20, is usually
a sulfonate (SO3 R0 )59 and may be placed at different, or multiple, positions60
on the DNQ molecule to improve their absorption characteristics at specific
wavelengths. Changing the specific form of the sulfonate also modifies resist-
dissolution characteristics. The novolak resin can be varied by using different
70 Chapter 3
isomers of the basic cresol constituents, and by using different couplings between
the cresol elements. Examples of different couplings are shown in Fig. 3.21.
Polymer molecular weight distributions also affect resist dissolution properties.
The evolution of nitrogen can have significance. Very sensitive resists may
evolve nitrogen rapidly—perhaps too fast for the nitrogen to diffuse to the surface
of the resist—and bubbles may form in the resist. This may also occur when very
intense light sources are used. Following spin coating and bake, the resist may
contain residual stress, which may become relieved when the nitrogen is evolved,
leading to delamination of the resist from the wafer surface after exposure.
3.5 Acid-Catalyzed DUV Resists

Until the advent of high-repetition-rate KrF excimer lasers in the late 1990s, DUV
light sources were typically much weaker than g-line and i-line light sources. Early
DUV lithography employed mercury-xenon arc lamps, which have spectral output
between 240 and 260 nm and have low intensity relative to the g and i lines.
Consequently, DUV photoresists needed to be significantly more sensitive to light
than DNQ resists in order to achieve sufficiently short exposure times to maintain
efficient exposure-tool throughput. This problem was solved by the invention of
chemical amplification,61,62 typically involving acid catalysis. These resists work
as follows. The dissolution in developer of the backbone polymer of unexposed
resist is prevented by protecting groups (Fig. 3.22). In addition to the protected
polymer, the chemically amplified resist contains photoacid generators (PAGs)
that represent the photoactive components of the resist. Examples of photoacid
generators are shown in Fig. 3.23.63 Upon exposure, the PAG produces an acid. The
acid can catalyze the cleaving of protecting groups from the backbone polymer,
though often requiring that the wafer be heated. This cleaving reaction is catalytic,
in the sense that the acid still remains after the reaction, and is therefore available
to promote the cleaving of additional protecting groups. With prolonged heating,
a single photoacid is able to diffuse and cleave multiple protecting groups. By
these means, a single exposure event is capable of producing multiple-deprotection
Figure 3.21 Different couplings in novolak that can lead to different resist characteristics.
Photoresists 71
Figure 3.22 Basic mechanism for chemically amplified resists.
Figure 3.23 Examples of photoacid generators.
events (gain), hence the term chemical amplification. Resist behavior depends on
the strength of the photoacid and its size, which affect its catalytic efficiency and
diffusion characteristics, respectively.64
One of the other problems with developing useful resists for DUV lithography
was the high level of optical absorption by novolak resins at DUV wavelengths.
The problem of highly absorbing resist is shown in Fig. 3.24. Light absorption,
as indicated by photoacid concentration, is modeled for a resist with parameters
appropriate for a commercially available DUV resist, and hypothetical resists with
significantly more absorption. For highly absorbing resists, the light fails to reach
the bottom of the resist film, so the space could not be developed out. For less-
absorbing resists, such complete failure of the resist process does not occur, but the
resist profiles would be very sloped.
The problem of novolak’s high DUV absorption was overcome by using
polymers transparent at wavelengths ≤ 260 nm. Poly(hydroxystyrene) (Fig. 3.25)
was one polymer known to dissolve in aqueous bases65 and to be transparent
at DUV (∼250 nm) wavelengths. It is the polymer backbone of a number of
positive resists used today for KrF lithography. As lithography is developed
for shorter wavelengths, the problem of optical absorption reoccurs, and new
chemistries need to be developed. No single chemical platform has been adopted
for ArF lithography, and a number of different materials have been developed
successfully.66
72 Chapter 3
Figure 3.24 Photoacid concentration in a 200-nm space, modeled using Solid-C. The
resist Dill parameters for the “production”-type resist are A = 0.048 µm−1 and B = 0.054 µm−1 .
(The Dill parameters are defined in Chapter 4.) The index of refraction for the resist is
n = 1.76, and the resist thickness is 500 nm. The optics are 0.75 NA, λ = 0.75, and σ = 0.5.
Light-shaded regions indicate areas where light has penetrated.
Figure 3.25 Poly(hydroxystyrene).
In one of the first DUV resists widely used at IBM, where chemical
amplification was invented and advanced significantly, the first protecting group
was t-BOC, shown in Fig. 3.26. Later, IBM developed APEX-E, which became
the first chemically amplified positive DUV resist that was commercially available
(from Shipley67 ).
Three-component DUV resists, most notably the acetal-based materials,
that have functionality analogous to novolak/DNQ resists68–71 have also been
generated. The three-component resists consist of a matrix polymer, dissolution
inhibitor, and a photoacid generator. These materials differ from the t-BOC and
related resists in that the chemical species responsible for dissolution inhibition
are not necessarily chemically bonded to the resin.
At short wavelengths, it is often difficult to find polymers for the resist
backbones that have all of the desired attributes, such as transparency, etch
resistance, and good adhesion to substrates. Consequently, resists can be
Photoresists 73
Figure 3.26 One of the earliest chemically amplified resists, with a t-BOC protecting group
providing functionality and a poly(hydroxystyrene) polymer backbone.
constructed from functional subgroups,72 as illustrated in Fig. 3.27. This breaks

the problem down into separate functions that can be addressed separately by the
resist chemists.
Chemical amplification enabled DUV lithography to have enough productivity
to be a production-worthy technology. Unfortunately, there is no such thing as
a free lunch. Following exposure of a chemically amplified resist, only a small
quantity of photogenerated acid is produced. Prior to post-exposure bake, while
the photoacids perform the task of deprotection, these acids are susceptible
to neutralization by ambient bases.74 Part-per-billion levels of amines, such as
ammonia, or an amide such as N-methylpyrilidone (NMP) in the air have proven
sufficient to affect the photochemistry significantly.75 Such small quantities of
basic chemicals can have a significant effect on a chemically amplified resist
because only small quantities of photoacids are generated. Airborne amines affect
the top of the resist film first. Short exposure to a low level of amines first leads to
a T-topping of the resist profile [Fig. 3.28(a)]. This occurred for the resist shown in
Figure 3.27 Model for constructing a chemically amplified resist.73

74 Chapter 3
Figure 3.28 A chemically amplified resist that has been exposed to amine-containing air
during the time between exposure and post-exposure bake. With short exposure to amines,
(a) a small amount of T-topping is induced, while (b) severe poisoning of the top of the resist
occurs with longer exposures.
Fig. 3.28 because photoacid was neutralized in the top layer of the resist and was
therefore unable to fully deprotect the top of the resist. With extended exposure to
amines, the top layer almost failed entirely to develop [Fig. 3.28(b)].
Several methods have been employed to address this problem. The first—
the brute force method—involves air filtration in the enclosed environment of
the resist-processing equipment and exposure tools. Activated charcoal has been
used to remove complex organic amines, such as NMP,74 while weak acids,
such as citric acid, have been used to neutralize ammonia.76 Newer polymeric
filters are capable of removing amines of low and high molecular weights77
and have an improved lifetime before saturation,78 an important consideration
for maintaining a productive lithography operation. Cluster operations are used
where resist-processing equipment is linked to the exposure tool. This makes it
possible to process a wafer completely through the lithography operation (with the
exception of most post-patterning metrology), without having the wafers leave a
filtered environment, and it minimizes the critical time between exposure and post-
exposure bake.
In another approach, a diffusion barrier is coated over the resist. This is
typically another organic film spin coated onto the wafer immediately following
the resist coating or softbake.79–81 These overcoating materials, called topcoats,
are typically designed to be water soluble and can be rinsed off the wafer prior
to development. Topcoats can provide considerable immunity to ambient amines,
but do so at additional expense, increased process complexity, and the potential
for added defects. Topcoats also address the problem of T-topping that results
from evaporation of photoacid from chemically amplified resist.82 Additionally,
Photoresists 75
supplementary chemicals such as bases are also sometimes added to chemically

amplified resist in order to improve their immunity to poisoning by amines.83,84 In
one particular approach, the bases are photoreactive and are converted to neutral
materials upon exposure.85
A fourth approach involves the design of resists intrinsically less susceptible
to photoacid neutralization. An example of this is the environmentally stable
chemically amplified positive (ESCAP) chemistry.86 Inhibition of base diffusion
is the concept underlying the ESCAP approach to photoresist. It was observed
that reduced free volume that inhibited diffusion caused polymers with lower
glass transition temperatures to absorb less NMP.87 Through the addition of
metaisomers, it proved possible to reduce the glass transition temperature of
t-BOC-related resists, providing reduced sensitivity to ambient amines.88,89 The
first widely used resist based on this chemistry was UVIIHS, sold by Shipley.
None of the approaches to reducing the susceptibility of chemically amplified
resist through molecular design has proven capable of eliminating the poisoning
of the resists by bases. Even the chemically amplified resist most resistant
to poisoning by bases requires additional action. The approaches taken most
commonly are air filtration coupled with cluster operation, where exposure
tools are interfaced directly with the resist-processing equipment, as described
previously. The reductions in the intrinsic susceptibility of the resists to poisoning
by bases have proven useful, since linewidth-control requirements could not
be met without the combination of built-in resilience coupled with a favorable
environment.
Since none of the methods devised to reduce the susceptibility of chemically
amplified resists to poisoning are completely effective, it is important to minimize
the level of bases in the air. This is challenging since there are many potential
sources of bases, and filtering is never completely effective. Amine levels in
wafer fab areas can rise to >10 ppb levels when small quantities of developer
or adhesion promoters are spilled. Many paints, plastics, and epoxies also outgas
amines. Materials that initially evolve large quantities of volatile bases, but quickly
reach low-outgassing states, can be used in the fabrication of lithography tools;
however, their use can be problematic in an operating wafer fab. Some materials
continue to evolve amines over long periods of time and should not be used in wafer
fabs or in the construction of lithography equipment. Companies that manufacture
lithographic processing equipment have developed lists of materials suitable for
use in tools used for DUV lithography, and wafer-fab organizations have compiled
similar lists of construction materials and paints.
The air is not the only source of bases that can have an impact on the resist
profiles and linewidths. On many substrate materials, notably nitrides, chemically
amplified resist has been found to form a “foot,” similar to the T-top shown in
Fig. 3.28, except inverted.90 Titanium nitride is particularly notorious for inducing
footing of chemically amplified resists, but many silicon nitrides and oxides can
also lead to footing depending upon the films’ deposition conditions. Similarly,
acidic films can lead to a pinching of the resist width at the resist-substrate
76 Chapter 3
interface.91 There are several solutions to the problems of footing and bottom
pinching:
(1) If possible, modify the substrate material.
(2) Insert a coating between the resist and the substrate layer. This is often an
antireflection coating and is discussed in the next chapter. However, with resists
that are extremely sensitive to bases, substantial amounts of bases can penetrate
many coatings, and footing problems remain.
(3) Use a resist intrinsically robust against poisoning by bases.
Since the first two approaches are often unacceptable, resists with built-in
resistance to poisoning are very desirable.
An interfaced operation of tracks and exposure tools has stimulated
improvements in equipment reliability since track down time also keeps the stepper
out of operation, and vice versa.92 In addition to reducing the equipment failures
that cause unscheduled down time, photocluster productivity can be improved
through good management of preventive maintenance schedules that consider
requirements of both the resist-processing equipment and the exposure tool.
Stepper-track integration also requires a high degree of training for operators and
technicians who need to be skilled in operating two pieces of equipment.
With chemically amplified resist, there is the potential for the evolution
of organic material immediately following exposure. The photoacid generator
decomposes into the photoacid and another material that may be sufficiently
volatile to outgas from the resist. With resists where the deprotection can occur
at room temperature, there is yet another chemical mechanism that can result in
the outgassing of organic vapors during exposure.93 The organic material evolving
from the resist during exposure has the potential to coat the bottom of the projection
optics. Bottom-optic contamination of multimillion-dollar projection lenses is
clearly undesirable, and resists that have low levels of outgassing are preferable.
Well-designed airflows between wafers and lenses can also mitigate the effects of
resist outgassing.
3.6 Development and Post-Exposure Bakes

Basic, aqueous solutions are used to develop nearly all photoresists in use
today for microelectronics fabrication. Most frequently, these are tetramethyl-
ammonium hydroxide (TMAH) solutions because they are free of metal ions
that can degrade device performance or reliability. Sodium and potassium are
particularly undesirable, since these alkali metals are known to reduce gate oxide
integrity,94 making NaOH and KOH solutions unsuitable as resist developers for
IC manufacturing. The penetration of the developer cation into the resist depends
upon the molecular structure of the resist and the developer type because the
TMAH cation is more than twice the size of K+ .95 An interesting effect of the large
TMAH cation size is the decrease in development rate observed with increasing
developer temperature, opposite the trend seen in NaOH and KOH developers.96
Surfactants are often added to the developer to facilitate wetting of the resist.
Photoresists 77
Since surfactants may also modify development rates,97 processes can often differ
significantly depending upon whether the developer contains surfactants or not.
The concentration of developers is usually measured in terms of normality
(N).98 While resist processes can work in principle over wide ranges of developer
normality, 0.26 N TMAH solutions appear to have become somewhat of an
industry standard. This standardization has been instituted primarily to reduce
developer costs, rather than because 0.26 N developer normality has been found to
provide the greatest lithography capability.99,100 Some resist-processing equipment
has point-of-use developer dilution capability, which enables the use of more dilute
developer while maintaining the cost advantages of a standard developer normality.
In the 1970s and early 1980s, wafers were typically developed by immersing
batches of wafers in tanks of developer. This method has been largely superseded
by single-wafer processes because of superior uniformity and control, relative
to batch processes. Moreover, single-wafer processes are amenable to cluster
operation, where the resist-processing tracks are interfaced to the exposure tools.
The “puddle process” is the most common method for resist developing, where
100–200 cc of developer are dispensed on each wafer, forming a puddle that covers
the entire wafer surface.101 The developer is left on the wafer for the desired length
of time, typically 30–75 sec. The developer is then rinsed off with deionized water.
Additional puddles are sometimes applied to wafers in order to reduce defects and
to reduce loading effects, where critical dimensions have a dependence on local
pattern density, because the developer becomes depleted in regions where a lot of
material is to be removed during the development process.102
Puddle development on a track system is the most commonly used method today.
The tubes carrying the developer to the wafer are jacketed, and temperature is
controlled actively to within ±0.2 ◦ C. Since the process of development involves
chemical reactions, resist-development rates are temperature dependent,103 and
temperature stability is required for a controlled process. Once the developer is
on the wafer, evaporation causes the wafer to cool. Because the rate of evaporation
is greatest on the outside of the wafer, thermal gradients are generated leading to
different rates of development from the center to the edge of the wafer. (TMAH
developers become more aggressive at lower temperatures.) Evaporation also
causes developer concentration to increase. These effects can be minimized by
using developer that is dispensed at a low temperature to begin with and by a low
airflow around the wafer while the resist is developing.
For puddle development, the nozzle through which the developer is ultimately
dispensed can be a simple tube or a more complex device. The developer
nozzle must provide uniform application of developer and not be a significant
source of defects. These two requirements have not always been easy to achieve
simultaneously.
Developer has also been sprayed onto wafers, either continuously during
the entire development process, or as a means to form a puddle of developer.
Continuous spraying has the potential to consume large amounts of developer, and
a clever ultrasonic nozzle has been devised that atomizes the developer in a jet of
nitrogen;104 however, this approach is not without susceptibility to defects.
78 Chapter 3
Aqueous developers introduce effects that limit aspect ratios—the height of

a resist feature divided by its width. As developer and rinse water are removed
from developed wafers, surface-tension forces pull closely adjacent lines together
(Fig. 3.29). This phenomenon fundamentally limits the aspect ratio of the resist
features. The ultimate limitation involves a number of parameters, including the
pitch and the structural properties of the resist,105 but resist collapse is common
when aspect ratios exceed 4/1 (height/width) and can frequently occur for even
smaller values.
During the drying step, after the resist has been developed and rinsed, the level
of the rinse liquid reaches a condition similar to that shown in Fig. 3.30, where the
space between adjacent resist lines is partially filled with fluid. The fluid meniscus
exhibits curvatures due to the differences in pressure across the fluid interface that
result from surface tension in the confined geometry. These differences in pressure
exert forces on the resist features that act perpendicularly and inwardly from the
resist sidewall. These resulting capillary forces principally caused by pressure
differences across the meniscus are given by:106
γ
∆P = , (3.9)
R
where γ is the surface tension and R is the radius of curvature (Fig. 3.30). R is
related to the space width between the two resist lines:
d
R= . (3.10)
2 cos θ
Thus, the force on the resist line is given by:107
2γ cos θ
F = hD , (3.11)
d
Figure 3.29 Closely spaced, high-aspect-ratio lines of resist that have collapsed after
develop.
Photoresists 79
Figure 3.30 Forces on resist due to developer rinse liquid.
where D is the length of the resist line and h is the height of the rinse liquid. From
Eq. (3.11), one can see that pattern collapse is lessened when the space d between
resist lines is large.
Pattern collapse also depends upon the height of the resist line h. Since wider
resist lines will be stiffer and more mechanically resistant to deformation (for a
given applied force) it is to be expected that pattern collapse depends upon the
height relative to the width, that is, the resist aspect ratio.108
Resist collapse can be reduced by adding a surfactant to the rinse liquid.109–112
Surfactants are beneficial because they reduce the surface tension. Heating the
resist during development has also been proposed as a way to reduce pattern
collapse,113 by hardening the resist and therefore increasing its structural stability.
Frequently, wafers are baked after exposure but before development. One
reason this might be required is chemical amplification. Other motivations for
incorporating a post-exposure bake into the resist process are discussed in
Chapter 4. The post-exposure bake is usually a very critical process, and linewidths
are typically more sensitive to this bake than to the softbake.
Linewidth sensitivities to post-exposure bake temperature for commercially
available KrF resists are shown in Table 3.4. Resist suppliers have responded to
industry requests for materials providing better linewidth control, as evidenced
by reductions in post-exposure bake linewidth sensitivities in the progression
of Apex-E → UVIIHS → UV6. These sensitivities have also driven hot-plate
specifications since resists with essentially no post-exposure linewidth variation are
not universally applicable to all feature types or have provided the best resolution.
As one might expect, the dependence of linewidth on hot-plate temperature
control will be influenced by the quality of the optical image. This can be
understood as follows.116 With a post-exposure bake (PEB) at temperature τ for
a controlled period of time, there will be an effective blurring of the exposure dose
E(x). If we assume that this blurring is described by a simple Fickian diffusion
mechanism, then this “diffused image” Eτ (x) is related to the exposure dose E(x)
80 Chapter 3
Table 3.4 Linewidth sensitivities of commercially

produced KrF resists.114,115 Not all of these resists
are still being produced.
Resist Supplier Linewidth sensitivity (nm/◦ C)
Apex E Shipley 16.0

UVIIHS Shipley 7.5
UV6 Shipley 2.6
TM-461 JSR 2.6
DP-024 TOK 1.8
ARCH 2 Arch ∼0
as follows:
−(x−z)2
Z
1
Eτ (x) = √ E(z)e λ2
D dz, (3.12)
λD 2π
where λD is the diffusion length associated with the PEB process. If the temperature
changes τ → τ ∗, then
∂ Eτ (x)
Eτ∗ (x) = Eτ (x) + ∆τ + · · · . (3.13)
∂τ
At the different temperature τ∗ the feature edge moves x → x + ∆x. Since
Eτ∗ (x + ∆x) = Eτ (x) (3.14)

∂ Eτ (x)
= Eτ (x + ∆x) + ∆τ, (3.15)
∂τ
this rearranges to
Eτ (x + ∆x) − Eτ (x) −1 ∂ Eτ (x)

" #
= ∆τ. (3.16)
∆x ∆x ∂τ
Since ∆CD = 2 |∆x|,
∂ Eτ (x)
" # ! !
1 1
∆CD = 2∆τ . (3.17)
Eτ (x) ∂τ ILS
Hence, changes in linewidth induced by variations in hot-plate temperatures are

also inversely proportional to the image log slope, indicating dependence on the
initial optical images.
In order to satisfy the extraordinarily tight linewidth-control requirements
of today’s and future processes, hot plates must have excellent across-plate
uniformity—less than 0.1 ◦ C, or better—and must be matched to even tighter
levels. This is a challenge in terms of achieving capability, and it also poses
a formidable metrology challenge—it must be possible to measure hot-plate
Photoresists 81
temperatures and uniformities much less than control requirements. Resistance

temperature detectors (RTD) are the best available thermometers today. In
application, these are usually bonded to a silicon wafer, which are then placed
onto the hot plates.
3.7 Operational Characterization

In Chapter 2, resist properties were incorporated into a simple model through a
single parameter, the resist contrast γ. It is useful to revisit contrast and explore
some of its properties. Consider once again the situation where a resist film is
exposed by uniform illumination and then developed. The development rate R is
directly related to the time rate of change of the resist thickness T :
−dT
R= . (3.18)
dt
With T as the resist thickness remaining after development,

Z t
T = T0 − R(M)dt0 , (3.19)
0
where T 0 is the initial resist thickness, and M is the fraction of photoactive

compound or photoacid generator remaining after exposure. The development rate
is a function of M. By definition, γ is given by
−1 ∂T
γ= at ε = 1, (3.20)
T 0 ∂ (ln ε)
where ε = E/E0 , E is the exposure dose, and E0 is the minimum dose to clear the
resist. This is the same parameter discussed in Chapter 2. From Eqs. (3.19) and
(3.20),
Z t
−∂
γ= R(M)dt0 at ε = 1, (3.21)
T 0 ∂ (ln ε) 0
−1 t ∂R ∂ M
Z ! !
γ= dt0 at ε = 1. (3.22)
T 0 0 ∂ M ∂ε
This is an interesting expression. The integrand is divided into two factors. The first
is governed by the development properties of the resist, and the second factor is
determined by the exposure. For example, a dyed resist would be more absorbing,
reducing the change in M near the resist-substrate interface during exposure,
thereby reducing γ. This also explains the curious observation that measured
contrast shows variations with resist thickness,117 which is not characteristic of
an intrinsic property of the resist chemistry.
82 Chapter 3
Alternative definitions for contrast have been proposed. An expression similar

to Eq. (3.22) has been derived:118–120
T0
∂ ln R dz
Z !
R(T 0 )
γ= , (3.23)
T0 0 ∂ ln E R(z)
where z is the depth in the resist film. (Again, technical rigor has been less
than complete with the taking of logarithms of nondimensionless quantities.) The
expression
∂ ln R
= γth (3.24)
∂ ln E
for the “theoretical contrast” has gained acceptance as a measure of resist

performance.121,122 Although there are difficulties associated with using this
metric, such as its dependence on exposure dose, it has been found to be a
good indicator of how well resists will perform.123 Equation (3.24) has several
advantages over the earlier expression for contrast as introduced in Chapter 2.
It is dependent solely on the dissolution properties of the photoresist and does
not have the dependencies on resist film thickness found in the earlier definitions.
However, in the limit of very transparent or thin resists typical of KrF resists, the
two expressions for contrast are roughly equivalent.124
3.8 Line-Edge Roughness

An issue for resists that is particularly significant for feature sizes smaller than 100
nm is line-edge roughness (LER).125 For very small lines, structure at the molecular
level contributes to roughness that can be a significant fraction of the linewidth
(Fig. 3.31). A measure of edge roughness is the standard deviation of the actual
line edge relative to an average line edge. This measure can be understood in more
detail from Fig. 3.32. The actual resist line edge deviates from an ideal straight
edge at position x by an amount y(x) − ȳ from the average line edge ȳ. Typically,
measurements are taken at regularly spaced intervals at discrete locations denoted
by xm . The most common measure of LER derives from the standard deviation of
y(x). An estimated value of LER from a line of resist measured at N points is given
by
v
u
N
t
1 X
sLER = y(xm ) − ȳ 2 .

(3.25)
N − 1 m=1
Values for LER are typically given as 3× the standard deviation.

A parameter related to line-edge roughness is linewidth roughness (LWR).
Similar in concept to line-edge roughness, LWR is a measure of the variation in
linewidth along the length of resist lines. The linewidth at position xm is L(xm )
Photoresists 83
Figure 3.31 Lines of photoresist exhibiting LER.
Figure 3.32 Illustrations of line-edge and linewidth roughness. (a) The ideal resist line
edges are dashed lines, while the actual line edges follow the solid lines. (b) At position x
the deviation of the actual line edge from the average line edge ȳ is y(x) − ȳ. (c) The linewidth
at position x is L(x).
[see Fig. 3.32(c).] The measure of LWR is three times the linewidth’s standard
deviation:
v
u
N
t
1 Xh i2
LWR = 3sLWR = 3 L(xm ) − L̄ , (3.26)
N − 1 m=1
where L̄ is the average linewidth along the length over which LWR is measured.
Because linewidth roughness has direct impact on transistor performance,126–131
and gate linewidth control is a critical parameter for microprocessor performance,
resist requirements in the International Technology Roadmap for Semiconductors
84 Chapter 3
(ITRS) are stated in terms of LWR. When the roughness along the two opposite
edges of a line are uncorrelated,
√
LWR = LER 2. (3.27)
Edge roughness with 3σ ∼ 3–5 nm has been measured typically for leading-edge
ArF resists. It has proven useful to look at the characteristics of line-edge roughness
in more detail, beyond the total variation 3σLER . In particular, it is useful to consider
the roughness as a function of spatial frequency. This is done conveniently through
the power spectral density (PSD) of the roughness:132,133
Z W/2 2
1 −2πikx
S (k) = lim dx ,

y(x) − ȳ e (3.28)
W→∞ W

−W/2
where S (k) is the power spectral density at spatial frequency k. Large values of S (k)
indicate that there is a large amount of LER at the spatial frequency k. High values
of k represent variations that occur over short distances. There may be a reticle
contribution to the low-spatial-frequency component of the LER,125 while high-
spatial-frequency roughness is related more to the resist process.134,135 LER has
been measured as a function of spatial frequency, and representative results from
an insightful paper by Yamaguchi and coworkers are shown in Fig. 3.33.136 The
data from several resists showed similar behavior for LER as a function of spatial
frequency. In all cases, when plotted on a log-log scale the largest contributions
to LER came from lower spatial frequencies (although not necessarily at the very
lowest spatial frequency).
Figure 3.33 LER power spectral density as a function of spatial frequency. The results on
the left were from e-beam exposures, while the data on the right were from ArF exposures.
The electron beam was intentionally blurred to induce greater LER.
Photoresists 85
Because SEMs measure over finite distances, either as a practical matter or

because the resist line has finite width W over which there is interest (such as
for a transistor gate), it is useful to use a discrete and approximate version of Eq.
(3.28):
(N/2)−1 2
d X −2πikxm
S (k) = y (xm ) − ȳ e , (3.29)
N m=−N/2
where W = Nd and xm = md. This discrete form also reflects the common practice
of collecting images of resist patterns on grids of uniform spacing using scanning
electron microscopes. Reconstruction of a line edge requires knowledge of the
magnitude and phase of roughness at every spatial frequency, but S (k) provides
only the magnitude. However, simulated line edges can be generated assuming
random phases:
(N/2)−1
1 X q 2πim j
y (xm ) − ȳ = √ S k j e N eiθ j , (3.30)
Nd j=−N/2
where k j = j/Nd and θ j is a uniformly distributed random phase. Conventionally,

the phase for j = −N/2 is set to zero.
A source of variation such as LWR will lead to across-chip and across-wafer
linewidth variation. Consider, for example, gate lengths. Suppose we consider
transistors that extend over an active region of width W (see Fig. 3.31). Each gate
will have a linewidth L̄ averaged over the dimension W of the gate. Because of
LWR there will be gate-to-gate variations in L̄. The magnitude of such gate-to-gate
variability may be calculated from Eq. (3.30). A measured power spectral density
can be obtained from SEMs by using Eq. (3.29) and the phases θ j can be generated
by using a random number generator to obtain values for the random phases.137
It is noted that the power spectral density typically follows the functional
form:138
2σ2LER Lc
S (k) = , (3.31)
1 + k2 Lc2 0.5+α

where σLER is the standard deviation of the roughness. The parameter Lc is referred
to as the correlation length. Hence, the LER for a large number of resists can be
characterized by just three numbers, σLER , Lc , and α.
There is another function, the autocorrelation function, that is useful. If y(x) is
sampled at evenly spaced points xm = md, then the autocorrelation function R at
lag xi+ j − xi = x j is calculated as:
N− j
X h i
R(x j = xi+ j − xi = jd) = y xi+ j − ȳ y (xi ) − ȳ ,

(3.32)
i=1
86 Chapter 3
which may be computed from the measurements y(x) of the deviation of the actual
resist edge from a straight line [see Fig. 3.32(b)]. When α = 0.5,
−x
R(x) = σ2LER e Lc . (3.33)
Hence, when α = 0.5, the value of x at which R(x) = σ2LER /e is the correlation
length Lc . The values for the line edge y(x) are typically obtained from scanning
electron micrographs, using analysis software to ascertain the edge positions.
Such analysis software is often available from the makers of scanning electron
microscopes; alternatively, stand-alone software packages can be used.139 From
these values the autocorrelation function R can be calculated, which can then be
used to determine the correlation length, as illustrated in the following example.
Figure 3.34 illustrates SEMs showing LER. Using data from these SEMs
the autocorrelation functions are calculated, and these are shown in Fig. 3.35,
normalized to σ2LER . According to Eq. (3.33), the values for x at which the
normalized autocorrelation functions = 1/e = 0.368 provides the correlation
lengths. For these examples, Lc ≈ 13.0 for the resist patterns, while Lc ≈ 22.3
for the patterns after etch.
The characteristics of line-edge roughness and its impact on critical-dimension
variation has been studied as a function of the three parameters σ, Lc , and α. The
amplitude of the line-edge roughness is directly proportional to σLER ,137 and this
behavior is illustrated in Fig. 3.36, where y(x)− ȳ is plotted for two values of 3σLER .
The influence of Lc is shown in Fig. 3.37. For larger values of Lc the variations
occur over longer distances and lower spatial frequencies. The parameter α also
has an impact on the distribution of spatial frequencies, as can be seen in Fig. 3.38.
As can be seen, more high-spatial-frequency roughness is associated with smaller
values of α.
Figure 3.34 SEM images for nominal 65-nm lines on a 190-nm pitch:137 (a) resist (b) after
etch into a layer of Si3 N4 .
Photoresists 87
Figure 3.35 Plots of R/σ2LER for resist (DI) patterns and patterns after etch (FI).
Figure 3.36 Simulated line-edge deviations, assuming Lc = 25 nm and α = 0.5.141
One of the impacts of LER is critical dimension (CD) variation. What is meant
by a critical dimension is the distance L̄ between two lines that are best fits over
a distance W to the edges of resist (Fig. 3.31). Due to LER, the values of L̄ will
vary from location to location, resulting in critical-dimension variation σCD even
in the absence of any other sources of critical-dimension variation. The amount
of variation σCD is directly proportional to the standard deviation of the line-edge
roughness σLER . Simulations have shown that the critical-dimension variation is a
weak function of the parameter α, so it is useful to assume a value of α = 0.5,
and then the analytical form for the autocorrelation function [Eq. (3.33)] can be
used. The dependence of σCD on Lc is shown in Fig. 3.39. The amount of critical
88 Chapter 3
Figure 3.37 Simulated line-edge deviation, assuming 3σ = 4 nm and α = 0.5.141
Figure 3.38 Graph of Eq. (3.25) showing the impact of α on the power spectral density of
LER.141
dimension variation is larger for bigger values of the correlation length. Also, there
is more variation for smaller values of W, for given values of σLER , Lc , and α.
This is simply a manifestation of lower variation when averaging over a greater
quantity of data. However, this does have a significant impact on scaling. It might
be expected that the amount of critical dimension variation should decrease in
proportion to shrinks in dimensions, such as gate lengths L. As can be inferred
from Fig. 3.39, it is also necessary to compensate for decreasing values of W as
well.
Photoresists 89
Figure 3.39 The dependence of CD variation on the correlation length. The graphs were
generated by simulating CD variation for lines of resist of two values of W, 50 nm and 200
nm. For both cases it was assumed that α = 0.5 and 3σLER = 4 nm.
Fitting to simulated data, the dependence of σCD on σLER and Lc was found to
be
log Lc + 0.71
!
σCD = σLER , (3.34)
11.2
where the logarithm is base 10, and Lc is in units of nanometers. This equation
shows the direct relationship between σCD and σLER , as well as the weaker,
logarithmic dependence of σCD on Lc .
There are a number of factors that contribute to line-edge roughness,142 not
all of which are directly related to the resist materials and chemistry. An optical
image that has a diffuse line edge might be expected to lead to resist patterns
with edges that are not sharply defined, and this is indeed the case. It has been
observed that LER increases as the image log slope (a good measure of optical edge
acuity, introduced in Chapter 2) becomes small.143,144 However, from Fig. 3.40, it
does appear that LER reaches a nonzero minimum value, even for images with
large edge slope. This indicates more fundamental sources of line-edge roughness.
Some LER certainly originates at the molecular level, but substantial low-spatial-
frequency LER can be seen in Fig. 3.33, occurring over long distances relative to
molecular-length scales. Some of the low-frequency LER on the wafer may get
transferred from LER on the mask.145,146 Naturally, the high-frequency LER from
the mask is filtered by the lens.
When exposures become low, statistical variations in the number of photons
involved in exposing the resist can contribute to LER.148 This results from basic
photon statistics (shot noise), where the root-mean-square (rms) variation in the
number of photons ∆n is related to the average number of photons n̂ by the
following expression:149
r
∆n 1
= + 1. (3.35)
n̂ n̂
90 Chapter 3
Figure 3.40 LER versus image log slope and resist-edge log slope (RELS) for Sumitomo
PAR735 resist exposed on a 0.75-NA ArF scanner at the isofading condition. Fading is
explained in Chapter 5, and details on the isofading condition can be found in Ref. 147.
The RELS parameter can be considered an empirically derived image log slope. The data
involved a wide range of linewidths, pitches, doses, and focus conditions.147
When the number of photons becomes small, the statistical fluctuation can be
appreciable. Consider, for example, ArF light passing through the top of a resist
film in an area that is 10 × 10 nm. For an intensity of 1 mJ/cm2 , approximately
1000 photons on average enters this area. From Eq. (3.35), this light intensity will
fluctuate approximately ±3%. At the edge of features, the light intensity is typically
∼1/3 that found in the middle of large features, so the effect of photon statistics is
greater at line edges. An increase in LER at low doses has been observed and is
shown in Fig. 3.41. As dimensions shrink, and tolerable LER becomes smaller, the
area over which fluctuations become significant also decreases.150 See Problem 3.3
to pursue this further.
As one might expect, diffusion (which occurs during post-exposure bake)
serves to reduce LER. This is related to the original motivation for chemical
amplification—addressing the productivity of exposure tools with low light
intensity. In ArF chemically amplified resists, the photoacid diffuses with a
diffusion length that is typically 20–30 nm. The amount of line blurring in KrF
ESCAP resists was measured to be ∼50 nm (FWHM),151,152 although about half
that of other KrF resists.153 For simple Fickian diffusion, the diffusion length =
Photoresists 91
√
2 Dt, where D is the diffusivity and t is the time during which diffusion takes
place. Diffusivity typically increases with higher temperatures, so diffusion will
be less at low temperatures and with short bake times. This behavior is shown in
Fig. 3.42. Diffusion over such length scales may serve to smooth out the roughness,
but it is problematic when the amount of blurring becomes comparable to the half
pitch.154 At this point, the optical image originally projected into the resist will not
be seen in a developed resist pattern, since the diffusion during post-exposure will
blur the pattern excessively.
Figure 3.41 LER versus exposure dose for resists exposed on an extreme-ultraviolet
(EUV) 0.3-NA microexposure tool with a synchrotron light source161,162 and
√ corrected
for
mask-absorber contributions to LER.163 The solid line is a fit of LER = a/ dose + b to the
data.
Figure 3.42 Measured acid diffusion length in a KrF resist.156

92 Chapter 3
Although diffusion is not a useful way to reduce LER for sub-50-nm lithography,
there are some other methods that appear to have some beneficial effects. Directly
addressing line-edge roughness can be difficult, particularly when there is a conflict
between a need for low LER and low exposure doses for exposure-tool throughput.
There has been work to apply post-develop processing to reduce LER, including
bakes,155 etches, vapor treatments, ozonation, and chemical rinses,156 all of which
provide some reduction in LER.157,158 Of these, vapor smoothing and surface-
conditioning rinses appear to have the most benefit and can easily be implemented.
However, most of this improvement occurs at high spatial frequencies and not at
the low-spatial-frequency LER that has the greatest impact on CD variability.159,160
3.9 Multilayer Resist Processes

To address problems associated with significant substrate topography, highly
reflective substrates, or highly absorbing imaging layers, multilayer resist
processes have been developed. The most basic of these, the bilayer resist process,
is outlined in Fig. 3.43. In this technique, the substrate is first coated with
an organic planarizing underlayer. In a second coating operation, an imaging
photoresist is spun on top of the underlayer. The optical properties of the underlayer
are usually set to minimize reflections from the substrate back into the imaging
Figure 3.43 Bilayer resist process.

Photoresists 93
layer. The imaging photoresist generally contains a significant amount of silicon.164

After the resist is exposed and developed, the wafers are placed into an anisotropic
oxygen-reactive ion etch that transfers the pattern into the underlayer.165 The
silicon in the imaging layer provides good etch resistance to the oxygen.
The bilayer process described above differs somewhat from the first bilayer
process, as it was originally proposed.166 As first conceived, the imaging layer
was a conventional novolak resist coated on a DUV resist material, such as
polymethylmethacrylate. The resist was exposed at the dominant wavelength of the
time, the mercury g line. The pattern transfer was accomplished by flood exposing
the wafer to uniform DUV light, which was strongly absorbed by the novolak
resist. As features became smaller, and shorter wavelengths were used for imaging
the top layer, the imaging resists became transparent to DUV light. Alternative
methods, such as reactive ion etch, are needed for the pattern transfer into the
underlayer.
Because of their greater process complexity relative to single-layer resist
processes, bilayer processes have been used primarily in technology development.
One early application of bilayer-resist processes produced 0.5-µm features and
smaller on a stepper that had a rated resolution of only 1.25 µm.167 However,
bilayer processes have been used in production as well.168
In trilayer resist processes, a third film, usually a sputtered inorganic material, is
deposited on top of the organic planarizing film prior to coating the imaging layer.
There are a number of reasons for using such a film:
(1) During the coating of the imaging layer, there is the potential for the solvent
to dissolve the planarizing layer, unless the two films have been engineered in
advance for compatibility.169 The insertion of an inorganic layer obviates this
additional materials engineering.
(2) To act as an etch mask for the organic planarizing layer, the imaging layer
must contain silicon. The use of an inorganic middle layer enables the use of
ordinary photoresists for the imaging layer, with the sputtered films acting as a
hard mask.
(3) Inorganic hardmasks often provide superior etch selectivity to oxygen etches,
thereby providing capability for thicker underlayers.
Trilayer processes are obviously more complex than bilayer processes (which
are already complex enough!), but prove useful in several situations, such as
the manufacturing of recording heads for magnetic data storage.170 To reduce
the complexity of multilayer resist processing, alternative techniques have been
proposed that have many elements in common with the bilayer resist process
described above. One class of alternative methods is referred to as top-surface
imaging, often designated by its acronym, TSI.171,172 The basic top-surface
imaging process is outlined in Fig. 3.44. A thick resist layer is coated on the
substrate. The effect of exposure for this resist material is to modify the diffusivity
of silicon-containing molecules in the resist. In the negative-tone embodiment of
94 Chapter 3
Figure 3.44 Top-surface imaging resist process.
top-surface imaging the diffusivity is increased in the exposed areas, while it is

decreased in the positive-tone version of the process. The negative-tone process is
described here and illustrated in Fig. 3.44. After exposure, the resist is placed in
an ambient vapor of silicon-containing molecules, and the wafer is usually heated.
The silicon-containing molecules are absorbed selectively in the exposed regions
during this step, which is referred to as silylation. After the exposed regions have
absorbed a suitable amount of silicon, the wafers can go to the oxygen-reactive ion-
etch operation. The silicon blocks the oxygen etch while the unsilylated material
will be etched. One of the earliest implementations of top-surfacing imaging was
called DESIRE, standing for diffusion-enhanced silylating resist.171 The resist,
having suitable properties used in this early work, was called PLASMASK.172 The
TSI process contains the basic steps of the bilayer process, but requires only a
single resist coating thereby reducing process complexity—at least in principle.
Unfortunately, TSI processes have proven difficult to control, and have generally
not found their way to use in manufacturing.
A simple but effective resist process involving multiple coatings is contrast
enhancement. In this process, a highly bleachable film is coated over the resist-
imaging layer.173 The effect of these films is to enhance the contrast of the resist
process.174 By using contrast-enhancement materials that are water soluble, the
process is simple to integrate. After exposure, and often before post-exposure
bake, the contrast-enhancement layer is rinsed off with water.175 Unlike other
multilayer resist processes there are no additional etches required. While contrast-
enhancement layers have been used in semiconductor processing, their level of use
has diminished with the advent of high-contrast resists. In some applications, such
Photoresists 95
as processing thick resist layers for magnetic recording or micromachining, there is

still a challenge to produce nearly vertical resist sidewalls. Contrast-enhancement
films are used in these applications.
In this chapter, the basic chemistry of resists has been outlined. To be useful
to process engineers, resist behavior needs to be captured in models that enable
prediction. Such models do not need to be traceable to chemical first principles,
but must be as compact as possible, consistent with providing accurate predictions.
Modeling of lithographic patterning is the subject of the next chapter.
Problems
3.1 Suppose that 2 cc of resist are dispensed onto a 200-mm-diameter wafer,

resulting in a resist coating that is 1.0 µm thick. Show that over 92% of the
resist is spun off the wafer, assuming that the resist is 20% solids.
3.2 Diazonaphthoquinone photoactive compounds will undergo photochemical

reactions to light with wavelengths as long as ∼ 450 nm,176 which is visible
blue light. Explain the relationship between this fact and the practice of
using yellow lights in the lithography areas of cleanrooms in which chips are
manufactured.
3.3 Suppose that one exposes an ArF resist with a dose 10 mJ/cm2 (in large open
areas). At the edge of the line, the dose is 0.3× this. Show that the shot noise
along the line edge due to photon statistics is ±1.8% (1σ) in 10 × 10 nm.
3.4 For ArF lithography, show that a dose of > 25 mJ/cm2 is required to maintain
±3% dose control (shot-noise limited) through an area 2 × 2 nm.
3.5 What is the primary purpose for the resist softbake?
3.6 Why don’t diazonaphthoquinone resists work well when processed in very dry
ambient conditions?
3.7 What problems occur when chemically amplified resists are processed under
conditions where bases are present? Why do bases cause these problems?
3.8 What is the most commonly used chemical for adhesion promotion?
96 Chapter 3
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60. P. Trefonas and B. K. Daniels, “New principle for image enhancement in
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100 Chapter 3
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67. This material was produced originally by Shipley. That company was
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71. T. Fujimori, S. Tan, T. Aoai, F. Nishiyama, T. Yamanaka, M. Momota,
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74. S. A. MacDonald, W. D. Hinsberg, H. R. Wendt, N. J. Clecak, C. G. Willson,
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Photoresists 101
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81. A. Oikawa, H. Santoh, S. Miyata, Y. Hatakenaka, H. Tanaka, and N.
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85. K. J. Przybilla, Y. Kinoshita, T. Kudo, S. Masuda, H. Okazaki,
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102 Chapter 3
89. H. Ito, W. P. England, R. Sooriyakumaran, N. J. Clecak, G. Breyta,

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Photoresists 103
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110. K. Tanaka, R. Naito, T. Kitada, Y. Kiba, Y. Yamada, M. Kobayashi, and
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111. M. Watanabe, Y. Tomo, M. Yamabe, Y. Kiba, K. Tanaka, and R. Naito,
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112. P. Zhang, M. Jaramillo, D. King, B. Ross, D. Witko, T. Paxton, and T.
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113. T. Tanaka, M. Morigami, H. Oizumi, T. Soga, T. Ogawa, and F. Murai,
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104 Chapter 3
119. S. V. Babu and S. Srinivasan, “Optical density and contrast of positive

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122. P. Spragg, R. Hurditch, M. Toukhy, J. Helbert, and S. Malhotra, “The
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123. R. Hurditch, and J. Ferri, “Investigation of positive resist performance based
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126. S. Xiong, J. Bokor, Q. Xiang, P. Fisher, I. Dudley, and P. Rao, “Study of gate
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127. J. A. Croon, G. Storms, S. Winkelmeier, I. Polentier, M. Ercken,
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128. T. Linton, M. Chandhok, B. J. Rice, and G. Schrom, “Determination of the
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130. A. Asenov, A. R. Brown, J. H. Davies, S. Kaya, and G. Slavcheva,
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131. K. Choi, R. Dittrich, M. Goldbach, C. Hohle, K. Keil, T. Marschner,
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in electron beam write and its influence to device characteristics,” Proc. SPIE
6921, 69210J (2008).
Photoresists 105
132. A. V. Oppenheim and R. W. Schafer, Discrete-Time Signal Processing,

in Signal Processing Series, Prentice-Hall, Upper Saddle River, New Jersey
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edge roughness characterized by polymer aggregates in photoresists,” Proc.
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135. Q. Lin, R. Sooriyakmaran, and W.-S. Huang, “Toward controlled resist
line edge roughness: material origin of line edge roughness in chemically
amplified positive-tone resists,” Proc. SPIE 3999, 230–239 (2000).
136. A. Yamaguchi, R. Tsuchiya, H. Fukuda, O. Komuro, H. Kawada, and
T. Iizumi, “Characterization of line-edge roughness in resist patterns and
estimation of its effect on device performance,” Proc. SPIE 5038, 689–698
(2003).
137. Y. Ma, H. J. Levinson, and T. Wallow, “Line edge roughness impact on
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138. G. Palasantzas, “Roughness spectrum and surface width of self-affine fractal
surfaces via the K-correlation model,” Phys. Rev. B 48(19), 473–478 (1993).
139. An example of a stand-alone software package for analyzing LER is the SEM
Metrology Interactive Toolbox (SuMMIT) from EUV Technology (Martinez,
California).
140. In Ref. 137 the authors actually plot the height-height correlation function
(HHCF) rather than the autocorrelation function R. However, these two
quantities are related as: HHCF2 (x) = 2σ2 − R(x).
141. The simulated results were provided by Dr. Yuansheng Ma.
142. G. M. Gallatin, “Continuum model of shot noise and line edge roughness,”
Proc. SPIE 4404, 123–132 (2003).
143. W. Hinsberg, F. A. Houle, J. Hoffnagle, M. Sanchez, G. Wallraff, M.
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144. M. I. Sanchez, W. D. Hinsberg, F. A. Houle, J. A. Hoffnagle, H. Ito, and C.
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line edge roughness,” Proc. SPIE 3678, 160–171 (1999).
145. P. P. Naulleau and G. G. Gallatin, “Line-edge roughness transfer function and
its application to determining mask effects in EUV resist characterization,”
Appl. Optic. 42(17), 3390–3397 (2003).
146. H. Tanabe, G. Yoshizawa, Y. Liu, V. L. Tolani, K. Kojima, and N. Hayashi,
“LER transfer from a mask to wafers,” Proc. SPIE 6607, 66071H (2007).
106 Chapter 3
147. A. R. Pawloski, A. Acheta, I. Lalovic, B. La Fontaine, and H. J. Levinson,

“Characterization of line edge roughness in photoresist using an image fading
technique,” Proc. SPIE 5376, 414–425 (2004).
148. H. I. Smith, “A statistical analysis of ultraviolet, x-ray and charged particle
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149. F. Reif, Fundmentals of Statistical and Thermal Physics, McGraw Hill, New
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150. E. W. Scheckler, T. Ogawa, H. Yamanashi, and T. Soga, “Resist pattern
fluctuation limits in extreme-ultraviolet lithography,” J. Vac. Sci. Technol. B
12(40), 2361–2371 (1994).
151. The resist data were provided by Dr. Patrick Naulleau and Dr. Tom Wallow.
152. P. P. Naulleau, C. N. Anderson, L.-M. Baclea-an, P. Denham, S. George,
K. A. Goldberg, M. Goldstein, B. Hoef, R. Hudyma, G. Jones, C. Koh,
B. La Fontaine, B. McClinton, R. H. Miyakawa, W. Montgomery, J. Roller,
T. Wallow, and S. Wurm, “The SEMATECH Berkeley microfield exposure
tool: learning at the 22-nm node and beyond,” Proc. SPIE 7271, 72710W
(2009).
153. Dr. Patrick Naulleau has estimated that 1.43 nm of LER results from the
mask absorber LER, and this has been factored out of the data by assuming
that the measured LER is the rss of the mask LER and the LER due to all
other factors. It is the LER due to nonmask sources that is plotted.
154. W. Hinsberg, F. Houle, M. Sanchez, J. Hoffnagle, G. Wallraff, D. Medeiros,
G. Gallatin, and J. Cobb, “Extendibility of chemically amplified resists:
another brick wall?” Proc. SPIE 5039, 1–14 (2003).
155. G. M. Schmid, M. D. Stewart, C.-Y. Wang, B. D Vogt, V. M. Prabhu, E.
K. Lin, and C. G. Willson, “Resolution limitations in chemically amplified
photoresist systems,” Proc. SPIE 5376, 333–342 (2004).
156. T. Itani, H. Yoshino, S. Hashimoto, M. Yamana, N. Samato, and K. Kasama,
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chemically amplified deep ultraviolet resists,” J. Vac. Sci. Technol. B 15(6),
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157. U. Okoroanyanwu, “Resist road to the 22 nm node,” Future Fab Int. 17,
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158. M. Padmanaban, D. Rentkiewicz, C. Hong, D. Lee, D. Rahman, R. Sakamuri,
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159. D. L. Goldfarb, S. D. Burns, R. L. Burns, C. J. Brodsky, and M. C. Lawson,
“Rinse additives for line-edge roughness control in 193 nm lithography,”
Proc. SPIE 5376, 343–351 (2004).
Photoresists 107
160. M. Chandhok, K. Frasure, E. S. Putna, T. R. Youkin, W. Rachmady, U. Shah,

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161. P. Zhang, M. Jaramillo Jr., S. Cassell, T. Wallow, A. Acheta, A. R. Pawloski,
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162. A. Yamaguchi, H. Fukuda, H. Kawada, and T. Iizumi, “Impact of long-period
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5752, 1362–1370 (2005).
163. T. I. Wallow, R. Kim, B. La Fontaine, P. P. Naulleau, C. N. Anderson, and
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653317 (2007).
164. P. Foster, T. Steinhäusler, J. J. Biafore, G. Spazione, S. G. Slater, and A.
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1034–1039 (1999).
165. M. Neisser, G. Gozev, M. Maenhoudt, M. Lepage, and H. Stuyf, “Applying a
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166. B. J. Lin, “Portable conformable mask—hybrid near-ultraviolet and deep-
ultraviolet patterning technique,” Proc. SPIE 174, 114–121 (1979).
167. H. Santini, and N. S. Viswanathan, “Submicron optical fabrication with
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(1982).
168. K. Bartlett, G. Hillis, M. Chen, R. Trutna, and M. Watts, “A two layer
photoresist process in a production environment,” Proc. SPIE 394, 49–56
(1983).
169. J. Wijdenes and M. J. H. J. Geomini, “Effect of photoresist composition on
the origin of the interfacial layer in the bilayer system,” Proc. SPIE 539,
97–102 (1985).
170. F. Werbaneth, “Tri-level resist processing for GMR heads,” Data Storage,
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171. F. Coopmans and B. Roland, “DESIRE: a new route to submicron optical
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172. B. L. Yang, J. M. Yang, and K. N. Chiong, “Top-imaged single layer resist
process,” J. Vac. Sci. Technol. B 7, 1729 (1989).
173. P. R. West and B. F. Griffing, “Contrast enhancement—route to submicron
optical lithography,” Proc. SPIE 394, 16–17 (1983).
174. W. G. Oldham, “The use of contrast enhancement layers to improve the
effective contrast of positive photoresist,” IEEE Trans. Electr. Dev. ED-34(2),
247–251 (1987).
108 Chapter 3
175. M. Endo, M. Sasago, Y. Hirai, K. Ogawa, and T. Ishihara, “New water-

soluble contrast enhancing material for i-line lithography,” J. Electrochem.
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176. C. G. Willson, “Organic resist materials—theory and chemistry,” in
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Chapter 4
Modeling and Thin-Film Effects
Imagine if the only way to determine whether bridges were designed with sufficient
strength to support the weight of fully loaded trucks was to build each bridge in
its desired location according to an engineer’s best guess, drive trucks across to
see if the bridge collapsed, and redesign the bridge if it failed. This approach
to bridge design is clearly impractical. What has made it possible to build large
bridges in a practical way are the mathematical theories of beams and plates that
enable civil engineers to predict whether their designs will work or not, prior
to construction. Similarly, advancements in lithographic technology have been
facilitated by the availability of predictive theoretical models and tools. Today,
imaging performance can be simulated on personal computers and engineering
workstations in order to determine what the design parameters should be for
lenses that cost millions of dollars to fabricate. Process options can be explored
extensively without building large numbers of extremely expensive photomasks.
In short, modeling of the lithographic process has contributed substantially to the
progress in microelectronic technology.
Lithography simulations involve several key steps:
(1) The calculation of optical images. These are intensities I(x, y) in the plane of
the wafer that are applicable for low-NA optics, or they can be fully three-
dimensional intensities I(x, y, z) that may be needed for accurate simulation of
exposures using high-NA lenses.
(2) Prediction of the photochemical reactions resulting from the exposure of
photoresist to the previously calculated light distributions. This provides a
calculated state-of-exposure at every point (x, y, z) of interest in the resist film.
(3) Computation of changes in chemical distributions within the resist as a
consequence of chemical reactions and diffusion that occur during post-
exposure bakes.
(4) Calculation of resist profiles following resist development.
Models for all of these key steps are discussed in this chapter.
4.1 Models of Optical Imaging

In Chapter 2 some insight into the lithographic process was provided by
considering some special examples, such as the illumination of a grating by
110 Chapter 4
monochromatic, coherent, and normally incident light. Such situations can be

studied analytically. The images produced by more general situations can be
calculated, but require more sophisticated theory. The general imaging problem
occurring in lithography is shown in Fig. 4.1. Light is produced by an extended
source and is incident on the reticle from multiple angles. The light is then
diffracted by the pattern on the reticle. Light propagating through the entrance
pupil of the lens is transmitted through the lens to form an image at the wafer
plane.
Because light travels as a wave, the transmission of the light through apertures
is described by the wave equation. The presence of an aperture modifies the
propagation of such waves relative to transmission through free space or air.
Mathematically, these modifications are the boundary conditions for the wave
equation. The result of wave propagation subject to boundary conditions is
summarized by Huygen’s principle: “A light wave falling on an aperture σ
propagates as if every element dσ emitted a spherical wave, the amplitude and
phase of which are given by that of the incident wave.”1 That is, light does not
propagate directly through an aperture, but behaves as though each point on the
aperture is a source of spherical waves. The net result of all such spherical waves
emitted from an aperture of interest is obtained by integration over the aperture.
The effects of the wave nature of light are most pronounced when features are small
and comparable to the wavelength of light—precisely the situation that arises in
optical lithography. Light does not pass straight through a photomask, but diffracts
through many angles, and only part of the diffracted light is collected by the lens.
What results are light-intensity distributions such as the one shown in Fig. 2.1 and
not the ideal distribution of Fig. 2.2.
To be useful for calculating images, Huygen’s principle must be expressed
mathematically. Consider monochromatic light, for which solutions to the wave
equation are of the form
U(x, y, z)e−iωt , (4.1)
Figure 4.1 The general imaging problem. Note that not all light rays diffracted by the
pattern on the reticle will pass through the projection optics.
Modeling and Thin-Film Effects 111
and U will satisfy the time-independent wave equation,
(∇2 + k2 )U = 0, (4.2)
where k = ω/c = 2π/λ, with c being the speed of light and λ being the wavelength
of the light. U could be a component of the electric or magnetic field of the light
wave as long as it satisfies the wave equation. Consider light originating at a point
S and diffracted by an aperture σ (Fig. 4.2). The light from a point source must
satisfy the wave equation and will be a spherical wave:
Aeikr
U source = , (4.3)
r
where r is the radial distance from the source. At a point P on the other side of the
aperture, after some analysis, it can be shown that U is obtained by an integration
over the aperture σ,1
−Ai cos δ ! "
U(P) = eik(r+s) dσ, (4.4)
λ rs σ
where δ is the angle between the line S -σ and the normal vector ñ angle to
the aperture. It has further been assumed that r and s are large compared to the
dimensions of the aperture. (This is known as the Fraunhofer approximation.) The
diffraction pattern generated by an extended source can be obtained by further
integrations of Eq. (4.4) over the source. Diffraction has a significant effect on the
image produced by a complete optical system. While light propagates at all angles
on the imaging side of the aperture, not all of the diffracted light is collected by
the lens used to project the image onto the wafer. This partial collection of light
leads to finite resolution and was illustrated in Chapter 2 with the example of a
diffraction grating. The lens itself further modifies the light, ultimately restoring
the light to a spherical wave, one that converges on the focal plane of the lens.
Figure 4.2 Basic configuration for diffraction by light at an aperture σ.

112 Chapter 4
The integrations describing diffraction can be applied to general situations

involving lines and spaces of arbitrary sizes, with illumination of multiple angles
of incidence and levels of coherence, but a computer is required to perform the
integrations numerically. A major advance for the semiconductor industry occurred
when computer programs, capable of performing these integrations and with user-
friendly interfaces, became widely available for simulating the types of imaging
used for lithography. The first generally available program for calculating optical
images and the resulting resist profiles was SAMPLE,2 developed by various
researchers at the University of California at Berkeley.
As with all physical modeling, simplifying assumptions are useful for making
computation time practical. Models of varying complexity have been derived over
the years to account for a range of physical effects. In many situations, certain
physical parameters can be ignored and very accurate results obtained, while in
other situations, these parameters must be included in the model in order to obtain
results at the desired level of accuracy. The simplest model of imaging is the
scalar diffraction theory, where the polarization of the light is ignored. This is a
legitimate approximation for NAs less than ∼0.7. Vector models are needed for
accurate image modeling with higher NAs.
In the original SAMPLE program, there were further approximations. Light
focused into a resist film has a range of incident angles (Fig. 2.23). In SAMPLE,
and many subsequent modeling programs, the light-intensity distribution of the
mask pattern was calculated in a chosen plane of defocus. It was then assumed
that this light distribution propagated in a direction normal to the plane of the
wafer. As it turned out, this was not too bad an approximation, even for moderate
NAs (0.3–0.5), because light refracts at the air-resist interface in a more normal
direction.3
As geometries smaller than the wavelength of light are printed with optical
lithography, the details of the apertures on the mask become important. In the
description of diffraction sketched above, the material defining the aperture was
assumed to be infinitely thin and opaque. Upon closer examination of light
propagation through apertures, it was revealed that the finite thicknesses and
shapes of the features comprising the apertures have an effect on the resulting
image. Another modeling program, TEMPEST, was developed at the University
of California at Berkeley for modeling polarization and three-dimensional effects
at the mask.4 Programs such as TEMPEST have proven useful for analyzing the
effects of mask topography associated with phase-shifting masks (discussed in
Chapter 8). Building on the earlier SAMPLE work, another modeling program
originally in the public domain, PROLITH,5 was developed at the United States
Department of Defense. After the military decided that lithography modeling was
not quite within its charter, later generations of PROLITH became the products
of a commercial enterprise, FINLE Technologies, later acquired by KLA-Tencor.
An updated version of PROLITH is available from that company today. There
are currently several companies that sell lithography modeling programs, and
simulations can even be performed over the internet using programs at a website at
the University of California at Berkeley.6
In the simplest lithography models, the optical image can be calculated with
reasonable accuracy without consideration of how the resist modifies the light
distribution parallel to the wafer. An aerial image is calculated and then assumed
to propagate parallel to the optical axis into the resist. At high NAs, this is
not an accurate approximation. Consider the situation depicted in Fig. 4.3. Two
light rays are incident on a wafer. As discussed in Chapter 2, image formation
requires the interference of at least two waves of light. For S-polarized light,
the polarization vectors for the two waves are both perpendicular to the plane
of the paper and interference between the two waves occurs. However, for P-
polarization, the polarization vectors have orthogonal components that do not
interfere. For light rays with 45-deg angles of incidence, the two light rays have
completely orthogonal polarizations, and there is no interference at all between
the two rays. This corresponds to an NA of 0.71, suggesting that there would be
negligible benefits for increasing NAs to such a value since the optical contrast is
not enhanced by the addition of oblique rays. Fortunately, refraction of the light at
the resist-air interface returns the polarization vectors from the two rays to more
parallel directions (see Problem 4.1). The refraction enables high-NA lithography.
It is essential to include the effects of refraction in order to model accurately the
imaging that occurs in lithography.7
At high NAs, it also becomes important to consider polarization-dependent
effects at both the wafer and mask. First consider reflection at the wafer. Shown
in Fig. 4.4 is reflectance as a function of the angle of incidence for S-polarized
and P-polarized light. At low angles of incidence, the reflectance is not strongly
dependent upon polarization, so it is not important to consider polarization
when modeling low-NA lithography. However, at larger angles of incidence the
difference becomes significant. As noted above, there is stronger interference for
S-polarized light than for P-polarized light at oblique angles, so this difference in
reflectivity will have a significant impact on imaging.8
For lithography using very high NAs, features on the mask can become
comparable in size to the wavelength of light. When this happens, the treatment
of the opaque areas on the mask as infinitely thin absorbers is no longer a suitable
approximation. There are polarization effects at the mask that become relevant at
very high NAs. For very fine features, the mask will act as a wire-grid polarizer.9
To account for these effects properly, sophisticated physical models are needed,
and desktop computers are often inadequate for performing the computations.
Figure 4.3 Two P-polarized rays of light, incident on the wafer surface.
114 Chapter 4
Figure 4.4 Reflectance from a resist surface into air for S-polarized and P-polarized light
as a function of the angle of incidence. The index of refraction of the resist is assumed to be
1.7, and substrate effects are ignored.
4.2 Aberrations
The Rayleigh criterion found in Eq. (2.7) assumes the degradation of resolution
results entirely from diffraction, i.e., the lenses are free from aberrations and
imperfections. Such optics are called “diffraction limited” because the design
and manufacture of the lenses are assumed to be so good that the dominant
limit to resolution is diffraction. However, real optical systems are never perfect,
and accurate calculations of lithographic performance need to account for these
deviations from perfection. Departures of the optics from diffraction-limited
imaging are caused by “aberrations,” which can be understood in the context of
geometrical optics as situations in which all light rays originating from a single
object point do not converge to a single image point—or converge to the wrong
point (Fig. 4.5). Aberrations can arise from a number of sources:
(1) Imperfect design
(2) Lens and mirror surfaces that depart from design
(3) Lens material inhomogeneity or imperfection
(4) Imperfect lens assembly.
Figure 4.5 For a lens with aberrations, light rays do not all converge to the same point.
Because light rays pass through different parts of glass elements and across various
points on lens-element surfaces, varying glass optical constants or errors in the
curvature of lens-element surfaces cause light rays to miss the focal point of the
lens. Aberrations vary from point to point across the image field, contributing
to across-field linewidth variations.10 A full accounting of imaging must include
the effects of aberrations. The needs of lithography impose stringent requirements
on lens materials and the surfaces of lens elements. To meet the requirements of
modern lithography, the index of optical-materials refraction must be uniform to
less than one part per million, and lens surfaces may deviate from design values by
no more than a few nanometers (rms).
To appreciate the impact of aberrations on optical lithography, consider the
illumination of a grating pattern of pitch d by coherent illumination that is normally
incident on the mask. The light will be diffracted by the grating. Consider the
situation in which only the 0th - and ±1st -order beams are collected by the lens and
imaged onto the wafer. However, suppose that because of imperfections in the lens
that the +1st -order beam acquires a phase error ∆φ relative to the 0th - and −1st -
order beams. Consequently, the light amplitude at the image plane is given by11
U(x) = c0 + c1 ei∆φ ei2πx/d + c−1 e−i2πx/d (4.5)

2πx ∆φ
!
= c0 + 2c1 ei∆φ/2
cos + , (4.6)
d 2
where use has been made of the fact that c1 = c−1 . The resulting light intensity at
the wafer plane is given by:
2πx ∆φ ∆φ 2πx ∆φ
! ! !
I(x) = c20 + 4c21 cos 2
+ + 4c0 c1 cos cos + . (4.7)
d 2 2 d 2
The net impact of ∆φ on the image can be seen from Eq. (4.7). First, the
peak intensity is shifted by d∆φ/4π. This illustrates that phase errors will result
in misregistration. Additionally, the peak intensity is reduced by a factor of
cos(∆φ/2). Another consequence of the phase error is a reduction in image
contrast.
The effects of aberrations on lithographic performance are assessed more
generally by including aberrations in the imaging models. Consider light emerging
from a point on the mask, passing through the optical system and ultimately
focused onto the wafer. The situation at the wafer plane is considered as the
reverse of what happened at the mask—the light can be thought of as a wave
converging onto a point of the image. Ideally, this would be a spherical wave, but
because of lens aberrations, the actual wavefront of the image may deviate by small
amounts from that of a perfect spherical wave (Fig. 4.6). A wavefront is a surface
of constant phase. Aberrations are incorporated into imaging models by replacing
the expressions representing spherical waves, such as the exponential in Eq. (4.4),
by the aberrated wavefront.
116 Chapter 4
Figure 4.6 Light waves converging onto a wafer. An unaberrated image is formed by a
spherical wave, while imperfect images result from nonspherical wavefronts.
The deviations of an aberrated wavefront from the ideal spherical wavefront

are expressed as the phase errors at points in the exit pupil. The resulting
aberration function is decomposed into sums of mathematical functions, enabling
the classification of aberrations. For this decomposition, it has proven convenient to
use particular sets of orthogonal polynomials, the most common being the Zernike
polynomials. With this choice of expansion functions, each polynomial represents
a particular type of aberration having its own characteristic effect on imaging and
optical lithography.
The Zernike polynomials are functions of the polar coordinates (ρ, θ) of
positions in the exit pupil, where ρ = r/a and a is the pupil radius. Because the
same point in the exit pupil is specified by θ and (θ + 360 deg), it is convenient
for the polynomials to be functions of sin(nθ) and cos(nθ), where n is an integer.
The first 16 Zernike polynomials are listed in Table 4.1. It is common to measure
aberration levels by the coefficient of the Zernike polynomial in the expansion of
the wavefront error, typically given in terms of the fraction of the wavelength. For
the lenses used in optical lithography, each Zernike term contributes less than 0.05λ
wavefront error.12 Examples of two aberrations, coma and spherical aberration,
are shown in Fig. 4.7 (see Color Plates).13 The aberrations most important to
lithographers are now discussed.
Coma: Coma is an aberration where light rays from a point on the reticle do not
converge to a single point in the image. The consequence of coma in lithography
can be understood by studying light-intensity contours of the aerial image when
the lens has coma. An example of such contours is shown in Fig. 4.7. The
object for these images was an isolated clear space on the mask, surrounded by
chrome. For an unaberrated lens, the light-intensity contours are symmetric about
the plane of best focus at the center of the image and have left-right symmetry.
In the presence of coma, the contours become curved. The magnitude of this
characteristic curvature is referred to as bananicity.12
One of the interesting consequences of coma is illustrated in Fig. 4.8. Consider
two lines of equal width on the mask that are close to each other but far removed
Table 4.1 The first 16 Zernike polynomials.12
Polynomial form Aberration name Primary lithographic effects
1 1 Piston none
2 ρ cos θ x tilt transverse pattern shift
3 ρ sin θ y tilt transverse pattern shift
4 2ρ2 −1 focus average focus shift
5 ρ2 cos 2θ 3rd -order x astigmatism line-orientation-dependent focus shift,
elliptical contacts
6 ρ2 sin 2θ 3rd -order 45-deg line-orientation-dependent focus shift,
astigmatism elliptical contacts

7 3ρ3 − 2ρ cos θ 3rd -order x coma transverse pattern shift, depth-of-focus
decrease, pattern asymmetry
8 3ρ3 − 2ρ sin θ 3rd -order y coma transverse pattern shift, depth-of-focus
9 6ρ4 − 6ρ2 + 1 3rd -order spherical pattern-size-dependent average
aberration best-focus shift, depth-of-focus
decrease
10 ρ3 cos 3θ 3-foil x transverse pattern shift, depth-of-focus
11 ρ3 sin 3θ 3-foil y transverse pattern shift, depth-of-focus
12 4ρ4 − 3ρ2 cos 2θ 5th -order x astigmatism line-orientation-dependent focus shift,
elliptical contacts
13 4ρ4 − 3ρ2 sin 2θ 5th -order 45-deg line-orientation-dependent focus shift,
astigmatism elliptical contacts

14 10ρ5 − 12ρ3 + 3ρ cos θ 5th -order x coma transverse pattern shift, depth-of-focus
15 10ρ5 − 12ρ3 + 3ρ sin θ 5th -order y coma transverse pattern shift, depth-of-focus
16 20ρ6 − 30ρ4 + 12ρ2 − 1 5th -order spherical pattern-size-dependent average best
aberration focus shift, depth-of-focus decrease
from other geometries. For a lens with a significant amount of coma aberration, the
printed lines will have different widths.14 Good linewidth control clearly requires
low levels of lens aberrations, such as coma.
Spherical aberration: While coma affects left-right symmetry of the image,
spherical aberration affects the symmetry of the image above and below the
focal plane. This is illustrated in Fig. 4.9. As might be expected, the lithographic
implications of spherical aberration involve focus. A particularly interesting
manifestation of spherical aberration is a pitch dependence for the plane of best
focus.10 This follows immediately from the nature of diffraction and the situation
depicted in Fig. 4.9. From Eq. (2.1), the angle at which a light ray is diffracted
by a grating is a function of the grating pitch. When the optical system suffers
from spherical aberration, light rays with different angles of diffraction will focus
onto different planes (Fig. 4.9). For circuit patterns with multiple pitches, spherical
aberration reduces the overall depth of focus.
Resist will also induce spherical aberration.15 Suppose that one has an optical
system that produces aberration-free images in air. As seen in Fig. 4.10, when
118 Chapter 4
Direction
of the
optical
axis
Unaberrated Coma Spherical

image aberration
Figure 4.7 Aerial image-intensity contours for a 0.4-µm space on the mask.10 For an
unaberrated lens, the intensity contours have left-right symmetry and are also symmetric
across the plane of best focus. Images produced by lenses with coma (Z7 ) lose the left-right
symmetry, while spherical aberration (Z9 ) breaks the symmetry across the plane of best
focus. The pictures in this figure were simulated with Solid-C for an i-line tool with NA = 0.6
and σ = 0.5. For the aberrated images, 50 nm were assumed for each aberration (see Color
Plates).
Figure 4.8 Lines of equal width (RL = RR ) on the reticle print with different widths (WL , WR )
on the wafer in the presence of coma.
Figure 4.9 Lines with different angles of incidence have different focal points when the
optical system has spherical aberration.
Figure 4.10 Lines with different angles of incidence refract by different amounts, leading
to induced spherical aberration.
the light encounters the air-resist interface, the light rays refract. The amount of
refraction depends upon the angle of incidence. It can also be seen that the amount
of induced spherical aberration is greater for high-NA lenses than for low-NA ones.
Astigmatism and field curvature: (These aberrations were discussed in

Chapter 2.) For these aberrations, light rays originating from a point on the reticle
converge to a single point, but this point is not necessarily in the same focal plane
as other features on the reticle. In the case of astigmatism, the plane of best focus
depends upon the orientation of the features, while field curvature causes best focus
to vary across the lens field.
Distortion: Distortion is another type of aberration in which the light rays from
a point on the reticle converge to a single point on the wafer. In the case of
astigmatism and field curvature, these points fall above or below a single plane.
With pure distortion, the points are all in a plane that is perpendicular to the
optical axis, but the distance from the optical axis is incorrect. Distortion refers
to deformation of circuit patterns over long distances (millimeters), in contrast to
poor definition of individual features. With distortion, the individual features are
well defined, but misplaced. This misplacement leads to distortion of the pattern at
the macro level. An example of distortion can be seen in the mirrors often found
in amusement parks. These mirrors make people appear to be very tall or fat, but
individual features are clearly discernible when observed closely. Pattern distortion
that occurs in microlithography is a similar phenomenon, but on a different length
scale (nm). Since distortion can lead to overlay errors, the topic of distortion is
discussed in more detail in Chapter 6.
Aberrations in general vary across image fields causing variations in linewidths
as well as geometry placement. With respect to linewidths, the result is usually
referred to as across-field linewidth variation. The implications of across-field
variations in distortion are also discussed in Chapter 6.
120 Chapter 4
The extent to which stepper lenses approach the diffraction limit can be
determined by comparing calculated and measured optical profiles. There are
a number of commercially available software packages for calculating image
profiles, and several are listed in Table 4.2. It is also possible to measure
optical images directly. Several methods for measuring optical images have been
developed.16–18 There is also the aerial image measurement system (AIMS),19
which uses a very small-field optical system to mimic actual projection optics. This
type of system is employed by a number of users to evaluate mask quality. Modern
lenses are typically found to be very near the diffraction limit, but deviations from
the limit are observable at levels relevant to lithography. Consequently, there is
considerable interest in measuring the magnitudes and effects of aberrations.
By the very nature of certain aberrations, the degradation of resolution or
misregistration that they cause is greatest for points far from the optical axis. Field
curvature and distortion are the most commonly encountered of such aberrations.
As a result of this characteristic behavior, there has been a tendency for lenses to
have higher resolution in the center of their fields—a characteristic that must be
addressed by lens makers. It is challenging to design a high-resolution lens for
which the resolution is well maintained over a large field. This problem has been
well addressed in modern lenses, which do not show significantly better resolution
in the center of the imaging field relative to the edges of the exposure field.
It is an extremely difficult task to design a lens free from the above aberrations,
even at a single wavelength. Another problem arises when the light source
has a range of wavelengths. The refractive indices of glass materials vary with
wavelength, causing imaging to change at different wavelengths. The inability
of a lens to focus light over a range of wavelengths, which results from this
variation in the refractive indices of the glasses used to make the lens, is called
chromatic aberration. An advantage of reflective optics is the freedom from
chromatic aberration since the focusing properties of mirrors are independent
of the wavelength. For systems that use refractive optics, the light sources and
illuminators must be designed consistently with the bandwidth requirements of
the projection optics. This must be done while keeping in mind that most sources
of light, such as mercury arc lamps, produce a broad spectra of light. Early
Table 4.2 Commercially or publicly available modeling programs.
Program Company or organization Web site
PROLITHTM KLA-Tencor, San Jose, CA www.kla-tencor.com

Sentaurus LithographyTM Synopsys www.synopsys.com
EM-SuiteTM Panoramic Technology www.panoramictech.com

Calibre Mentor Graphics, Wilsonville, OR www.mentorgraphics.com
SAMPLE, SPLAT, University of California, Berkeley, CA http://cuervo.eecs.berkeley.edu/Volcano/
TEMPEST
Optolith Silvaco Data Systems, Santa Clara, www.silvaco.com
CA
lithography systems, such as the Perkin-Elmer Micralign (the Micralign will be

discussed in the next chapter), used substantially reflective optics that could image
over a broad range of wavelengths, including multiple peaks of the mercury arc
lamp emission spectrum. However, it proved to be very difficult to build reflective
optics with high numerical apertures, and a transition was made to exposure tools
with refractive optics.
The problem of producing all-reflection optics with high numerical apertures
is illustrated in Fig. 4.11, where a low-NA lens designed for use at a very short
wavelength is shown. Increasing the numerical aperture would require an increase
in the diameters and acceptance angles for the lens elements. It is clear that
increasing the acceptance angle of M1, for example, would result in that mirror
blocking some of the light from the mask. To avoid this, the angles between
lenses have to be enlarged, increasing the difficulty of fabrication. There are
other consequences of large angles, such as increasing nontelecentricity, a subject
discussed in Chapter 6. It has proven difficult to design and build all-reflective
lenses with numerical apertures larger than 0.3.
Lenses using refractive optics that are corrected at two wavelengths
corresponding to emission peaks of mercury arc lamps have been designed.
Unfortunately, the first of such lenses to be characterized was so poorly corrected
for the continuum between the peaks that no advantage was realized.20 Subsequent
lenses were made that were superior in the continuum region,21 but two-wavelength
imaging with refractive optics had acquired such a bad reputation by that time the
approach was soon abandoned.
For g-line and i-line lithography, the problem of chromatic aberration is not a
problem that generally needs to concern the practicing lithographer. The emission
from mercury arc light sources is stable with respect to wavelength over the rated
lifetime of the lamps. The lenses are designed to operate over predetermined
wavelengths, and the problem of chromatic aberrations is one that must be
addressed primarily by the lens designers. Filters are necessary in the illuminators
to remove unwanted wavelengths and sometimes slightly narrow the line spectrum,
Figure 4.11 An all-reflective lens designed for use in extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography.
EUV lithography is discussed in detail in Chapter 12.
122 Chapter 4
and these filters may sometimes degrade. This is a rare occurrence, and chromatic
aberration is usually not a problem that is encountered directly in g-line or i-line
lithography.
In the deep UV, the small number of materials that can be used for making
lenses has made it difficult to correct for chromatic aberrations, and extremely
narrow bandwidths are required for refractive DUV lenses.22 These lenses typically
must operate only over a very small portion of the range of wavelengths at which
KrF and ArF lasers may potentially lase. This imposes requirements for good
wavelength control in DUV lithography. This is discussed in further detail in
Section 5.2 on excimer laser light sources. The problem of chromatic aberration
also reappears in Chapter 6, where it presents a problem for through-the-lens
imaging for the purposes of alignment. Another difficulty with exposure systems
that use monochromatic illumination is their susceptibility to substrate thin-film
optical effects, a topic that is also discussed later in this chapter. Highly accurate
simulations need to take into account the polychromatic nature of the light source
and the behavior of the optical system throughout the full bandwidth of the light.
After aerial images are calculated, the light-intensity distributions within the
resist films need to be calculated. The calculations of aerial images I(x, y, z) provide
the modulation of the light intensity along directions parallel to the xy plane of
the resist film, and there is a dependence in the z direction due to the effects of
defocus. Within the resist film, there are further variations in the light intensity in
the z direction as a consequence of absorption in the resist and reflection from the
substrate. It is this variation in the z direction (for causes other than defocus) that
is the subject of the next two sections.
4.3 Modeling Photochemical Reactions
After determining the image produced by the lens in air—the aerial image—the
next step in modeling the lithography process is to describe the propagation of
light through the resist film. This propagation is complicated by the reaction of
the resist to light. Because of the resist’s photochemistry, the absorption by the
resist evolves during exposure. Typically, resists become less absorbing and more
transparent following exposure to light. A practical theory describing the effects
of resist exposure was developed by F. H. Dill et al.,23 who helped to establish
lithography firmly as an engineering science.
Photoresists are multicomponent materials. The active ingredients in resists—
the photoactive compounds and photoacid generators—undergo chemical reactions
upon exposure to light. Other components may absorb light but do not undergo
photochemical reactions. The intensity of light I passing in the z direction through
a homogeneous material varies according to Lambert’s law:
dI
= −αI(z), (4.8)
dz
where α is the absorption coefficient of the material. Integrating this equation leads
to
I(z) = I0 e−αz , (4.9)
where I0 is the intensity of the light at z = 0. If absorption is caused by the

presence of an absorbing molecule, α depends linearly on the concentration c of
that molecular constituent over a wide range of circumstances:
α = ac, (4.10)
where a is the molar absorption coefficient. When a layer of photoresist is exposed

to light, several things happen. First, because of the photochemical reaction in the
resist, the absorption coefficient changes:
X
α = aPAC c + aP (c0 − c) + aR cR , (4.11)
where aPAC is the molar absorption coefficient of the photoactive compound

or photoacid generator, aP is the molar absorption coefficient for the material
that results from the photochemical reaction of the photoactive material, and the
{aR } are the molar absorption coefficients for all of the other materials in the
photoresist, which are assumed to be unchanged upon exposure to light. The initial
concentration of the photoactive compound or photoacid generator is represented
by c0 , while {cR } represents the concentrations of all other constituents. The
concentration of photoactive compound after exposure is c. In Dill et al., Eq. (4.11)
was written in the form of
α = AM + B, (4.12)
where
A = (aPAC − aP ) c0 , (4.13)
X
B= aR cR + aP c0 , (4.14)
c
M= . (4.15)
c0
For unexposed resist, M = 1, and M decreases following exposure. M = 0 for

completely bleached resist. The “Dill” parameters, A and B, are easily measurable
for a given photoresist. A represents the optical absorption that changes with
exposure, while B represents the absorption by the components of the resist that
do not change their absorption upon exposure to light.
The resist exposure model is complete with the addition of one final equation.
Not all photons absorbed by the photoactive compound or photoacid generator
124 Chapter 4
result in a chemical reaction. This quantum efficiency is taken into account by the
coefficient C:
∂M
= −CI M, (4.16)
∂t
where t represents time and I is the intensity of the light. The parameters A, B,
and C have become known as the Dill parameters for the resist. Typical values
are given in Table 4.3. The contribution of Dill was the reduction of complex
photochemistry to a set of three easily measured parameters, A, B, and C. The
extent of photochemical reaction is captured by M(x, y, z, t), where (x, y, z) is a
point within the resist film, and t is the exposure time.
Once a film of resist is exposed to light, the absorptivity, represented by AM + B,
is no longer uniform throughout the film because resist at the top of the film is more
bleached (on average) than the resist near the resist-substrate interface, having
received more light than the bottom. That is, following exposure, M is no longer
uniform in the resist film. Bleaching is represented by values of M that are less than
1.0. Because of this bleaching, the determination of resist exposure throughout the
depth of the resist film is not amenable to a closed-form solution, but the above
equations can be used to calculate M(x, y, z, t) iteratively for any specified values of
A, B, and C using a computer. The variation in M in the z direction is determined by
how light propagates through the resist thin film and is reflected from the substrate.
Reflections from the substrate are discussed shortly. The variation of M in the xy
plane results from the pattern on the mask and subsequent diffraction and imaging.
The modeling of imaging was outlined in Section 4.1. Putting together the optical
image and the subsequent exposure of resist, M(x, y, z, t) can be calculated.
An interesting observation was made by integrating Eq. (4.16) with respect to
time, giving27
M = e−CIt , (4.17)
and then differentiating this with respect to x. This results in the following:
∂M ∂I
! !
1
= M ln(M) . (4.18)
∂x I ∂x
Table 4.3 Dill parameters for some commercially produced photoresists.24–26 (Not all of
these resists have remained commercially available.)
Resist A (µm−1 ) B (µm−1 ) C (cm2 /mJ) Exposure wavelength Reference
Shipley 511-A 0.85 0.04 0.016 i line 24

AZ 1470 0.56 0.03 0.010 g line 25
AZ 1470 0.88 0.22 0.010 i line 25
TOK IP-3400 0.75 0.11 0.016 i line 26
Apex-E – 0.01 0.36 0.012 248 nm 24
This expression represents the variation of the photoactive compound following

exposure. The modulation in x results from the pattern on the photomask. What
is interesting about this equation is that the factor M ln(M) has a maximum, when
M = 0.37. Resists and processes that are designed to have line edges coincident
with this maximum have an enhanced opportunity for improved performance.
This explains, in part, how the photoresist and resist process can affect exposure
latitude—something that was not predicted by the thin-resist model in Chapter 2.
The changes in linewidth depend upon the gradient in the photoactive compound,
which are modulated by more than the light-intensity distribution in Eq. (4.18).
4.4 Thin-Film Optical Effects

If the substrate has optical properties identical to photoresist, the light intensity
decreases gradually from the top to the bottom of the resist due to optical
absorption. This decrease follows a simple exponential, at least at the beginning
of exposure when the resist has homogeneous optical properties:
I(z) = I0 e−αz , (4.19)
where I0 is the intensity of the incident light, α is the optical absorption coefficient,
and z is the depth within the resist film, with z = 0 being the top surface. Typical
values for α are determined from the A and B parameters given in Table 4.3 along
with the relationship of Eq. (4.12). From the values for A and B in Table 4.3, one
can see that the spatial scale for variation of the light intensity, due to conventional
absorption of light propagating through an absorbing medium, is on the order of
tenths of a micron.
The phenomenon of resist bleaching during exposure does not change this
behavior significantly. Given the limit where B → 0, Eqs. (4.8), (4.12), and (4.16)
are solved exactly to give the light intensity and amount of remaining photoactive
compound at depth z in the resist, after t seconds of exposure:28
I0
I(z, t) = , (4.20)
1− e−CI0 t 1 − eAz
1
M(z, t) = , (4.21)
1− e−Az 1 − eCI0 t
where I0 is the intensity of the incident light. At t = 0, Eq. (4.20) reduces to Eq.
(4.9). For the case of B , 0, α(z) must be determined iteratively on a computer.29
The presence of the substrate underneath the photoresist has a significant effect
on the light-intensity distribution within the photoresist film compared to the
picture just presented. This can be appreciated by considering the situation depicted
in Fig. 4.12. Light illuminates a substrate covered by photoresist. Typical substrates
are silicon or silicon covered with various films, such as silicon dioxide, silicon
nitride, aluminum, assorted silicides, titanium nitride, and other materials used to
fabricate integrated circuits. In this example the films are uniform and have a large
126 Chapter 4
Figure 4.12 Configuration of the thin-film optical problem.21
spatial extent. (Issues associated with topography will be discussed shortly.) At the
interface between each pair of films some of the incident light is reflected, while
the remainder is transmitted.
It is highly relevant to lithography that, within the photoresist film, the light
consists of an incident component as well as a reflected one. There are two
significant consequences of this geometry:
(1) The light intensity varies rapidly, in the vertical direction, within the
photoresist film.
(2) The amount of light energy coupled into the photoresist film has a strong
dependence on the thickness of the various films in the stack.
The first property, the rapid variation of the light intensity within the photoresist
film, results from the interference between the incident and reflected light within
the resist. The variation in light intensity is sinusoidal, where the spacing between
adjacent maxima and minima are separated by very near to λ/4n, where n is the
real part of the refractive index of the photoresist. For typical values of λ and n,
this quarter-wave separation is on the order of hundredths of a micron, a full order
of magnitude smaller than one predicts from simple optical absorption. The effect
of this is shown in Fig. 4.13, where the light intensity is plotted as a function of
depth in the photoresist film for two situations—one for a silicon substrate and
the other where the substrate is matched optically to the photoresist. The rapidly
varying light distribution within the depth of the photoresist is referred to as a
“standing wave.” The consequence of standing waves of light intensity throughout
the depth of the photoresist film is alternating levels of resist with high and low
exposure. For positive resist, the high-exposure regions develop quickly, while the
low-exposure regions develop more gradually. Manifestations of standing waves
Figure 4.13 Light intensity (λ = 365 nm) throughout the depth of an 8500-Å-thick film of
photoresist. The calculation of absorption was performed for the resist at the initiation of
exposure; i.e., the resist was unbleached and had uniform optical properties. Depth = 0
represents the air-resist interface.
are visible in micrographs of resist features, where the resist sidewalls have ridges
because alternating layers of resist have developed at different rates (Fig. 4.14).
Standing waves constrain the process because there must be sufficient exposure
for the resist in the least-exposed standing wave to develop out. Otherwise, features
are bridged. For highly reflective films, such as aluminum, this dose may be several
times greater than the resist might require in the absence of standing-wave effects.
This exaggerates the problems of substrates with topography because the resist has
varying thickness over steps. Regions requiring low doses are overexposed in the
attempt to clear out the last standing waves in other areas on the wafers.
In addition to the standing wave throughout the depth of the photoresist film,
there is another consequence of thin-film interference effects: the amount of light
absorbed in the resist has a strong functional dependence on the thickness of the
substrate and resist films. Consider the total light energy Etotal in the photoresist
Figure 4.14 A cross section of patterned photoresist exposed on a reflective substrate.

Serrations on the resist sidewalls are evident and are a consequence of standing waves.
128 Chapter 4
integrated through the depth of the photoresist film:

Z T0
Etotal = E(z)dz, (4.22)
0
where E(z) is the energy absorbed at the height z in the resist film. T 0 is the
total thickness of the resist film. The integrated light absorption Etotal is plotted in
Fig. 4.15 as a function of resist thickness for resist on an oxide layer on silicon. For
1.0-µm-thick resist, a change in the oxide thickness from 2500 Å to 2800 Å resulted
in a 14% decrease in the integrated light absorption. This situation has been
simulated, and the corresponding linewidths shown. Again there are oscillations,
with the λ/4n minimum-to-maximum spacing characteristic of standing-wave
phenomena with linewidth minima corresponding to light-absorption maxima.
The curves shown in Fig. 4.15 are known as “swing curves.” The phenomena
exemplified in Fig. 4.15 have significant consequences for microlithography.
Because linewidths vary with resist thickness variations on the order of a quarter
wave, resist thickness must be controlled to levels much less than λ/4n, which
is less than 100 nm for typical exposure wavelengths and photoresist. This is
Figure 4.15 Standing-wave effects as a function of resist thickness for λ = 365 nm (i line)
at the initiation of exposure. (a) Integrated light absorption [Eq. (4.22)], and (b) linewidths for
0.5-µm nominal features exposed at a fixed exposure dose, calculated using PROLITH.
an impossible task for process architectures that have virtually any topography.
The standing-wave phenomenon places severe requirements on control of thin-
film thickness, as seen from Fig. 4.15, where a small change in the thickness of
the oxide layer changes the amount of integrated light energy absorbed and also
the linewidth as a consequence. This constraint on substrate films is particularly
severe for materials that have a large index of refraction, such as polysilicon. For
the Hg lamp i line, the index of refraction for polysilicon is 4.9, so the quarter-
wave maximum-to-minimum spacing is only 15 nm for a polysilicon film. It may
not be practical to control films to tolerances that are a fraction of that. While
post-exposure bakes can reduce the variations of M(z) within the resist film (to be
discussed in the next section), they have no effect on the integrated light energy
[Eq. (4.22)].
There are a number of solutions used to address the problem of varying
integrated light intensity caused by the standing-wave effect:
(1) Centering the resist thickness at a standing-wave extremum
(2) Adding dye to resists
(3) Applying bottom antireflection coatings
(4) Applying top antireflection coatings
(5) Using multiple-wavelength light sources
(6) Utilizing multilayer resist processes
(7) Utilizing surface-imaging resists.
One clearly has the minimal sensitivity to resist-thickness variations when the
process is centered at an extremum of the curves shown in Fig. 4.15. On flat
surfaces, choosing the resist thickness to correspond to a swing-curve maximum
or minimum results in the smallest linewidth variations due to variations in resist
thickness. When the topography step heights are a significant fraction of the quarter
wavelength or greater, operating at a swing-curve extremum is not an option for
immunizing the process against standing-wave effects.
Operating at a minimum of a swing curve has certain advantages. Swing curves
such as those shown in Fig. 4.15 are usually dominated by light rays at near-normal
incidence. By choosing a minimum, oblique rays are more strongly coupled into
the resist since they travel further through the resist film and represent higher points
on the swing curve. These oblique rays contain the higher spatial frequencies of
the image. Other differences between swing-curve maxima and minima can be
appreciated by examining Fig. 4.16 where the light intensity is plotted as a function
of depth in resist films corresponding to a swing-curve absorption maximum (resist
thickness = 8900 Å for the parameters used to calculate the results shown in
Figs. 4.14 and 4.15) and a swing-curve minimum (resist thickness = 8365 Å).
At a swing-curve maximum, the light intensity coupled into the resist is greatest,
thereby minimizing exposure time. For a swing-curve minimum on a silicon
substrate, the average dose is similar to that obtained on an optically matched
substrate. The amplitudes of the intensity variations through the depth of the resist
film relative to the average intensity are fairly similar. In both cases, there are
absorption minima at the resist-substrate interface.
130 Chapter 4
Figure 4.16 Light intensity through the depth of resist films representing swing-curve
absorption (a) maxima and (b) minima.
4.5 Post-Exposure Bakes

The most common method for reducing the effects of standing waves is the post-
exposure bake.21,30,31 Following exposure, the photoactive compound or photoacid
generator varies in concentration in direct proportion to the light energy. In
photoresists where the photoactive compound is not bonded to the resin, diffusion
of the photoactive compound may be induced by baking the resist. Diffusion
takes place between regions of high and low density of photoactive compound in
the direction of the largest concentration gradient.32,33 This is typically between
standing-wave maxima and minima because of the short distances (λ/4n) over
which the standing waves occur. Photoacids in chemically amplified resists are
typically free moieties, and they also diffuse during the post-exposure bake.
Because standing waves severely degrade lithographic performance, most resists
today are designed to be processed with a post-exposure bake.
One might think that this diffusion also degrades the resist profile because
the photoactive compound also diffuses laterally between exposed and unexposed
regions. However, the lateral gradient is usually comparable to the one across
standing waves for highly reflective, or even moderately reflective, substrates. One
can estimate the point at which image degradation occurs due to lateral diffusion
as follows. For image degradation, the horizontal gradients of the photoactive
compound must be greater than the gradients across standing waves. As a first
approximation, these gradients can be estimated from the gradients in the light
intensity. At the edge of a feature, such as a line or space, the gradient in the
photoactive compound is
∂M
≈ 3 to 7 µm−1 (4.23)
∂x
based on Eq. (4.18) and the data from Figs. 2.18 and 2.22. Throughout much
of the image this derivative is smaller. For example, it is identically zero in the
middle of an isolated line or space. On the other hand, if the standing-wave light
intensity differs by 20% from maximum to minimum, then the vertical gradient is
approximately
0.2
= 7 µm−1 , (4.24)
λ/4n
for λ = 193 nm and n = 1.7. This shows that a very small standing wave can
give a larger vertical gradient than results from the lateral optical image profile. As
features decrease in size, the gradient at the feature edge, Eq. (4.18), increases and
eventually exceeds that of the standing waves. However, shorter wavelengths help
to maintain the diffusion gradient in the vertical direction. The primary reason that
diffusion during post-exposure bake can lead to image degradation is the tendency
toward substrates with very low reflectivity. For such situations, photoresists need
to be designed so that images are not degraded significantly during post-exposure
bake. This is an issue for sub-50-nm lithography.
The efficiency of the post-exposure bake depends upon the diffusion coefficient
of the photoactive compound or photoacid, which depends upon many variables—
the size of the photoactive compound or photoacid, the resin, the amount of residual
solvent, etc.34 This is particularly apparent for post-exposure bake temperatures in
the neighborhood of the resist’s glass transition temperature.35 Because the density
of the resin and the amount of residual solvent are affected by the softbake of the
resist, there is often a significant interaction between the softbake and the post-
exposure bake processes.36
Modeling the post-exposure bakes of novolak resists is reasonably straightfor-
ward. Diffusion is described by the differential equation
∂n ~ ~
= ∇D × ∇n, (4.25)
∂t
where n is the concentration of diffusing material and D is the coefficient of

diffusion. This is reasonably straightforward to solve when D is a constant. For
diazonapthaquinone/novolvak resists, this is a good approximation. Diffusion is
132 Chapter 4
determined largely by the novolak matrix, which changes little during the post-
exposure bake.
For chemically amplified resists, the situation is considerably more complicated.
Many chemically amplified resists contain bases that can diffuse and will neutralize
the photoacids. Thus, the diffusion of two species and their neutralization reactions
must be accounted for in post-exposure bakes of chemically amplified resists,
greatly complicating the modeling. In the modeling of chemically amplified resists
it is necessary to determine the degree of deprotection at all points within the resist.
A typical equation describing this is37
∂ [M]
= −k1 [M] p [A]q , (4.26)
∂t
where M is the extent of deprotection, A is photoacid concentration, k1 is a rate

constant, t is time, and p and q are reaction orders. The evolution of the acid
concentration and the base concentration B is described by
∂ [A] ~ DA ∇

~ [A] − k4 [A] [B]

= −k3 [A]r + ∇ (4.27)
∂t
∂ [B] ~ DB ∇

~ [B] − k4 [A] [B] ,

= −k5 [B] s + ∇ (4.28)
∂t
where DA and DB are diffusion coefficients for the photoacid and base, respectively.
Instead of a single diffusion parameter, as in Eq. (4.25), there are numerous
parameters required to describe the post-exposure baking of chemically amplified
resists. As a result of chemical reactions that modify the porosity of the resist
during the bake, the diffusion parameters are functions of photoacid concentration
and the extent of deprotection. The deprotection reactions during the post-exposure
bake may generate volatile materials. As these reaction products evaporate, the
free volume increases, thereby increasing the diffusivity. At the same time, another
effect of baking is densification of the resist, a mechanism that reduces diffusivity,
the opposite effect.
To complicate matters further, there appears to be some indication that photoacid
becomes trapped during the diffusion process.38 Modeling the post-exposure bake
in chemically amplified resist is today an area of active research, and it is quite
important. Reasonable models for the post-exposure exposure bake of chemically
amplified resists can be obtained by fitting data for lines and spaces,39 but these
models do not describe the behavior of more complex geometries very well. Acid
diffusion appears to have a significant influence on patterns in two dimensions,
such as contact holes40 and line ends. Good models require consistency with
the actual physics and chemistry of post-exposure bakes, and such models are
necessarily complex.
4.6 Methods for Addressing the Problems of Reflective Substrates

The calculations of light intensity shown in Figs. 4.13, 4.15, and 4.16 were for a
resist that was just beginning to be exposed. The standing-wave variations are less
for the unexposed resist, as compared to the completely bleached situation. This
effect motivated people to intentionally add nonbleaching dyes into the resist as
a means of reducing standing-wave effects.41 There are other reasons to use dyed
resists, in addition to reducing standing-wave effects, as will be discussed shortly.
However, adding a dye to the resist reduces its performance in terms of its ability to
produce vertical sidewalls and form small features, which compromises the utility
of this approach. Numerous references to the early work on dyed resist can be
found in Ref. 42.
The best way to avoid standing-wave effects is to have a nonreflecting substrate.
If the process architecture requires the use of reflective materials, such as metals
for electrical interconnections, the substrate can be coated with an antireflection
coating (ARC) to suppress reflections. Commonly used antireflection coatings are
amorphous silicon on aluminum43,44 for g-line lithography, titanium nitride for i
line,45,46 silicon nitride and silicon oxynitride for i line and DUV,47 and various
spin-coated organic materials.48–50
Consider again the situation where a resist film is coated over a silicon-dioxide
film on a silicon surface and is exposed to uniform illumination (Fig. 4.15). As one
can see in Fig. 4.15, the amplitude of the intensity variations changes little with
oxide thickness; only the phase is shifted. In this case, silicon dioxide is unsuitable
as an antireflection coating. This is a general property when substrate films
have large indices of refraction, particularly with large imaginary components:
antireflection coatings must absorb light to be effective. The requirement that
antireflection coatings must absorb light results from two factors:
(1) The antireflection coating must function over a range of resist thickness, since
variations in resist thickness result from circuit topography as well as variations
in the process.
(2) The refractive indices of metallic substrates have large imaginary components,
which introduce another condition in the equations that must be satisfied by
antireflection coatings.
Consider the situation in Fig. 4.12, where layer 2 is an antireflection coating and
layer 3 is a metal. Then the reflected light is given by

E1− ρ1,2 + ρ1,2 exp [−i4πn2 d2 /λ]
= , (4.29)
E1+ 1 + ρ1,2 ρ2,3 exp [−i4πn2 d2 /λ]
where
ni − n j
ρi, j = . (4.30)
ni + n j
134 Chapter 4
The condition for an antireflection coating is therefore
ρ1,2 + ρ2,3 exp [−i4πn2 d2 /λ] = 0. (4.31)
When all refractive indices are real, the above equation leads to the well-known
conditions for an antireflection coating:
√
n2 = n1 n3 , (4.32)
(2m + 1)λ
d2 = , (4.33)
4n2
where m is any nonnegative integer. These equations are used for antireflection
coatings on refractive optical elements. When the refractive index of layer 3 has a
large imaginary component, Eq. (4.31) becomes two equations—one for the real
part and one for the imaginary part. This necessitates another factor that can be
varied, such as the imaginary component of the refractive index of layer 2, the
antireflection coating.
If a material is too optically absorbing, it becomes a reflective surface.
Consequently, there is an optimal level of absorption for antireflection coatings.
This optimum is estimated from the following considerations. Thin films (20–120
nm) are desirable in order to maintain process simplicity during the steps that
remove the antireflection coating. For a thin film to attenuate normally incident
light on two passes (incident and upon reflection) through the film to 10% or less,
the following condition must be met:
4πκ
ρe−2t λ ≤ 0.1, (4.34)
where t is the thickness of the film, κ is the imaginary part of the refractive index,
ρ is the reflectance between the underlying substrate and the antireflection coating,
and λ is the wavelength of the light. For ρ = 0.7 and t = 70 nm, this implies that
κ
> 0.0011 nm−1 . (4.35)
λ
On the other hand, if κ becomes too large, then the thin film itself becomes too
reflective. The reflectance between semi-infinite thick layers of material is plotted
in Fig. 4.17. From Fig. 4.17 and Eq. (4.35) one obtains, for λ = 248 nm,
0.3 ≤ κ ≤ 1.2, (4.36)
in order to maintain reflectance back into the photoresist below 10%. The upper
bound on κ depends upon the degree to which the real parts of the refractive
indices of the resist and antireflection coating are matched. Antireflection coatings
are more effective when the real part of their index of refraction nearly equals
Figure 4.17 Reflectance at the interface between semi-infinite materials, calculated as the
square of Eq. (4.24). One material is nonabsorbing and has an index of refraction equal to
1.74, while the real part of the index of refraction of the other material equals 2.00.
that of the resist. Also, note that the lower bound for the optimum absorption by
the antireflection coating scales with the wavelength according to Eq. (4.35). Not
surprisingly, most materials in use as antireflection coatings have values of κ that
fall in the optimum range. For TiN, a good inorganic ARC for i-line lithography,
n = 2.01 − 1.11i, while n = 1.90 − 0.41i for BARLi, an organic i-line ARC.
Bottom antireflection coatings address all of the lithographic problems
associated with reflective substrates: linewidth variations over topography
(assuming the process results in adequate coverage of the antireflection coating
over the steps), standing waves within the resist film, and the problem of notching,
which will be discussed shortly. However, there are disadvantages as well. First,
the antireflection coating must be deposited or coated. This additional processing
step adds costs and potential for defects. (It may be argued that the deposition does
not represent an additional step, because an adhesion promotion step is eliminated
by the use of a spin-coated organic ARC. However, the ARC materials and
equipment are usually much more expensive than those required for conventional
adhesion promotion.) Second, the antireflection coating usually must be etched.
Some spin-coated ARCs will develop out,51 but the develop step depends critically
on bake temperatures. The processing of such materials can be difficult when
there is topography and accompanying variations in ARC thickness. Developing
is not anisotropic, and the resulting undercut limits the use of ARCs that dissolve
in developer for extremely small geometries. In general, the ARC must be
anisotropically etched out of the exposed areas. Finally, the ARC usually must
ultimately be removed from the unetched areas, since it is rarely a film that is part
of the process architecture, other than to assist the lithography. (TiN on aluminum
is a notable exception to this, where TiN is used for hillock suppression52 and as a
barrier metal.) Organic ARCs can usually be removed by the same process used to
remove remaining photoresist, but inorganic ARCs require a special etch that must
be compatible with the other exposed films. In spite of the expense of additional
processing, the advantages for lithography are so great that antireflection coatings
can often be justified.
136 Chapter 4
There is at least one disadvantage to a nonreflective substrate. This can

be appreciated from Fig. 4.16. Calculated in this figure are the light-intensity
averages connecting the midpoints between swing-curve minima and maxima.
These average curves represent, to a degree, the effective exposure following a
post-exposure bake. Comparing the average curves to the light absorption for resist
on a nonreflecting substrate, one sees that reflected light does give some advantage
in offsetting the bulk light-absorption effect. This effect is strongest for absorbing
resists where the standing-wave effect is already somewhat suppressed.
Finally, a top antireflection coating53,54 can be used by making use of an
approach that is very common in optics. Consider the situation where resist
directly covers an aluminum substrate. In such a circumstance, very little light is
transmitted into the substrate, and the reflectance is nearly the complement of the
absorption (Fig. 4.18), which is the quantity relevant to lithography. The reflectance
from the resist into air is given by the expression55
ρ21 + ρ1 ρ2 cos 2δ + ρ22

R= , (4.37)
1 + 2ρ1 ρ2 cos 2δ + ρ21 ρ22
where ρ1 is the reflectivity between the air and the resist [see Eq. (4.30)], and
ρ2 is the reflectivity between the resist and aluminum, at normal incidence. The
thickness and refractive index of the resist are d and n, respectively:
2π
δ= nd. (4.38)
λ
The oscillatory behavior of the reflectance (and absorption) results from the
factor ρ1 ρ2 cos 2δ. This factor is suppressed by a bottom antireflection coating

(ρ2 → 0) or a top antireflection coating ρ1 → 0 . An ideal top antireflection
Figure 4.18 Absorption and reflectance for the i-line resist on aluminum (at the beginning
of exposure). Note that absorption and reflectance are complementary.
coating is a film coated on top of the resist that has the following properties:54
√
refractive index = narc = nresist , (4.39)
(k + 1) λ
d= , (4.40)
4narc
where k is a nonnegative integer. Top antireflection coatings address situations

where variations in the resist’s absorption of light are modulated by changes in
the thickness of nonabsorbing or moderately absorbing films. The resist itself
can be one of these films. Because top antireflection coatings do not eliminate
reflections from the substrate, they are less effective for highly reflective substrates
and situations where the reflectivity of the substrate is highly variable. This occurs
when metal interconnects have already been formed and surrounded by insulating
oxides. It is also difficult to create materials that satisfy Eq. (4.39), so most top
antireflective coatings are less than optimal. However, top antireflection coatings
are usually water soluble, and are therefore easily integrated into semiconductor
manufacturing processes, a highly desirable characteristic.
One way to minimize the impact of the standing-wave effect is to use a source
with multiple wavelengths. Minima from one wavelength can be canceled out
by maxima from another. This works well in terms of reducing variations in the
integrated intensity, but a standing wave still exists at the interface between resist
and a metallic substrate, as will now be explained.
Reflected light from a highly reflective surface maintains most of the magnitude
of the incident light but undergoes a phase reversal. [In Eq. (4.30), ρi, j → −1,
as n j ni , where n j is the refractive index of the reflective layer and ni is the
index of refraction of the photoresist.] For a perfectly reflective surface, 100% of
the light is reflected and the phase reversal is 180 deg, while light reflected from
actual surfaces, which are less-than-perfect reflectors, have magnitudes and phases
according to the degree to which the substrates approximate perfect reflectors. All
wavelengths of interest to optical lithography are reflected from metals, silicon, and
many silicides, so all wavelengths undergo a phase reversal at the resist-reflector
interface. For distances on the order of several quarter waves, most wavelengths
are still relatively in phase, so the standing waves interfere constructively near the
resist-reflector interface. Further away from the interface, the standing waves for
different wavelengths will go out of phase.56
For reflective substrates with considerable topography, one of the most
egregious problems that result from high reflectivity is that of notching. The
problem occurs when there is topography as depicted in Fig. 4.19. Light is reflected
from edges and slopes into regions that are intended to be unexposed. This results
in notching of resist lines, as shown in Fig. 4.20. It is useful to calculate the distance
over which scattered light can be effective in producing notches. Consider the
characteristic curve shown in Fig. 2.16. Note that there is negligible resist loss
for exposure doses less than some fraction f of E0 . Values for f are larger for
higher-contrast resist, with typical values of 0.7. Wafers typically receive doses Ee
138 Chapter 4
Figure 4.19 Situation for reflective notching. Light reflects from substrate topography into
areas in which exposure is not desired.
Figure 4.20 Example of reflective notching for i-line resist on polysilicon. In the area of
the topography the resist is notched. Standing waves resulting from substrate reflectivity are
also evident.
that are about twice E0 . Notching does not occur as long as the scattered dose E s
meets the following condition:
E s ≤ f E0 ≤ 0.7E0 = 0.35Ee . (4.41)
The scattered dose at a distance d from a step is given by
E s = Ee exp[−α(d + t)], (4.42)

where α is the absorption coefficient for the resist and t is the resist thickness. From
the above two equations, there is no notching so long as
ρe−α(d+t) ≤ 0.35, (4.43)
where the reflectance from the substrate is ρ. One obvious way to reduce the
distance d over which notching may occur is to increase the absorption α. This
can be done by adding a dye into the resist that does not bleach with exposure,
and such an approach has been used extensively.57 The benefit of having dye in
the resist was already discussed as a method for reducing the effects of standing
waves. There are tradeoffs between absorption to suppress the effects of reflective
substrates and image quality. Highly dyed resists have less vertical resist sidewalls,
so there is optimum dye loading for resists.58
Values for ρ can be as high as 0.9 for specular aluminum, and a typical value
for α is 0.6 µm−1 . For these parameters, no notching occurs for d + t ≥ 1.5 µm.
From these considerations, one can see that the utility of dyed resists is small for
deep submicron lithography. Moreover, as discussed in the section on photoresists,
optical absorption reduces the performance of the resist.
Thus far the discussion of antireflection coatings has assumed that the light
is normally incident or nearly normally incident onto the resist. While this is an
appropriate approximation to make for imaging at low numerical aperture, it is not
suitable for situations involving very high numerical apertures. To understand the
complications arising from high angles of incidence, consider the configuration
depicted in Fig. 4.21. The effectiveness of a single-layer bottom antireflection
coating is shown in Fig. 4.22. At low angles of incidence the antireflection
coating is effective, producing nearly the same low reflectance for both S- and
P-polarization. The antireflective coating becomes less effective at larger angles of
incidence, and there are substantial differences in behavior between the two types
of polarization. Except when imaging simple gratings using S- or P-polarized light,
the inability to produce low reflectance over a large range of angles of incidence
is a problem when using lenses with very high numerical apertures, since light
will be incident across a wide range of angles. For good process control, low
reflectance is required at all angles of incidence. As it turns out, this requires
complex antireflection coatings. There are insufficient degrees of freedom to design
Figure 4.21 Geometry for light incident on resist.

140 Chapter 4
Figure 4.22 Calculated reflectance of ArF light from a bottom antireflection coating into
resist, all of which is on a silicon substrate.8 The index of refraction and thickness of the
antireflection coating are 1.83–0.21i and 135 nm, respectively. The index of refraction of
the photoresist is assumed to be 1.8. In some publications, S-polarization is referred to as
transverse electric polarization, while P-polarized light is referred to as transverse magnetic
light.
a single-layer antireflection coating that works across a wide range of angles of

incidence. Solutions include antireflection coatings with more than one layer or
coatings with indices of refraction that vary through the depth of the film.
4.7 Development
For diazonaphthoquinone resists, pattern profiles can be calculated if the
development rate R is known as a function of the parameter M (discussed
in Section 4.3), and the rate is usually measured directly for particular resist
and developer systems. Values for M in the resist are simulated using optical
models, with suitable modifications as a consequence of diffusion due to post-
exposure bakes. For chemically amplified resists, M can be taken as the fraction
of deprotection after post-exposure bake. Development rates are quite nonlinear
and are usually fit to particular functional forms in order to facilitate calculations.
Various functional forms have been proposed over time. Dill and coworkers
proposed the development rate function59
Rate = eE1 +E2 M+E3 M .

2
(4.44)
Other rate functions have since been adopted, notably the “Mack” model:60
(a + 1) (1 − M)n
Rate = rmax + rmin , (4.45)
a + (1 − M)n
where rmax, , rmin , n, and a are parameters of the model. By first calculating
M(x, y, z) using imaging models, Eq. (4.44), Eq. (4.45), or a similar equation can
then be coupled with a suitable numerical algorithm to complete the simulation of

resist profiles.61–63
In this chapter, the major components of pattern formation in resists were
discussed in terms of basic physics and chemistry. In the next two chapters, the
tools used for exposing wafers and the means for ensuring overlay of successive
patterns are discussed in detail. Descriptions are given of specific subsystems—
such as lenses and illuminators—that determine some of the parameters that have
been discussed thus far.
Problems
4.1 Assume that the index of refraction of the resist is 1.7. For P-polarized light,
what numerical aperture is required to produce light rays that have orthogonal
polarization in the resist?
4.2 Referring to Fig. 4.4, the reflectance for S-polarized light is nearly zero for an
angle of incidence of ∼60 deg. For what numerical aperture would the most
oblique rays have this angle of incidence?
4.3 Using the Dill parameters of Table 4.3, show that the light intensity that reaches
the bottom of a 1-µm-thick film of AZ 1470 resist is 55% and 33% of the
incident intensity at the g line and i line, respectively, at the very beginning
of exposure. Show that these numbers are 97% and 80% for a fully bleached
1-µm-thick film of AZ 1470 resist.
4.4 Why are post-exposure bakes used for diazonaphthoquinone resists, even
though such bakes are not required to complete the photochemical conversion
of photoactive compounds?
4.5 Suppose that proper exposure of a DNQ resist requires M = 0.1 in the middle
of large exposed features. Use Eq. (4.21) to show that an exposure time of 0.15
sec is needed if the value for the Dill parameter A of the resist = 0.8 µm−1 ,
B ≈ 0, and C = 0.01 cm2 /mJ, and the light intensity is 2000 mW/cm2 .
4.6 Why do bottom antireflection coatings need to absorb light?
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equations were derived by Bill Arnold.
29. C. A. Mack, “Analytical expression for the standing-wave intensity in
photoresist,” Appl. Optic. 25, 1958–1961 (1986).
30. E. J. Walker, “Reduction of photoresist standing-wave effects by post-
exposure bake,” IEEE Trans. Electron. Device ED-22, 464–466 (1975).
31. T. Batchelder and J. Piatt, “Bake effects in positive photoresist,” Sol. State
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32. J. Crank, The Mathematics of Diffusion, 2nd ed., Oxford Univ. Press, Oxford
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33. D. A. Bernard, “Simulation of post-exposure bake effects on photolithographic
performance of a resist film,” Philips J. Res. 42, 566–582 (1987).
34. P. Trefonas, B. K. Daniels, M. J. Eller, and A. Zampini, “Examination of the
mechanism of the post exposure bake effect,” Proc. SPIE 920, 203–211 (1988).
35. J. Crank and G. S. Park, Diffusion in Polymers, Academic Press, London
(1968).
36. K. Phan, M. Templeton, and E. Sum, “A systematic approach for i-line
manufacturing resist optimization,” Proc. SPIE 1087, 279–289 (1989).
144 Chapter 4
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simulation of post-exposure bake of chemically amplified resists,” Proc. SPIE
5039, 1132–1142 (2003).
38. S. V. Postnikov, M. D. Stewart, H. V. Tran, M. A. Nierode, D. R. Madeiros,
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due to intrinsic bias in chemically amplified photoresists,” J. Vac. Sci. Technol.
B 17(6), 3335–3338 (1999).
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need complex resist models for predictive simulation of lithographic process
performance,” Proc. SPIE 5376, 983–994 (2004).
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lithographic performance of chemically amplified resists,” Jpn. J. Appl. Phys.
31, 4294–4300 (1992).
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Proc. Kodak Microelectron. Sem., 19–22 (1984).
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125–130 (January, 1988).
43. K. Harrison and C. Takemoto, “The use of antireflection coatings for
photoresist linewidth control,” Proc. Kodak Microelectron. Sem., 107–111
(1983).
44. H. Van den Berg and J. van Staden, “Antireflection coatings on metal layers
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45. W. H. Arnold, M. Farnaam, and J. Sliwa, “Titanium nitride as an antireflection
coating on highly reflective layers for photolithography,” U.S. Patent No.
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performance antireflection layer for the current and future optical lithography,”
Proc. SPIE 2197, 722–732 (1994).
48. T. Brewer, R. Carlson, and J. Arnold, “The reduction of the standing-wave
effects in positive photoresists,” J. Appl. Photogr. Eng. 7(6), 184–186 (1981).
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organic AR coatings,” Sol. State Technol., 79–83 (September, 1993).
50. S. Kaplan, “Linewidth control over topography using a spin-on AR coating,”
Proc. KTI Microelectron. Sem., 307–314 (1990).
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antireflection coatings for high resolution metalization lithography,” Proc.
SPIE 1086, 543–554 (1989).
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hillock suppression on aluminum silicon metalization,” J. Vac. Sci. Technol. B
6(4), 1113–1115 (1988).
53. T. Brunner, “Optimization of optical properties of resist processes,” Proc.
SPIE 1466, 297–308 (1991).
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Electrochem. Soc. 137, 3900–3905 (1990).
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(1985).
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(2000).
Chapter 5
Wafer Steppers
Wafer steppers, introduced briefly in Chapter 1, are discussed further in this
chapter, paying particular attention to the key subsystems of the modern reduction
stepper, such as light sources, illuminators, reduction lenses, and the wafer stage.
Alignment systems will be discussed in more detail in Chapter 6. In all of these
discussions, the viewpoint will be that of the user.
5.1 Overview
Prior to the advent of wafer steppers, circuit patterns were transferred from masks
to wafers by contact or proximity printing, or by using full-wafer scanners. In
contact printing, a mask that had the pattern for all chips on the wafer was
brought into contact with a resist-coated wafer. The mask was illuminated, thereby
exposing the resist under the clear features on the mask. This method of exposure
was used in the earliest days of the semiconductor electronics industry, but
the mechanical contact caused defects on both the mask and wafer, reducing
productivity. Proximity printing, where masks and wafers were brought close to
each other, but not into contact, was one approach to reducing the problem of
defects that arises with contact printing. Unfortunately, resolution was poor when
the gap between the mask and the wafer was a practical size, as a consequence of
diffraction. The first workable solution to this problem was the full-wafer scanner,
which also used a mask that contained the patterns of all chips that were transferred
1:1 to the wafer.1 More detail on tools for patterning wafers before the introduction
of wafer steppers is presented in Section 5.9.
The most common method for making the masks used for contact, proximity,
or full-wafer scanning lithography involved a photorepeater.2 The photorepeater
had a stage on which an unpatterned mask could be placed and moved precisely
(Fig. 5.1). A reduction lens was used to image the pattern of a single chip onto
the resist-coated mask blank, exposing the mask one chip at a time and using the
precise stage to move the mask between exposures. In order to distinguish between
the mask being made with multiple chips and the master object containing the
pattern of only one chip, the single-chip mask was called a reticle. Eventually it
occurred to someone to eliminate the intermediate mask and exposure tool and
essentially use a photorepeater to expose the wafers directly. Thus, the wafer
stepper was born.
148 Chapter 5
Figure 5.1 Geometry of the photorepeater.
A cutaway view of a modern wafer stepper is shown in Fig. 5.2 (see Color
Plates). This view shows all the major subsystems: reduction lens and illuminator,
excimer laser light source, wafer stage, reticle stage, wafer cassettes, and operator
workstation. In this particular figure, wafers are being taken from cassettes. In
the configuration more typical of high-performance lithography, resist-processing
equipment is interfaced directly to the exposure tool. Resist-coated wafers are taken
from the resist-processing equipment [or the input cassette, standard mechanical
interface (SMIF) pod, or front-opening unified pod (FOUP)] and placed on a
prealignment station, where the wafers are oriented with respect to the notch (or
flat) and centered mechanically. The wafers are then transferred onto a very flat
Figure 5.2 ASML PAS5500 wafer stepper (see Color Plates).

Wafer Steppers 149
vacuum-exposure chuck that sits on a stage whose position can be controlled with
extreme precision. The wafer stage is discussed in more detail later in this chapter.
Once the wafer is placed on the exposure chuck, it is aligned by automatic
systems that detect wafer targets optically and move the stage in small increments
to correct the wafer position with respect to the ideal image field. Alignment
systems enable the overlay of new patterns to circuit patterns that already exist
on the wafer. Prior to exposing each field, the wafer is positioned in the vertical
axis by an autofocus system, which in modern steppers also includes the capability
to pivot the vacuum chuck that holds the wafer during exposure in order to reduce
any net tilt in the wafer surface due to chuck or wafer flatness errors.3,4 Autofocus
systems are discussed in more detail later in this chapter. Once the wafer is properly
positioned and brought into focus, a shutter in the illumination system is opened,
and the resist is exposed in the first exposure field. After exposing the first field,
the shutter is closed and the wafer is moved into position to expose the next field.
This process is repeated until the entire wafer is exposed. This repetitive process
led to the “step-and-repeat” designation for this tool, or “stepper” for short. The
exposed wafer is then moved to an output cassette (or SMIF pod or FOUP) or back
to interfaced resist tracks for additional processing.
The wafer stepper was introduced commercially in the late 1970s by the GCA
Corporation of North Andover, Massachusetts, based on a photorepeater that they
were already producing.5 GCA’s first system, the DSW4800, had been preceded
by systems designed and built by several semiconductor companies, including
Philips, Thomson CSF, and IBM,6–8 who built steppers for their own use and
did not sell them commercially. (The Philips stepper technology was eventually
commercialized by ASM Lithography.) The DSW in the name of GCA’s stepper
referred to Direct Step on the Wafer, an allusion to the stepper’s origin in mask
making. The GCA DSW4800 stepper, which handled 3-, 4-, or 5-in. wafers, was
equipped with a 10× reduction, 0.28-NA, g-line lens that could pattern a maximum
square field of 10 × 10 mm. The lens was supplied by Carl Zeiss of Oberkochen,
Germany. The stepper could achieve overlay of ±0.7 µm and a resolution of 1.25-
µm lines and spaces over 1.5-µm depth-of-focus. Its list price was about $300,000.
Following GCA, several companies began to produce wafer steppers and sell
them commercially. The major stepper suppliers today for fine-line patterning
are Nikon, Canon, and ASM Lithography (ASML). The GCA operations were
absorbed by Ultratech Stepper. Ultratech has a significant share of the market
for bump and packaging applications. Modern steppers have considerably greater
capability than the original GCA DSW4800, but the operating principles are
essentially the same. Leading-edge systems also come in the step-and-scan
configuration, as well as in the step-and-repeat format. The defining characteristics
of these two configurations were discussed in Chapter 1. The characteristics of
contemporary step-and-scan systems are listed in Table 5.1, in comparison to the
DSW4800. Modern systems provide much greater overlay and imaging capability
than GCA’s first machine. There has also been a substantial improvement in
the productivity of exposure tools over time, a topic that is discussed further in
Chapter 11.
150 Chapter 5
Table 5.1 Commercially available step-and-scan 193-nm systems, compared to the first
commercially available wafer stepper. The relationship between the number of shots and
throughput is discussed further in Chapter 11.
GCA Nikon ASML
Model DSW4800 NSR-S310F XT:1450G

M:1 10× 4× 4×
Wavelength (nm) 436 193 193
Maximum lens NA 0.28 0.92 0.93
Field size (mm) 10 × 10 26 × 33 26 × 33
Overlay, machine-to-itself (nm) 500 7 6
Wafer diameter 3, 4, 5 in. 300 mm 300 mm
Throughput (wafers per hour) 20 (4-in. wafers) 174 at 76 fields per 145 at 125 fields per
300-mm wafer 300-mm wafer
5.2 Light Sources

As a practical matter, it has proven possible to design lenses that image near the
diffraction limit only over narrow bandwidths in wavelength. This is a consequence
of the phenomenon of dispersion, where the index of refraction of glass changes
with the wavelength of the light. This optical property of glass leads to the well-
known phenomenon whereby white light is changed by a prism into a spectrum of
separated colors (Fig. 5.3).9 However, there are limits to the range of wavelengths
over which lenses can be color corrected while maintaining a practical size and
reasonable cost. Consequently, high-resolution stepper lenses image only over a
fairly narrow range of wavelengths. Even over the bandwidth of light produced
by a line-narrowed laser it is necessary for lens designers to include corrections
for the varying optical properties of glass materials over the bandwidth of light.
Moreover, intense light sources are needed for cost-effective stepper throughput,
so exposure systems for optical lithography have operated and will continue to
operate at wavelengths for which there are intense sources of illumination over
narrow bandwidths. This has led to a short list of possible light sources for use
in lithography. It should be noted that there are some benefits in this restriction to
Figure 5.3 White light is broken into a spectrum of color by a prism. Typically, the
refractive index of glass increases as wavelengths get shorter, increasing refraction for
shorter-wavelength light. In lenses, this causes imaging to be wavelength dependent, and
compensation for this effect is required in lenses for semiconductor lithography in order to
achieve high resolution.
Wafer Steppers 151
particular standard wavelengths, since additional technology that depends upon the
wavelength is required. For example, resist manufacturers need to develop resists
that perform optimally at the specific wavelengths used,10 and pellicles (discussed
in Chapter 7) need to be optimized for the specific wavelengths that are used. The
limited number of wavelengths at which lithography is practiced enables R&D
resources to be well focused.
Mercury-arc lamps and excimer lasers have been the sources of actinic light
for nearly all projection photolithography. (Radiation that can induce chemical
reactions in photoresists is termed actinic.) The lines of the mercury spectrum
and excimer lasing wavelengths used in lithography are listed in Table 5.2. The
mercury-arc lamp has three intense spectral lines in the blue and ultraviolet
portions of the electromagnetic spectrum (Table 5.2), along with some continuum
emission in between these spectral lines. The first commercially available wafer
stepper, the GCA DSW4800, operated at the mercury g line, as did the first steppers
built by Nikon, Canon, ASML, and TRE (TRE was an early supplier of wafer
steppers. They later changed their name to ASET, but discontinued operations in
the early 1990s.) These were based upon the same concepts as the GCA DSW4800.
The mercury g line is blue light (λ = 436 nm) in the visible part of the spectrum.
As mentioned previously (and to be discussed in more detail in Section 5.4), it
has proven possible to design stepper lenses that meet the extreme resolution
and field size requirements of microlithography only over a very narrow range
of wavelengths. For mercury arc lamp–based systems, this has been over the
bandwidths of the arc lamps, on the order of 4–6 nm. These bandwidths are much
larger than the natural bandwidths of mercury atomic emissions, because of the
collision (pressure) and thermal (Doppler) broadening11 that can be considerable
in a high-pressure arc lamp operating at temperatures approaching 2000 ◦ C.
Some systems built by Ultratech image over somewhat broader ranges of
wavelengths (390–450 nm), but these have resolutions limited to 0.75 µm or larger.
This use of multiple wavelengths has significant advantages in terms of reducing
standing-wave effects,12 and the Ultratech steppers have been used effectively
for lithography at ≥1.0-µm feature sizes. Unfortunately, the broadband Ultratech
lens design prints the reticle at a 1:1 ratio.13 There is no reduction, and reticle
quality has largely prevented the use of Ultratech steppers for critical applications
in deep submicron lithography. Besides the lenses from Ultratech, there were a
few other lenses that imaged at both the g and h line,14 but these had limited
Table 5.2 Light sources and wavelengths used in optical lithography.
Class of light source Specific type Wavelength (nm) Location in the electromagnetic spectrum
Mercury-arc lamps g line 436 visible

h line 405 visible
i line 365 mid-ultraviolet
DUV 240–255 DUV
Excimer lasers KrF 248 DUV

ArF 193 DUV
152 Chapter 5
acceptance. While the mercury h line was used on a few wafer steppers,15 most
stepper manufacturers made a transition to i-line lithography in the late 1980s
as the need arose to print submicron features, while maintaining depths-of-focus
≥1.0 µm.16 I-line lithography dominated leading-edge lithography until the advent
of deep-ultraviolet (DUV) lithography in the mid-1990s.
There is a strong band of DUV emission (λ = 240–255 nm) from mercury-
xenon arc lamps, and these were used on early DUV exposure tools, such as the
Micrascan I and Micrascan II from SVGL. (SVGL was acquired by ASML in
2001.) Most DUV systems today use excimer lasers as light sources, as did higher-
resolution versions of the Micrascan platform. The bandwidth requirements for
these light sources are usually much less than 1.0 picometer (pm). Excimer lasers
are considered in more detail, following a discussion of arc lamps.
A mercury-arc lamp is illustrated in Fig. 5.4. A fused silica bulb is filled through
a tip with a small quantity of mercury and argon or mercury and xenon. After
filling, the bulb is sealed. Operation is initiated by applying a high-frequency high
voltage (>10 kV) across the two electrodes, ionizing the inert gas. The resulting
discharge causes the mercury to evaporate, and the mercury begins to contribute to
the discharge. The plasma, being electrically conducting, cannot support the high
voltage, so the voltage drops, and steady lamp output is maintained by operating the
lamp at constant current at relatively low dc voltages (50–150 V). High voltages
are needed only to ignite the plasma. Condensation of the mercury to the cooler
walls of the bulb near the electrodes is inhibited by reflecting coatings. Pressure
inside the bulb can exceed 30 atm during operation,17 and catastrophic failure is
always a concern. The electrodes are made of refractory metals, such as tungsten,
in order to withstand the internal temperatures that can be as high as 2000 ◦ C.
Thorium coatings are often used to reduce the electrode work functions and provide
electrons to the plasma more easily.
Figure 5.4 Mercury-arc lamp.

Wafer Steppers 153
During operation, electrode material is gradually deposited onto the insides of

the bulb, reducing light output. Lamps are usually replaced after several hundred
hours of operation in order to maintain high stepper throughput. The probability of
a lamp explosion also increases with time, and the prevention of such explosions
is another reason why lamps are replaced at the end of their rated lives. The two
most common mechanisms of catastrophic failure are degradation of glass-metal
seals or fracture of the glass bulb.18
Less than 1% of the electrical power supplied to a mercury-arc lamp is converted
to actinic light. The rest of the energy is nonactinic light or heat that is removed
by air exhaust and cooling water. The air exhaust also serves a safety function,
by exhausting mercury vapor in the event of a lamp explosion. Improved stability
of light output has also been obtained by monitoring and controlling the external
lamp temperature, which will exceed 700 ◦ C.19 As a practical matter, the lamp base
temperature, typically between 150 ◦ C and 200 ◦ C, is more easily measured than
the bulb temperature. Temperature control is obtained by adjusting the air exhaust.
Catastrophic failures can also be avoided by monitors of the voltage and current
to the lamp.20 Mercury is a toxic substance, and thorium is radioactive, so both
materials present handling and disposal issues. Because thorium is an alpha emitter,
it represents no safety hazard to users, as long as the glass bulb is intact. Users of
mercury-arc lamps need to establish procedures for handling lamp explosions and
for the disposal of used arc lamps.
Another light source applied to lithography is the excimer laser. Excimer lasers
are much larger and more complicated than arc lamps. Because they are so large,
and cleanroom floor space is so expensive, excimer lasers are usually placed
outside of the cleanroom (Fig. 5.5). The intrinsic directionality of the laser light
enables the lasers to be placed up to 25 m away from the stepper, with the light
being delivered by a series of mirrors and lenses without a significant loss of light
energy.21
Figure 5.5 Configuration for excimer laser light sources, where the lasers are placed far
from the stepper.
154 Chapter 5
In KrF excimer lasers, excited dimers are created by placing a strong electric
field across a gas mixture containing Kr, F2 , and Ne.22 Early excimer lasers
required voltages >20 kV, and many components failed from high-voltage
breakdown.23 A high voltage is used to produce an electrical discharge, which,
in turn, drives the reactions which ultimately result in lasing (see Table 5.3).24
Reliability has improved through laser designs that require lower voltages, in
the range of 12–15 kV, to produce the electrical discharge, and these lower
voltages reduce the stress on all electrical components.25 Excimer lasers produce
light in pulses, at rates up to several kilohertz. There has been a transition from
thyratron-based discharging electronics to solid-state electronics, and this has also
contributed to improvements in laser reliability. Excimer lasers have matured
considerably since their first use on commercially available wafer steppers in
198826 to the point where they are sufficiently reliable for industrial use. This
improvement in excimer light sources has played a critical role in bringing
DUV lithography to production worthiness. To appreciate the degree of reliability
required for use in manufacturing, consider that modern KrF and ArF excimer
lasers are capable of pulsing at 6 kHz. With a duty factor of only 10%, this
represents 18.9 billion pulses a year.
The unnarrowed fluorescence spectrum for the KrF emission is shown in
Fig. 5.6.27 There is sufficient gain over only part of this spectrum for lasing, about
400 pm. Freely running ArF lasers have similarly broad bandwidths, with full-
width half-maxima of about 450 pm. These bandwidths are much too large for use
with all-refractive optics and require narrowing for catadioptric lenses as well.
Excimer lasers consist of several subsystems, shown in Fig. 5.7. A high
repetition rate is desirable for these pulsed light systems, and excimer-laser
suppliers have improved the available rates from 200 Hz28,29 to 4 kHz,30,31 and
now to 6 kHz.32,33 The higher rates allow for high doses in short times without
requiring high-peak light intensities, and this reduces damage to optical elements.
Measurements for stepper self-metrology take place no faster than permitted by the
excimer-laser frequency, so stepper set-up time is reduced with high-repetition-rate
lasers.
After several years of improvement, typical (time-averaged) water-plane
intensities for DUV steppers are now comparable to those achieved on i-line
Table 5.3 The key reactions in a KrF excimer laser.24
F 2 + e− → F − + F Negative fluorine production
Kr + e− → Kr∗ + e−
Two-step positive krypton production
Kr∗ + e− → Kr+ + 2e−
Kr+ + F − + Ne → KrF ∗ + Ne Excimer formation
KrF ∗ → Kr + F + hν Spontaneous emission
KrF ∗ + hν → Kr + F + 2hν Stimulated emission
F + F + Ne → F2 + Ne Recombination
Wafer Steppers 155
Figure 5.6 KrF* fluorescence spectrum.
Figure 5.7 Schematic of a single-chamber excimer laser, showing key subcomponents.
steppers (2000 mW/cm2 or more). Further improvements for DUV systems are
limited by glass damage that occurs with higher peak power and difficulties
in increasing the excimer-laser repetition rate beyond 6 kHz. A high level of
atomic fluorine in the discharge region of an excimer laser can cause arcing
and other instabilities, so the by-products from one pulse (see Table 5.3) must
be removed from between the electrodes and replenished with fresh gas before
another pulse can be fired. The repetition rate is limited by the ability to
exchange the gas between the electrodes. Faster exchange rates place significantly
greater requirements on fans and motors, with attendant concerns for reliability
degradation. In principle, glass damage can be reduced by “stretching” the pulses
from their unstretched length of 25–30 nsec,34 reducing the peak energy while
maintaining the total-integrated energy.35 Another advantage of temporally longer
pulses is a reduction in bandwidth.36 An example of a stretched pulse is shown in
Fig. 5.8.
Because laser-pulse intensity does not evolve symmetrically in time, temporal
pulse length needs definition. The most commonly used definition is the integral-
156 Chapter 5
Figure 5.8 Excimer-laser power versus time for a normal and stretched pulse from a
Cymer ArF excimer laser.37
squared pulse width:38

hR i2
I (t) dt
τ= R . (5.1)
I 2 (t) dt
This definition is used because this is the pulse duration that is most relevant to the
issue of glass damage.38
The requirements for the laser gases cause the cost of installation of excimer
laser steppers to increase relative to costs for arc-lamp systems (Table 5.4),
particularly since the fluorine gases have safety requirements that must be
addressed. An innovative solid source for fluorine addresses this safety issue.39
Since fluorine leads to the etching of silicon dioxide, the windows of the excimer
laser are typically made of calcium fluoride, a material that is discussed in more
detail in a later section. Laser gases must be very pure, as impurities will cause
degradation of laser performance. Since fluorine is a primary excimer laser gas,
special materials must be used for handling this very chemically reactive gas.
Table 5.4 Installation and consumables costs for the illumination

systems of arc lamp and excimer laser–based wafer steppers.
Arc lamps KrF excimer lasers
Availability 99.5% 97%

Cost for consumables $40,000/year $100,000/year
Installation costs $1000–$10,000 per stepper $100,000 per stepper
Wafer Steppers 157
Beam-delivery systems involve another expense associated with excimer-laser

steppers that does not exist for arc-lamp systems, where the illumination source
is built into the stepper. The purpose of the beam-delivery system is to provide
an optical path from the excimer laser, which is usually located outside of the
cleanroom, to the wafer stepper. Typically, the beam-delivery system is a set
of tubes, containing lenses and mirrors, through which the DUV light traverses
the distance between laser and stepper (Fig. 5.5). Performance of the imaging
optics requires alignment of the input beam to within 1 deg, positioned to within
150 µm,40 while the laser may be separated from the stepper by as much as 25 m.
This places tight constraints on tolerable levels of vibration throughout an extended
part of the fabricated beam line. Maintaining the 150-µm placement of a beam
delivered from 10 m away requires 3 arcsec of angular control. A robust way to
ensure good alignment of the laser beam is to employ active beam sensing and
control of the mirrors in the beam-delivery unit.41
The beam-delivery system must contain optics to address the natural beam
divergence of an excimer laser. A laser beam of a cross section 1 × 2 cm will
diverge 5 mrad and 2 mrad, respectively. At a distance of 25 m, the beam spreads
to a cross section in excess of 13 × 6 cm without optics to refocus the beam. The
beam-delivery system also typically requires mirrors to bend the beam around
obstructions between the laser and the stepper. While not as sophisticated as
the stepper’s projection optics, the lenses in the beam-delivery system require
antireflection coatings to maintain light intensity at the actinic wavelength and also
at an optical wavelength, usually 632.8 nm (HeNe laser), for aligning the beam-
delivery optics. To avoid photochemically deposited contaminants on the optical
elements, the beam-delivery system is enclosed and often purged with nitrogen.
Enclosure is also required to provide a Class-1 laser system.42 The lenses and
mirrors in beam-delivery units encounter high fluencies, so the lens and mirror
coatings need to be resistant to damage by high-intensity light.43 The frequency at
which components need to be replaced in order to maintain good performance will
depend upon optical-component quality and the level of contamination within the
beam-delivery unit.
Excimer lasers today are installed and maintained as Class-1 laser systems. This
was a critical advance for production environments, where protecting operators
from stray DUV light formerly required elaborate shielding walls and curtains
during laser installation and maintenance. Stepper manufacturers have responded
to this standard of engineering by designing beam-delivery systems that can be
aligned while maintaining the systems in Class-1 configurations.
Excimer laser utilization has also improved during the past few years, over
and above the improvements resulting from reductions in unscheduled downtime.
The gas inside the lasers requires periodic replacement, since small amounts of
impurities in the gas reduce lasing efficiency and can deposit coatings on windows.
Early excimer lasers for lithography required complete gas refills every 100,000
pulses, while today’s lasers require such refills only every two-billion pulses.44
Much of this improvement resulted from the replacement of organic materials,
158 Chapter 5
such as Teflon R
and Viton
R
, with ceramic and pure metal materials for insulators
and seals, and improved methods for cleaning parts.
The step-and-scan configuration places more stringent requirements on the
excimer lasers than do step-and-repeat machines. There is a direct relationship
between the maximum scan speed and the number of pulses required to achieve
a specified dose:
n
W s = Vm , (5.2)
f
where W s is the slit width, Vm is the maximum wafer-stage scan speed, n is the
minimum number of pulses required to achieve the specified dose, and f is the
laser repetition rate.45,46 The minimum number of pulses used to achieve the dose
is also related to dose control. The standard variation of the dose σD is related to
the pulse-to-pulse variation σP−P by:
σP−P
σD = √ . (5.3)
n
If σP−P is large, n cannot be too small or there is inadequate dose control.

Typical pulse-to-pulse repeatability is about 2.5% (3σ). Thus, laser pulse-to-pulse
variation is directly related to the potential throughput of step-and-scan systems.
For example, with 2.5% (3σ) pulse-to-pulse energy variation, a dose tolerance
of 0.25%, and a slit width of 8 mm, the wafer-stage scan speed of the exposure
tool with a 4-kHz laser will be limited to 320 mm/sec by the pulse-to-pulse
stability. A missed pulse, in which the excimer laser simply fails to fire, seriously
degrades dose uniformity across the scan, while step-and-repeat systems keep the
shutter open for an additional pulse and compensate completely. Thus, greater laser
reliability is required for step-and-scan systems than for step-and-repeat systems.
Freely running KrF lasers have a natural bandwidth of approximately 300
pm [full-width half-maximum (FWHM)], which is too wide for high-resolution
wafer steppers. All-refractive optics require bandwidths of <1.0 pm, and even
catadioptric, moderate-NA systems require bandwidths of <100 pm.47 (Lens types
are discussed in Section 5.4.) The requirements of catadioptric lenses are met
easily, while the line narrowing demanded by all-refractive lenses has presented
a challenge to laser designers. For refractive systems there is a need to be able
to vary the center wavelength in a controlled manner, and this wavelength is
tunable on KrF lasers over a range of up to 400 pm, at least in principle.48 In
practice, the wavelength only needs to be tuned over <1 pm. As the numerical
aperture increases, the bandwidth must be reduced. (The reason for this is discussed
in Section 5.4.) Consequently, the 0.6-NA Micrascan III required the use of an
excimer laser, narrowed to ∆λ < 100 pm,49 in contrast to earlier models of
Micrascans which had broadband arc-lamp sources of actinic light. However, the
Micrascan III, with its catadioptric lens, still tolerated a bandwidth much larger
than the ∆λ < 0.8 pm required for refractive-lens systems. Several methods
Wafer Steppers 159
have been used to narrow the bandwidth, principally gratings50 and Fabry-Perot
etalons (discussed below), or combinations of both. Prisms are sufficient to narrow
the bandwidth for application for moderate-NA catadioptric systems,51 while
extremely high-NA catadioptric lenses still have very tight bandwidth requirements
(<0.5 pm FWHM). The different options for narrowing laser bandwidths are
illustrated in Fig. 5.9.
Etalons are based upon the transmission properties of light through a transparent
plane-parallel plate. If the reflectance from an individual surface of the plate is R,
then the transmitted intensity through the plate It , normalized to the incident light
intensity Ii , is given by52
It 1
= , (5.4)
Ii δ
1 + F sin2
2
where
4π
δ= nt cos θ (5.5)
λ
and
4R
F= . (5.6)
(1 − R)2
In these equations, t is the thickness of the parallel plate, θ is the angle of

incidence, n is the refractive index of the plate, and λ is the wavelength of the
light (in vacuum). The resulting transmitted light intensity is shown in Fig. 5.10.
Because of their high resolving power, etalons are used to measure wavelength and
bandwidth with the intensity reduced sufficiently to avoid damage. All-refractive
optics require very good control of the wavelength. Variations in the wavelength
centerline can cause shifts in focus,53,54 distortion,55,56 and other aberrations. One
Figure 5.9 Different types of bandwidth-narrowing optics.

160 Chapter 5
Figure 5.10 Transmitted light intensity versus δ through an etalon. δ is given by Eq. (5.5).
of the problems with early excimer lasers was maintaining absolute wavelength
calibration. The gratings and Fabry-Perot etalons used to narrow the bandwidth
require a level of mechanical stability to maintain a fixed wavelength that is
not achievable. Modern KrF lasers use an internal iron reference, with several
wavelengths in the region of 248.3 nm, to establish absolute calibration.57 Single-
isotope mercury sources have also been used.58 For ArF lasers, there is a
carbon spectral line at 193.0905 nm that is used to establish absolute wavelength
calibration.59
Bandwidth specifications for excimer lasers for lithographic applications were
originally specified in terms of full-width half-maximum. Over time it became
recognized that image degradation could be caused by wavelengths on the “tails” of
the bandwidth distribution. It was also found that linewidth variations were found
to correlate better to a parameter referred to as E95, which is the bandwidth in
which 95% of the light energy is contained, than to the FWHM metric.60 As a
consequence, bandwidth specifications for the latest generations of excimer lasers
for lithographic applications are given in terms of E95.
Modern exposure tools impose conflicting requirements on lasers. Improved
imaging requires illumination with narrower bandwidths, for the reasons discussed
earlier in this section. There is also strong economic pressure for lasers to
have high-energy output in order to achieve high exposure-tool productivity (see
Chapter 11). It is very difficult to obtain high-laser-energy output at very narrow
wavelengths, particularly for ArF lasers, which are intrinsically less efficient than
KrF lasers. One approach to addressing both requirements is the technique of
injection locking.61,62 In this approach a laser pulse is generated in a seed laser,
or master oscillator. This pulse then travels through a second laser chamber,
where the power of the signal is amplified. The critical beam characteristics,
such as bandwidth, are determined largely by the master oscillator, while power
is generated by the power amplifier. Injection-locking technology has existed for
many years, but its application to lithography has been inhibited by the high spatial
coherence of the light produced by traditional injection-locking systems.63
Wafer Steppers 161
Cymer introduced a two-chamber laser system, referred to as master oscillator

power amplifier (MOPA), which produces light with less spatial coherence
than typical injection-locking lasers. With MOPA, the first chamber (the master
oscillator) is used to create a laser pulse with a narrow bandwidth. This pulse is
then injected into a second chamber, the power amplifier, which amplifies the signal
(see Fig. 5.11). There is an active discharge in the amplifier chamber that must be
synchronized with the pulse generated in the master oscillator. Cymer’s MOPA
differs from traditional injection locking by not having resonator optics as part
of the amplifier chamber, and this allows for reduced levels of spatial coherence.
Gigaphoton has also introduced a two-chamber laser. Even though the system from
Gigaphoton does have resonator optics in the power amplifier stage, it produces
light with spatial coherence that is low enough for lithographic applications.64
Lasers often produce nonuniform illumination, because of the phenomenon
of speckle,63 associated with high degrees of coherence. (See Appendix A for
a brief discussion of coherence.) Because of their high gain, excimer lasers
naturally have multimode outputs, with resulting low spatial coherence,65 and
therefore lower amounts of time-averaged speckle than produced by many other
types of lasers.66 Consequently, excimer lasers are well suited as sources of light
for photolithography, as lasers go. However, the very stringent requirements of
lithography have resulted in speckle being manifest in resist patterns, particularly
line-edge roughness.67 The impact of speckle can be reduced by increasing the
number of pulses per exposure so that the speckle noise within individual pulses
is moderated by averaging with other pulses. Increasing the temporal pulse length
also serves to reduce the impact of speckle.
Dual-chamber lasers achieve their objective of narrower bandwidth and higher
output, as shown in Table 5.5. The bandwidth is reduced appreciably on the dual-
chamber lasers relative to single-chamber lasers, while the output power is more
than tripled. Improvements in excimer-laser technology are expected to continue,
and it remains to be seen what the limits will ultimately be for bandwidth, output
Figure 5.11 MOPA configuration.

162 Chapter 5
Table 5.5 Comparison of dual-chamber ArF lasers with a representative single-chamber

ArF laser. The dual-chamber lasers are available with two options for power output. MOPO
is the acronym for master oscillator power oscillator.
Cymer Cymer Gigaphoton
Nanolith 7000 XLR600ix69 GT62A70,71
(single chamber) (MOPA) (MOPO)
Pulse energy 5 mJ 10 mJ/15 mJ 10 mJ/15 mJ switchable

switchable
Power 20W 60 W/90 W 60W/90 W
Repetition rate 4 kHz 6 kHz 6 kHz
Spectral bandwidth ≤0.5 pm not specified not specified
(FWHM)
Spectral Bandwidth ≤1.3 pm ≤0.35 pm ≤0.35 pm
(E95%)
energy, and pulse duration. For more detail on excimer lasers for lithographic
applications, refer to the excellent review paper by Das and Sandstrom.68
5.3 Illumination Systems

The stepper’s illumination system performs several functions, which include
spectral filtering (particularly for arc-lamp systems), establishing a specified level
of coherence, and perhaps generating complex forms of illumination. In addition,
the illumination system must control the exposure dose and provide uniform light.
These functions of the illuminator are discussed in this section.
With arc-lamp light sources, it is necessary to filter out the unwanted
wavelengths, including those in the infrared that lead to excessive heating. This
filtration usually occurs in one of the first stages of the illumination system. The
illumination of the reticle must be very uniform (≤±1%) over a large area. For
step-and-repeat systems this can be up to a 130 mm × 130 mm square in size, while
it is much smaller for step-and-scan systems, on the order of 104 mm × ∼40 mm.
The need to provide uniform illumination over a smaller area is another advantage
of step-and-scan relative to step-and-repeat. Illumination uniformity is related to
linewidth control across the exposure field. Exposure latitude is usually given as
the amount the exposure dose can be changed without changing linewidths by
more than ±10% from the target value. The typical exposure latitude of current
processes is ±5%, but has been decreasing over time, placing tighter requirements
on illumination uniformity. Good illumination uniformity is accomplished by a
number of approaches, such as the use of fly’s eyes72 and rods.73 A fly’s eye
arrangement consists of an array of lenslets, each of which images part of the
light source over the entire field to be illuminated, thereby averaging the amount
of light over the field (Fig. 5.12). The averaging effects of the optical systems
in illuminators also help to reduce the effects of speckle that were discussed in
the prior section. Additional methods for reducing illumination nonuniformity due
to speckle and other causes include deflection of the laser beam with a vibrating
mirror within the illuminator.74
Wafer Steppers 163
Figure 5.12 Schematic of a fly’s eye array for producing uniform light intensity in an
illuminator.
With uniform illumination over the entire slit, good dose control on step-and-
scan systems requires the same number of pulses for every exposure. To avoid a
dose quantization problem, the illumination is usually nonuniform in the direction
of the scan on step-and-scan systems, a trapezoidal shape being typical (Fig. 5.13).
The illuminator must also control the dose. This requires real-time measurement
of the exposure. A typical method involves the use of a beamsplitter to pick off a
small fraction (≤1%) of the light, and the intensity is measured (Fig. 5.14). In a
step-and-repeat system, the light is integrated from the time the shutter is opened,
and the shutter is closed when the correct exposure dose is achieved. For a step-
and-scan system, the feedback is used to control the scanning speed. Constant dose
on the wafer is maintained by decreasing the scanning speed of both the reticle and
wafer by the same percentage to compensate for decreases in laser- or lamp-light
output.
The use of a light-intensity monitor that is integral to the illuminator requires
calibration of this internal intensity monitor to the light intensity that is actually
achieved on the wafer. The light at the wafer plane is affected by transmission of
the lens and those portions of the illuminator that are between the light monitor
and the reticle. Most steppers have a light-intensity detector on the wafer stage,
enabling periodic checks of the dose-control system. The calibration of the detector
Figure 5.13 Trapezoidal illumination in the direction of the scan.

164 Chapter 5
Figure 5.14 Part of the light from the source is measured in order to control the exposure
dose. The particular control system shown in this figure applies to step-and-repeat systems.
In step-and-scan systems, the feedback loop involves the scan speed.
on the stage requires the use of an external energy monitor, and these are available
from a number of commercial suppliers. The National Institute of Standards and
Technology (NIST) provides absolute calibration capability.75
The illuminator also establishes the partial coherence (σ) of the light for
conventional illumination and generates various forms of off-axis illumination
as well. (Off-axis illumination is discussed further in Chapter 8.) The subject of
coherence is discussed briefly in Appendix A. On modern wafer steppers, σ is a
user-controllable parameter.76,77 The geometry that controls σ is shown in Fig. A.3
of Appendix A. One simple way to modulate σ is to use an aperture that regulates
the light incident on the reticle. However, apertures reduce the total light intensity,
thereby diminishing exposure-tool productivity. Modern illuminators have been
designed to redirect the light collected from the light source to allow for variable
partial coherence without significant reductions in light intensity when low values
of σ are selected.78 For example, the angle of the cone of light that illuminates the
reticle can be modulated by the use of zoom optics, as shown in Fig. 5.15. Similarly,
light can be directed into an annulus by using a conical shaped lens element,
known as an axicon.79 A cross section of an axicon is illustrated in Fig. 5.16.
As shown in Fig. A.3, modifying the cone angle of the illumination changes the
partial coherence of the light. In addition to using refraction to redirect light within
the illuminator, diffractive optical elements (DOE) can also be used, and they are
useful for generating complex illumination shapes, such as will be discussed in
Chapter 8.
The effect of partial coherence on imaging is shown in Fig. 5.17. Complete
coherence leads to oscillations in the light-intensity profile that result from the
interference of light waves, but the edges of the profiles are steeper than those
obtained with less coherent light. Sharper profiles are obtained with small values
of sigma (σ ≤ 0.4) and are beneficial for patterning features such as contacts82 that
need the best optical profiles possible. On the other hand, it has been found that
Wafer Steppers 165
Figure 5.15 Illustration of zoom optics,80 which can be used to modify the partial
coherence of the illumination.81
Figure 5.16 Illustration of the cross section of an axicon. β = arcsin[nsin(α)] – α, where n

is the index of refraction of the glass comprising the conical lens.
Figure 5.17 Variation of light-intensity profiles with partial coherence. The images were
for 300-nm nominal features, calculated using PROLITH (version 1.5), for an aberration-
free 0.6-NA lens, and imaging at a wavelength of 248 nm.
166 Chapter 5
better depth-of-focus of line and space patterns is obtained with higher values of
sigma (σ ≥ 0.6),83 which are often used on gate and metal layers.
As might be expected from Fig. 5.17, linewidths are modulated by the partial
coherence. This effect is shown in more detail in Fig. 5.18, where linewidth is
given as a function of partial coherence. As can be concluded from the data shown
in Fig. 5.18, not only must illumination intensity be uniform over the exposure
field, so must partial coherence84 in order to maintain uniformity of linewidths
across the exposure field.
As is discussed in detail in Chapter 8, the depth-of-focus can be enhanced
in certain circumstances by illuminating the reticle with light from a ring or
annulus of light brought in at oblique angles to the reticle. As with respect
to partial coherence, illuminators are designed to produce off-axis illumination
without significantly reducing the light intensity, by using optical elements such
as axicons.78,85
In another implementation of off-axis illumination, quadrupole, the reticle is
illuminated with four separate beams.86 For quadrupole illumination to work
properly, all quads of the illumination must have the same the light intensity. This
is a more stringent requirement than having uniform light intensity overall.87
5.4 Reduction Lenses

On a wafer stepper, N-times demagnified images of the IC patterns are projected
onto the wafer surface by the microlithographic lens, mounted only a few
millimeters above the wafer surface. Values of N typically range between 1 and
5, with 4× reduction being the most common, although 5× was the dominant
reduction prior to the advent of step-and-scan technology. The first commercially
available step-and-repeat systems employed 10× reduction. Reduction optics have
a benefit with respect to reducing sensitivities to defects on the reticles,88–90
reticle linewidth variations, and registration errors, with greater such advantages
Figure 5.18 Linewidth as a function of sigma, given by calculated aerial images for isolated
180-nm lines, with optical parameters of 0.7 NA and a wavelength of 248 nm.
Wafer Steppers 167
accompanying larger values of N. However, the largest field on the wafer equals the
biggest quality area on the reticle demagnified by N. To sustain field sizes adequate
to handle expected chip sizes (see Table 5.6) while maintaining practically sized
reticles, and to provide adequate stepper throughput, the lens-reduction factor N
has been kept to modest values, such as 5× and 4×. The factors that determine the
optimum lens-reduction factor are given in Table 5.7.
Most stepper lenses with numerical apertures of ≤0.93 are refractive, meaning
that the optical elements are all made of transmitting glass. Microlithographic
reduction-lens design has generally followed the “double-Gaussian” form92 first
described by Glatzel93 of Carl Zeiss. An example of a modern stepper lens design
is shown in Fig. 5.19. Early stepper lenses weighed about 10 lbs. and resembled
camera lenses. Indeed, the stepper is a type of camera, in which a picture of the
reticle is taken and printed on a film comprised of photoresist. It is not surprising
Figure 5.19 The lens drawing shows one embodiment of the invention (DE19855108, filed
Nov. 30, 1998) that the lens designers from Carl Zeiss generated within the framework of a
design and feasibility study related to modern optical-projection systems for microlithography
at 248 nm with high numerical aperture (Courtesy of Winfried Kaiser of Carl Zeiss).
168 Chapter 5
Table 5.6 Expected chip sizes at the start of production, from the 2008 International
Technology Roadmap for Semiconductors.* Applications-specific ICs are expected to fill
available field sizes. Memory chips tend to have 2:1 aspect ratios, while microprocessor
aspect ratios are closer to 1:1. For many years exposure field size requirements were driven
by DRAM chip sizes, but logic now determines how big field sizes need to be.
2007 2010 2013 2016
Half pitch (nm) 68 45 32 22.5

DRAM (mm2 ) 107 93 93 93
Microprocessor (mm2 ) 652 563 560 557
*
http://public.itrs.net
Table 5.7 Factors that determine the optimum lens-reduction factor.91
Reasons that compel a large lens-reduction Reasons that may compel a small lens-reduction factor
factor
CD and overlay control Large die size

Reticle inspection and repair 230-mm reticle cost and reality
Small features on reticles for OPC Stepper throughput
Reticle defects Lens size and cost
Potential for multiple dies on reticles
that the three largest manufacturers of stepper lenses—Nikon, Canon, and Carl
Zeiss—have their roots in making cameras. The modern refractive lens has 20–30
glass elements held firmly in a steel cylindrical jacket. The lens may be a meter
in length and weigh 500 kg or more. Photographs of KrF lenses are shown in
Fig. 5.20.
Refractive lenses typically provide good imaging over a narrow band of
wavelengths. Image formation by lenses relies on the phenomenon of refraction,
where rays of light are bent at the interface between materials with different optical
properties. Referring to Fig. 5.21, light rays that have an angle of incidence θ1 will
refract to the angle θ2 according to Snell’s Law:52
sin θ1 n2
= , (5.7)
sin θ2 n1
where ni is the refractive index of material i. In lenses, one of these materials is

usually air and the other is glass.
With refractive lenses, imaging changes if either the index of refraction of air or
the index of refraction of the glass changes. These refractive indices change with
wavelength—the phenomenon of dispersion. As a consequence, the imaging of the
lens changes as the wavelength of light changes, leading to practical limitations
on the bandwidths over which diffraction-limited lenses can be designed and built.
Designing a refractive lens with nearly diffraction-limited imaging over a wide
range of wavelengths is very difficult, and such lenses, if they could be designed,
would be larger, more complex, and more expensive than narrow-bandwidth lenses.
Wafer Steppers 169
Figure 5.20 Two KrF lenses: (a) 0.82-NA KrF lens from Nikon, and (b) 0.8-NA lens from
Canon.
Figure 5.21 Refraction of light at an interface. The medium above the line has an index of
refraction of n1 , and the medium below the line has an index of refraction of n2 .
The bandwidths over which lenses operate tend to decrease along with wavelengths
and feature sizes. Consequently, the lenses used in microlithography, particularly
those used for imaging features of ≤65 nm, operate over narrow bandwidths.
Lenses can be made to operate over wider bandwidths when there is more
than one optical material available, because the lens designer has an additional
degree of freedom to use in designing lenses. G-line and i-line lenses can operate
over the bandwidths produced by mercury-arc lamps, or with slight narrowing,
typically 4–6 nm (FWHM). For many years, fused silica was the only available
material with sufficient transparency and quality for making 248-nm lenses, and
such lenses have needed highly narrowed light sources, typically <1 pm (FWHM).
This is a much smaller bandwidth than needs to be supported at g-line and i-
line wavelengths, where there are several different glass materials that can be
used for making chromatic corrections in the lenses. To meet the needs of ArF
lithography, crystalline CaF2 with adequate quality and in pieces of sufficient size
170 Chapter 5
has become available. This material can work down to 157 nm and somewhat
shorter wavelengths. Lenses for 193-nm lithography typically use both fused silica
and a small quantity of CaF2 . In spite of their shorter wavelengths and higher
resolution, lenses for 193-nm lithography have approximately the same bandwidth
requirements as the single-material 248-nm lenses of comparable NAs, because a
second lens material is used.
For good overall lens transmission, the materials used for the lens elements must
be extremely transparent. The transmission properties of various types of optical
glass are shown in Fig. 5.22.94–96 Today, fused silica and calcium fluoride are the
only suitable materials available in sufficient quantity for use at wavelengths below
350 nm, and these materials, too, have their limits. Lenses for 193-nm lithography
usually include CaF2 as an optical material97 because of its excellent transparency
at 193 nm and its resistance to optical damage (a problem that is discussed shortly).
BaF2 was being studied as a possible material for 157-nm lithography and 193-nm
liquid immersion lithography (to be discussed in Chapter 10).
For 248-nm and 193-nm lithography, it is practical to have lenses that operate
over very narrow ranges of wavelength (<1 pm), because adequate intensity from
excimer lasers can be obtained even over such narrow bandwidths. On the other
hand, i-line lenses need to operate over much wider bandwidths of between 4
and 6 nm. At shorter wavelengths, ingredients that change the glass’s index of
refraction also absorb the light. In stepper lenses this absorption is small and does
not have a major impact on lens transmissions, but there are consequences. Lenses
containing absorbing materials heat up and expand during exposure, causing
defocus,98 changes in magnification, and other aberrations. Focus is the parameter
affected most by lens heating, with some measurable impact on magnification.
Changes to the other aberrations are typically small, but are nonnegligible for
very low-k1 lithography. This heating often occurs with i-line lenses, and a similar
problem occurs for 193-nm lenses, because fused silica becomes slightly absorbing
Figure 5.22 The transmission of 10-mm-thick samples of materials used in the lenses of
wafer steppers. Surface losses are removed. The Ohara and Schott materials are suitable
for i-line lenses, but are too absorbing at DUV wavelengths.
Wafer Steppers 171
at that wavelength (unlike what happens at 248 nm, where fused silica is extremely
transparent).
Stepper software is required to compensate for the effects of lens heating.99
Manipulators are used to adjust lens-element positions actively to correct for
changes induced by lens heating. The amount of light transmitted into the lens
is determined by the patterns on the masks. Less light is transmitted through a
contact mask than a typical gate-layer mask. The light that actually enters the lens
is also affected by feature sizes, since much of the light can be diffracted out of
the entrance pupil of the projection optics. Diffraction may also cause nonuniform
lens heating, reflecting the nonuniformity of the mask’s diffraction pattern. Just as
the lens will heat up during exposure, it will cool when the stepper is idle, and the
stepper must correct for the cooling as well.
Transparency is a necessary but insufficient requirement for a material to be
appropriate for the optics used in microlithography. Many crystalline materials
exhibit birefringence, where the index of refraction is different along various
crystal axes, and such materials are generally not suitable for use in high-resolution
optical systems. For example, SiO2 in its purely crystalline form, quartz, is not
easily incorporated into lenses, while amorphous fused silica is a standard optical
material because the crystalline form of SiO2 has dissimilar behavior among
different optical axes. Other materials, such as MgF2 and LiF have adequate
transparency at 193-nm and 157-nm wavelengths, but are too birefringent for
use in high-resolution lenses. CaF2 has negligible intrinsic birefringence at long
wavelengths, but at wavelengths as short as 193 nm, this birefringence can
no longer be ignored [100]. Fortunately, the birefringence in CaF2 can largely
be corrected by using different [111] oriented CaF2 lens elements with their
crystallographic axes rotated 60 deg relative to each other, and also by including
pairs of elements100 of oriented material (the two elements in the pair rotated 45
deg with respect to each other).101 Barium fluoride has also been considered as a
material for stepper lenses, but it has a much higher level of intrinsic birefringence
than CaF2 .102 Indeed, the intrinsic birefringence of BaF2 at a wavelength of 193
nm is larger than the birefringence of CaF2 at a wavelength of 157 nm.
Low levels of birefringence that can affect imaging at levels relevant for
microlithography are induced by mechanical stresses into materials that are not
birefringent in their perfect crystalline or amorphous state.103 Such stresses are
created if there are large thermal inhomogeneities in the furnaces in which the
CaF2 crystals or boules of fused silica are grown. Residual stress birefringence is
one factor that limits the yield of CaF2 suitable for use in stepper lenses.
The transition to 193-nm lithography necessitated the addition of another lens
material, or the use of mirrors as well as glass lenses in the design, in order to
maintain practical laser bandwidths. A lens with both reflective and refractive
elements is referred to as catadioptric. In addition to fused silica, 193-nm lenses
often use CaF2 , which has significantly different physical properties than fused
silica, such as being much softer. Because CaF2 has long been used in television
camera lenses, lens makers have had some experience in the past working with
this material, albeit not at the critical levels required for the lenses used in
172 Chapter 5
microlithography. Nevertheless, prior experience was sufficient to enable CaF2 to

be used in the first generation of wide-field 193-nm lenses.
In addition to providing a material with an index of refraction different from
that of fused silica, CaF2 is resistant to damage by 193-nm light. Glass damage is
proportional to λ−4 , so light-induced damage issues are much greater for 193-nm
systems than for 248-nm ones.104 Damage is a concern because excimer lasers are
used as light sources. Under high-intensity levels of light, fused silica will compact
(become more dense) and become more absorbing. Decompaction, where the glass
becomes less dense, can also occur. Compaction or decompaction, if such occurs in
the projection optics, will degrade the image quality, and induced absorption will
reduce light intensity at the wafer, thereby degrading stepper throughput.
Under exposure to 193-nm laser radiation, the density of fused silica changes,
with a resulting change in the material’s index of refraction. There appear to
be two different mechanisms for change. One is compaction, where the fused
silica becomes more dense with increasing exposure,105 while the other is exactly
opposite, rarefaction or decompaction. The change in the index of refraction
∆n [in parts per billion (ppb)] can be described approximately by the following
expresson:105,106
!b
NI 2
∆n = k1 (NI) + k2
a
, (5.8)
τ
where τ is the pulse length (nsec), N is the number of pulses, I is the energy
density (J/cm2 ) per pulse, and k1 , k2 , a, and b are fitting parameters that vary
from sample to sample. Parameters obtained by measuring the change in refractive
index over the course of 40 billion pulses is given in Table 5.8. The first term on
the right hand side of Eq. (5.8) represents rarefaction, so k1 is negative (or zero),
while the second term represents compaction. The two processes of compaction
and decompaction compensate each other to some extent. The degree to which
this occurs is dependent upon material preparation, and the fused silica which is
used for ArF stepper optics has a balance between the compaction and rarefaction
mechanisms. Lens lifetimes can be estimated by solving Problem 5.7.
Densification and/or rarefaction can change the refractive index and imaging
properties of the optical components at a level significant for lithographic optical
Table 5.8 Parameters for Eq. (5.8), for changes to the index of refraction at a wavelength
of 632.8 nm, which tracks the index of refraction at 193 nm.107
Sample A Sample B Sample C
k1 (J · cm−2 ) −0.051 0.00 −0.109

a (unitless) 1.1 n/a 0.83
k2 (cm4 · ns · J−2 ) 12.1 5.24 2.82
b (unitless) 0.98 1.0 1.0
Wafer Steppers 173
systems. After extensive use, compaction and/or rarefaction can render 193-nm
optics unsuitable for high-resolution lithography. The details of the manufacturing
process for the fused silica material can influence the rate of compaction, and
grades of fused silica adequate for use in 193-nm projection optics have been
developed. In the illuminators of 193-nm systems, where high light intensities
occur, appreciable amounts of CaF2 are needed.
As can be seen in Eq. (5.8), the compaction and rarefaction terms have different
functional dependencies. Optics lifetime can be maximized by optimizing peak
power and pulse duration. Since the intensity differs at every element in the
optical path, careful studies must be done for each lens design. Since light
distributions within lenses depends on the diffraction patterns resulting from
particular combinations of mask layouts and illumination, lens-lifetime studies
must also take into account how the exposure tools will be used.
In general, some light reflects from the interface between two optically different
materials. Light propagating through a semifinite medium with an index of
refraction n1 and normally incident onto a planar interface with another semifinite
medium that has an index of refraction n2 has a fraction of light energy reflected
away from the interface:
n2 − n1 2

R = . (5.9)
n2 + n1
The index of refraction of air ≈ 1, while the indices of refraction for the
glass materials used in lithography, at the wavelengths of interest, are ∼1.5.
Consequently, approximately 4% of the light is reflected at each interface. For
a lens with 30 optical elements (60 interfaces) the overall transmission loss due
to these reflections would be over 90% with such simple air-glass interfaces. To
avoid such a large loss of transmission, with the resulting diminution of stepper
throughput and productivity, antireflection coatings are applied to the surfaces of
each optical element. The physics of such coatings is identical to that of the top
antireflection coatings used in resist processing and discussed in Chapter 4. As
seen from Eq. (4.40), these coatings perform optimally at certain wavelengths, and
this is another reason why refractive lenses should be used over a narrow band of
wavelengths. On the other hand, associated with the use of exposure systems with
monochromatic illumination, there is the susceptibility of the process to thin-film
optical effects, a topic that was discussed in detail in Chapter 4. It has proven better
to avoid compromising the projection optics and to find solutions to the problems
created by thin-film optical effects.
Because of high fluences, optical coatings need to be developed that are resistant
to laser-induced damage. This is particularly true for antireflection coatings in
the illuminator where fluences are high, and it also applies to high-reflectance
coatings.43 While fluences are lower in the projection optics, hence the potential
for damage is less, the sensitivity to damage is greater for the stepper lens, causing
repair costs to be much higher than for illuminators and lasers. In all cases, coatings
174 Chapter 5
must be designed to be resilient under extended exposure to high-intensity DUV

light.
One example of a problem caused by damaged or nonoptimized antireflection
coatings is flare.108 This term refers to light scattered in the optical system that
reaches the image plane. When there are reflections at the glass-air interface,
multiple reflections occur, leading to a background of light (Fig. 5.23). Flare also
arises from scattering, which occurs at surfaces or at defects in the glass material
itself.
Flare occurs when the surfaces of lens elements are rough. Obtaining smooth
surfaces is particularly difficult for CaF2 lens elements because the hardness of
CaF2 depends upon crystallographic orientation. Consequently, material removal
is anisotropic across curved surfaces. Special techniques have been developed for
polishing CaF2 .109
Scattering from lens surfaces can result from contamination. The high-intensity
DUV light can induce photochemical reactions that deposit material on illuminated
lens surfaces.110 If the deposited material coalesces, light is scattered by the
resulting particles. One way to avoid this contamination is to purge the lenses with
extremely pure gases. Levels of impurities need to be well below 1 ppb.111
Flare leads to light in parts of the pattern that correspond to opaque chrome on
the mask.112 This can occur over a range of distances.113 For example, long-range
flare leads to a fairly uniform background of light throughout the imaged area,
which leads to reduced image contrast. If a uniform background of scattered light
exists, it will be added to both the maximum and minimum light in an image; thus,
the image contrast [Eq. (2.9)] becomes
Figure 5.23 Flare resulting from reflections and scattering within lens elements.
Wafer Steppers 175
Imax − Imin
C = (5.10)
Imax + Imin
with flare level δ (Imax + δ) − (Imin + δ)
−−−−−−−−−−−−−→ (5.11)
Imax + δ + Imin + δ
Imax − Imin
= . (5.12)
Imax + Imin + 2δ
As can be seen, flare reduces image contrast.

Scattering produces long-range flare as light passes through the reticle and lens
and ultimately creates a fairly uniform background of light across the exposure
area. By its very nature, long-range flare is a function of the amount of clear area
on the mask as well as the propensity of the lens to scatter light. Light can also
be scattered over shorter distances, and correctly accounting for the impact of flare
on images requires that medium- and short-range flare also be treated properly.
This can be accomplished by measuring image contrast over a range of spatial
frequencies.113
According to Eq. (2.8), smaller features are resolved by decreasing the
wavelength or increasing the numerical aperture of the lenses. The NA can be
increased by increasing the diameter of the lens or decreasing the focal length
(Fig. 2.11). There are practical limits to both of these factors. The focal length
of the lens is limited by the practical necessity of moving wafers underneath it
without hitting it. The distance between the bottom of the lens and the wafer
surface is often referred to as the working distance of the lens. Another reason
to maintain a reasonably large working distance is the problem of outgassing from
the photoresist during exposure. During exposure, volatile constituents of the resist
can outgas and contaminate the bottom lens element. This contamination can lead
to nonuniform intensity and scattered light. A sufficiently long working distance
and substantial air flow between the lens and the wafer can be used to minimize lens
contamination. Typical working distances are on the order of several millimeters.
Reflective optics are advantageous because broadband illumination can be used
with them. In practice, high-NA, fully reflective optics are difficult to design
and build because optical elements interfere with each other. As can be seen in
Fig. 5.24, enlarging the mirrors results in some light rays being blocked by other
mirrors. The lens shown in Fig. 5.24 is for an EUV lens, designed for operation at
a very short wavelength, 13.4 nm. (EUV lithography is discussed in Chapter 12.)
Because of the very short wavelength involved, high resolution is achieved with a
very small numerical aperture (0.14). At wavelengths of 193 nm or longer, much
higher numerical apertures (≥0.8) are needed to achieve the desired resolution,
and the problem of mirrors interfering with each other arises. Consequently, DUV
microlithography lenses that employ mirrors also contain some refractive elements.
Lenses containing both refractive and reflective elements are called catadioptric.
For many years, catadioptric lenses were used primarily by two suppliers of wafer
steppers; Ultratech Stepper and SVG Lithography (now a part of ASML). With
extremely high NAs associated with immersion lithography (see Chapter 10),
Nikon, Canon, and ASML have also begun to use catadioptric lenses routinely.
176 Chapter 5
Figure 5.24 Four-mirror design with NA = 0.14 and λ = 13.4 nm, designed for use in EUV
lithography.
Ultratech steppers use what is known as the Wynne–Dyson design for lenses.114
These comprise a family of catadioptric 1:1 lenses capable of imaging over
fairly broad ranges of wavelength. Early Ultratech steppers used the part of the
mercury spectrum that included both the g- and h-lines, providing the user with the
capability to minimize standing-wave effects. A more recent model, the Titan III,
uses illumination over the spectrum from 390 to 450 nm, and provides a resolution
of 0.75 µm.115 Unfortunately, it has proven difficult to extend this type of lens from
1:1 to reduction formats.
In addition to being the first commercially available step-and-scan system, the
Micrascan I used a catadioptric lens116 that did provide image reduction (4:1).
However, the Micrascan I used ring-field optics that were difficult to fabricate and
maintain, and extension to higher numerical aperture was problematic. (Ring-field
optics are discussed in Section 5.9.) To address the problem of aligning the optical
elements, an innovative lens design117–119 was introduced with the Micrascan
II and extended to the Micrascan III (Fig. 5.25).120 This lens incorporated a
beamsplitter that addressed the problem of aligning the optical elements when
curved mirrors were involved, by leading to a lens configuration that had only two
orthogonal axes. This greatly simplified mechanical alignment of the lens elements,
thereby permitting the extension of catadioptric lenses to higher NAs (0.50 for
Micrascan II and 0.60 for Micrascan III, compared to 0.357 on Micrascan I). In
the Micrascan II and III, polarized light from the reticle passes through several
refractive lens elements and is reflected by a flat folding mirror before entering
the polarizing beamsplitter. The light is reflected from the beamsplitter to a curved
mirror, returns through the beamsplitter, and is finally imaged onto the wafer. The
use of the aspheric mirror element allows a designed bandwidth of 4 nm for the
Micrascan II, as compared to the ≤1-pm bandwidth for an all-fused silica reduction
stepper lens at 248 nm. Thus the Micrascan II used a mercury-arc lamp for the
illumination source, as did the Micrascan I. A mercury-arc lamp, however, would
be far too weak to use with an all-refractive lens design, which requires that most
of the light be filtered away. As a corollary to being able to image well at a wider
range of wavelengths, catadioptric lenses also have greater stability with respect to
temperature and pressure changes than is possible with all-refractive lens systems.
Wafer Steppers 177
Figure 5.25 Schematic of a 4×, NA = 0.60, λ = 248-nm catadioptric lens used in the
Micrascan III, based on the patented design of Williamson.119
The different intrinsic stabilities between catadioptric and refractive lenses

are listed in Table 5.9.120 Note that it is possible to compensate for focus and
magnification shifts using software, so the greater sensitivity of refractive lenses
to temperature and pressure increases the accuracy with which corrections need
to be made, but it has not proven to be fundamentally limiting. Nevertheless,
there is considerable value to having reduced intrinsic sensitivies, since there will
inevitably be some level of compensation error.
With higher NAs, even the catadioptric lenses cannot support the broad
bandwidth of the arc lamp’s DUV emission, and the Micrascan IIIs, as well as
all-refractive lens systems, used a KrF excimer laser for operation at 248 nm.
The 0.6-NA version of the Williamson lens used in the Micrascan III had a
bandwidth of 100 pm,121 wide enough to allow the use of a moderately narrowed
KrF laser, potentially boosting the light intensity in the wafer plane and obviating
the sensitive line-narrowing optics in the laser. For shorter wavelengths and larger
NAs, narrower bandwidths are required. More recent examples of catadioptric
lenses without the involvement of a beamsplitter are shown in Fig. 5.26.
Table 5.9 Comparison of sensitivities of catadioptric

and refractive 0.6-NA DUV lenses to changes in
wavelength, temperature, and pressure.120
Refractive lens Catadioptric lens
Focus
Temperature −5.01 µm/◦ C −0.04 µm/◦ C
Pressure 0.243 µm/mm Hg <0.01 µm/mm Hg
Wavelength 0.24 µm/pm <0.01 µm/pm
Magnification
Temperature 16.5 ppm/◦ C 0.2 ppm/◦ C
Pressure −0.8 ppm/mm Hg <0.1 ppm/mm Hg
Wavelength −0.8 ppm/pm <0.1 ppm/pm
178 Chapter 5
Figure 5.26 Lens designs considered by Nikon for NA ≥ 1.3, designed to operate at a
wavelength of 193 nm.122 (a) Two-axis and three-mirror type, (b) uniaxis and four-mirror type,
(c) three-axis and three-mirror type, and (d) uniaxis and two-aspheric-mirror type. Nikon
selected design (a) for their S610C scanner. How numerical apertures >1 are achieved is
discussed in Chapter 10.
Lens performance can fall short of the diffraction limit. Deviations from
diffraction-limited performance—aberrations—were discussed in the previous
chapter and can arise from a number of sources. Lens designs may be inadequate,
and even when the lenses are designed nearly to perfection, fabrication will be
imperfect. Important issues in lens fabrication are the purity, homogeneity, and
spectral transmission of glass materials; the precision to which spherical and
aspheric surfaces can be ground and polished; and the centration and spacing of
elements.123
To begin, optical materials must be uniform in terms of refractive index
and transmission. To meet these requirements, the lens materials, when being
grown in a furnace, must be subjected to very gradual changes in temperature;
otherwise, thermal gradients lead to variations in density. Induced stress also leads
to birefringence. The necessary quality levels have resulted in prices for optical
glass that have reached thousands of dollars per kilogram, while crystalline CaF2
is much more expensive.
Once the individual lens elements are produced, they must be mounted properly.
Critical machining and assembly are required to ensure the correct spacing between
lens elements and to make certain that they share, as closely as possible, a common
optical axis. Securing the elements to the lens housing, to ensure that they do not
shift, often requires adhesives. It is important that the curing of these adhesives
does not cause the lens elements to shift and does not induce stress.124 Adhesives
for lithography lenses must also have low levels of outgassing and must be stable
to stray UV and DUV light.
Wafer Steppers 179
For the lowest-aberration lenses, all sources of stress that can distort optical
elements must be eliminated. Mounts for the lens elements have been carefully
designed to minimize deformation.125 A careful balance must be maintained while
securing the lens elements so they do not move in an undesired way or induce
undue stress.
Lens quality is assured through extensive metrology. Optical materials are
measured for homogeneity in refractive index down to the parts-per-million level,
and birefringence is measured as well. Transmission must also be uniform and
greater than minimum required values. After polishing, the surfaces of individual
lens elements are carefully measured and repolished until they meet specifications.
Many lens manufacturers use phase-measuring interferometry (PMI) to determine
the form of the emerging wavefront from the assembled lens, information that
can then be compared to the diffraction-limited wavefront in order to measure the
residual aberrations. The PMI was developed by Bruning and coworkers at AT&T
Bell Laboratories.126
The need for reduced aberrations motivated stepper manufacturers to introduce
the step-and-scan configuration in spite of its greater mechanical complexity.
Because only a small part of the reticle is imaged at any one instant with a
step-and-scan, a smaller part of the lens field is utilized. The part of the lens
with the smallest aberrations, least distortion, best imaging, and tightest linewidth
control is selected for use. The move to step-and-scan provides improvements
in overlay (as a consequence of reduced lens-placement errors and improved
ability to adjust for reticle registration errors) and better linewidth control, without
requiring significant improvements in lens technology. In addition to being able
to select the part of the field with fewest aberrations, there are improvements
in across-field uniformity that result from the averaging effect of scanning. The
placement of an object on the wafer is the result of the lens-placement errors
averaged over the part of the lens through which it is imaged. Since lenses are
judged by the worst placement errors, averaging always has an ameliorating effect.
Step-and-scan also provides improved compensation for reticle errors, because
magnification is adjusted independently in the directions parallel and perpendicular
to the scan,127,128 but other issues can arise when doing this, as will be discussed
in Section 5.7. Similarly, critical dimension uniformity is paramount in lenses, and
this is always improved by averaging. These are all general properties of step-and-
scan, independent of exposure wavelength, but step-and-scan has appeared first on
DUV systems for critical layer applications, although i-line step-and-scan systems
are also available.129
This use of a restricted field in step-and-scan has important implications. Since
only a rectangular strip of the lens field is used, the elements are rotated with
respect to each other, or “clocked,” to find the best image performance. The whole
lens, in fact, can be clocked. This tends to make final assembly of the lens go
more quickly and results in better performance. In addition, many aberrations are
proportional to powers of the field diameter and grow steeply near the field edges,
which is avoided when using the restricted field. Overall, the lens performance
180 Chapter 5
is improved for both CD control and image placement when a restricted field is
scanned rather than using the full image field.
Even though lenses are fabricated with extremely low levels of aberrations, it has
proven necessary to have active controls on the lenses to maintain good imaging.
As noted previously, lens heating and changes in barometric pressure require active
compensation of focus and magnification. As imaging requirements have gotten
tighter, it has proven necessary to compensate actively for other aberrations, such
as spherical aberration.130 This compensation is accomplished in several ways.
In state-of-the-art scanner lenses, the position of a number of lens elements is
controlled actively using actuators.131 To address the problem of asymmetric lens
heating due to the nonuniform diffraction patterns, Nikon has incorporated infrared
lasers to heat the lenses in those portions of the lens not heated by the actinic light
(Fig. 5.27).
Step-and-scan also provides cost-effective very large field sizes. Consider a lens
with a 31.1-mm diameter. The largest square field that is imaged by such a lens is
22 × 22 mm. A very wide, but short, field can also be imaged (Fig. 5.28). In step-
and-repeat systems, such fields are not very useful, since most integrated circuits
do not fit in such a field. On the other hand, such a short imaging field can be
used on step-and-scan machines, where the height of the printed field is obtained
by scanning. Thus, the same 31.1-mm diameter lens that could produce only a
22 × 22-mm maximum square on a step-and-repeat system could print a 30-mm-
wide field using an 8-mm-tall slit. Slit heights on commercially available systems
are shown in Table 5.10.
The height of the field is determined by the scanning stages, lens reduction,
and the size of the reticle. The stage technology exists for scanning up to 50 mm
Figure 5.27 Illustration of Nikon’s infrared aberration control system.132

Wafer Steppers 181
Figure 5.28 Lens field utilization for a lens with a circular image field. For step-and-repeat
systems, the large square area would be used, while the wide and short area of the lens
field would be used for step-and-scan machines.
Table 5.10 Slit heights of representative step-and-

scan machines. All of these are KrF lenses, except for
the Nikon NSR-307E, which is an ArF lens.
Stepper manufacturer Model Slit height (mm)
SVGL Micrascan III133 5

Nikon NSR-S204B 8
Nikon NSR-307E 8
ASML 5500/500134 8
Canon ES6135 7
on the wafer, and is considered to be extensible beyond that. With 4× reduction

ratios, a 50-mm height requires reticles larger than 200 mm on a side. Field heights
of 50 mm are not used in practice, because sufficiently large reticles are not
readily available. Today’s reticles are 152 × 152 mm, which results in a practical
maximum field height of 33 mm for tools with 4× lens reduction. Field widths on
step-and-scan systems are typically 25 or 26 mm. Expected chip sizes over the next
half-decade were shown in Table 5.6. All of these chips can be accommodated in
the 26 × 33-mm fields currently available.
In order to pattern large-area dies, a die-stitching method was reported by
workers at Hitachi for making a 17.3 × 8.2-mm 16-Mbit DRAM with a first-
generation i-line stepper with a 10-mm2 lens field,136 before wide-field lenses
appeared. Stitching allows the use of well-corrected small-field lenses to image
large die sizes. Stitching, however, is not an attractive option for volume
manufacturing because of the need for two masks at every layer, overlay errors
that occur at the stitching boundary, and sharply reduced throughput due to
reticle exchanges needed for every wafer, among other reasons. However, stitching
enables the fabrication of high-bit-count memories in early stages of development,
without requiring expensive wide-field lenses.
182 Chapter 5
For several device generations, lens manufacturers have been able to improve
both NA and field size while maintaining diffraction-limited performance, as is
illustrated in Tables 5.1 and 5.11. Figure 5.29 shows the steady progression of lens
pixel count (the maximum exposure area divided by the area of a square that is one
minimum feature size on a side) for 248-nm lenses from five manufacturers (Zeiss,
Nikon, Canon, Tropel, and SVGL).
Increases in the pixel count, whether resulting from increases in numerical
aperture or field size, generally require larger lenses. This was seen in Fig. 2.11.
Over time, higher resolution and larger field sizes have been required, leading to
increases in lens size. The trend in lens weight is shown in Fig. 5.30. To follow
the pace required by the IC industry, lens manufacturers have had to use more
glass elements and elements with ever greater diameters (∼300-mm maximum).
Wide-field i-line lenses were once considered expensive (∼$500,000), but leading-
edge KrF lenses are several times more expensive due to the cost of the optical-
quality fused silica glass and more stringent requirements for surface figure and
finish, as well as coating uniformity. ArF lenses are even more expensive than KrF
ones. The fraction of stepper cost represented by the lens has been increasing, and
today represents one-third or more of the total system cost. Also, as the size of the
lens increases, the stepper body must add more dynamic compensation in order to
hold the lens in a vibration-free environment. The cost of microlithographic lenses
Figure 5.29 Progression of lens pixel counts versus time for 248-nm lenses.
Table 5.11 Microlithographic lenses for IC production.
Minimum features (µm) NA Wavelength k1 Depth-of-focus* (µm) Pixel count
1.00 0.38 g line 0.80 3.02 2.4 × 108

0.35 0.60 i line 0.50 1.01 2.0 × 109
0.25 0.60 KrF 0.60 0.69 1.3 × 1010
0.18 0.70 KrF 0.51 0.51 2.6 × 1010
0.13 0.75 ArF 0.50 0.34 4.9 × 1010
0.09 0.85 ArF 0.40 0.27 1.0 × 1011
*
k2 = 1.0.
Wafer Steppers 183
Figure 5.30 Progression of lens weight (lbs) as a function of pixel count.
continues to increase sharply, even with such changes in paradigm as step-and-scan

and catadioptric designs. However, without these innovations, optical lithography
might well have stopped being a cost-effective manufacturing technology long ago.
Two lenses are clearly off the trend line for refractive lenses, as shown in
Fig. 5.30. These are the catadioptric Micrascan II and III lenses. In addition to other
advantages, the catadioptric lenses are capable of being built with less optical glass
than all-refractive lenses. These catadioptric lenses contain only about a dozen
elements, compared to 20 or more for the all-refractive stepper lens, which makes
them both less massive and less costly to build.
With all of the advantages of catadioptric lenses it may appear puzzling that all
stepper manufacturers did not make the transition to such optics a long time ago.
This transition was delayed for several reasons. First, there is considerable value
in continuing to use technology in which one has the greatest expertise, and most
makers of lenses for use in photolithography have substantial expertise in designing
and building refractive lenses. Also, while the overall amount of glass is reduced
considerably with the catadioptric lens design shown in Fig. 5.25, relative to all-
refractive lenses, the beamsplitter requires a substantial quantity of glass. This
means that problems induced by optical glass inhomogeneity and damage from
excimer light sources are not entirely eliminated with that particular catadioptric
design. Beamsplitter technology involves special expertise, particularly related to
coatings. Finally, the particular design shown in Fig. 5.25 was patented by SVGL,
and their competitors needed either to license this design or to find new approaches
to catadioptric lenses. The latter has now happened.
The transition to catadioptric lenses gained momentum when 157-nm
lithography was being considered. There was only one optical material, CaF2 ,
available in adequate size and quality for making lenses, and initial lenses for 157-
nm lithography were constructed using CaF2 as the only refractive material.137–140
In this case, catadioptric lenses appeared to be a practical necessity. A similar
situation occurred with immersion lithography, which will be discussed in more
184 Chapter 5
detail in Chapter 10, where catadioptric designs provided the only practical
solutions for NA > 1.1. Having gained experience with catadioptric lenses for
immersion lithographic applications, ASML introduced a 0.93-NA KrF exposure
system, the model XT:1000H, which incorporates a catadioptric lens to reduce the
number of elements in the lens and to lower costs.141
Aspheric lens elements have also been introduced into microlithographic lenses,
and these have enabled a reduction in the size and weight of stepper lenses. When
a concave surface is moved against a convex surface in a random fashion, spherical
surfaces are naturally produced by abrasion (see Fig. 5.31). This forms the basis
for standard lens-fabrication methods, which produce lens elements with surfaces
that are spherical.142 Such spherical elements necessarily introduce aberrations
that must be compensated by additional elements. The introduction of aspherical
elements enabled the number and size of lens elements to be reduced (see Fig. 5.32
in Color Plates). However, it is necessary to use polishing tools that cover only
a small area of the lens element in order to create aspheric surfaces, and this can
easily lead to surface roughness over short distances, even though the general figure
of the lens element is close to the desired shape. This short-distance roughness can
lead to flare. Aspheric lens technology has many potential benefits, particularly
reducing the number of lens elements, but extra care is required to maintain low
flare with lenses that incorporate a large number of aspheric elements.
Finally, it should be pointed out that resolution is independent of lens reduction,
a factor that does not appear in any of the equations for resolution. In properly
designed microscopes there is a natural relationship between resolution and
magnification, so the two tend to be associated. The historical transition from
full-wafer scanning systems to higher-resolution steppers involved an increase in
the reduction ratio of the optics, but this increase was not required to achieve
the higher resolution. In lithographic equipment, resolution and magnification are
independent quantities. Very high resolution 1× magnification systems have been
built.143
5.5 Autofocus Systems

As discussed in Chapter 2, depths-of-focus are very small, typically less than
±0.1 µm, often much less. It is essential that the photoresist film be placed at
Figure 5.31 Polishing of lens elements, leading to spherical surfaces.

Wafer Steppers 185
Figure 5.32 The benefit of aspherical lens elements (see Color Plates).
the correct distance from the lens, where good imaging occurs. Because wafer
thickness varies by considerably more than the depth-of-focus, direct detection
of the top surface of the wafer is a practical necessity, in conjunction with servo
mechanisms and appropriate feedback systems. The separation between the lens
and the wafer is measured prior to each exposure or during each scan, and the
wafer height is adjusted with the objective of maintaining a constant lens-to-wafer
distance. (On some older steppers it was the lens height that was changed.)
Because of concerns over defects, the detection of the top surface must be
performed without mechanical contact with the wafer. Several methods have been
devised for detecting the wafer surface, and the basic concepts behind these
methods are now discussed. Three methods for focusing wafers are used on
steppers: optical, capacitance, and pressure.
The optical method, illustrated in Fig. 5.33(a), is the technique used most
commonly for focusing.144–147 In this approach, light with a glancing angle of
incidence is focused onto the substrate. The reflected light hits the detector
at different positions, depending upon the vertical position of the substrate. In
Fig. 5.33(a), light reflecting off a wafer at the position indicated by the solid line
hits the detector at a different position than light that reflects from a wafer at the
position indicated by the dashed line. Detectors that distinguish the position at
which the light strikes the detector can be used to measure focus. The degree to
which the optical method is insensitive to substrate film type and topography is
critically dependent upon the system design.148 For example, the optical system
may detect the strongest reflecting surface, and the position of the resist film will be
186 Chapter 5
Figure 5.33 Schematic representations of different methods for focusing exposure tools.
(a) Optical focusing, (b) pressure sensors for focusing, and (c) capacitance gauges for
focusing.
found at a different distance from the lens if it is sitting on top of a thick oxide film
rather than a bare silicon substrate. Process engineers must empirically determine
if their combination of steppers and substrates creates such a sensitivity. Substrates
comprised of metal and thick oxide films, as typically enountered in the back end
of wafer processing, are most commonly susceptible to focus errors.149 Since metal
films are highly reflective, this is not too surprising. Minimizing the angle θ and
using multiple wavelengths provides the least sensitivity to films on the wafer
surface.150,151 Autofocus errors are also reduced when the plane containing the
incident and reflected autofocus beams is at 45 deg relative to substrate features.152
Two other methods of locating the wafer surface are also shown in Fig. 5.33. In
one method, pressurized air is forced into a block that contains a pressure sensor.153
The pressure in the block depends upon the gap between the block and the wafer
surface. By mounting such blocks on the sides of lenses, the separations between
lenses and wafers are measured. This method is sensitive only to the top surface
of the resist film and is independent of substrate composition. It does require
calibration to the ambient barometric pressure, and this type of focus sensor and
special effort is required to measure the height of the wafer surface directly below
the lens during exposure, since the sensor would interfere with the imaging.154
Such air gauge systems have been used as the primary autofocus systems on
exposure tools, as well as for calibrating optical focus measurement systems.155
In one assessment, focus errors on product wafers were reduced by 20–30 nm (3σ)
when the optical focus system was calibrated with an air gauge.156
Capacitance sensors have also been used to measure the lens-to-wafer
distance.157 A capacitor is created where one plate is the wafer [Fig. 5.33(c)].
Capacitance C is given by
εA
C= , (5.13)
d
Wafer Steppers 187
where A is the area of the capacitor, d is the separation between the plates, and ε is
the dielectric constant of the material between the plates. The separation between
the lens and wafer is determined by a measurement of capacitance because of
its dependence on d. Like the optical method, this technique is sensitive to the
composition of the films on the silicon wafers because of the dependence of the
capacitance on ε.
Since it is necessary to have the entire exposed area at the correct distance from
the lens, the tilt of the wafer surface must also be measured and corrected. This can
be accomplished in a number of ways. The focus systems described above can be
used to measure exposure fields at multiple positions, providing the data required to
level the exposure field. In another approach, parallel beams of light are reflected
from the surface of the wafer. Their angle of reflection is a measure of the local
surface tilt.
5.6 The Wafer Stage

The final key stepper subsystem discussed in this chapter is the wafer stage. The
ability to move wafers significant distances (up to several hundred millimeters)
with extreme precision is central to the stepper concept. The position of the wafer
stage is measured with great accuracy using a modern variant of the Michelson
interferometer, shown schematically in Fig. 5.34. In this type of interferometer,
light is generated by a HeNe laser. By placing the laser cavity in an axial magnetic
field, lasing occurs at two wavelengths, separated in frequency by a few MHz about
the central frequency of 4.736 × 1014 Hz. Moreover, the light is circularly polarized
and has opposite polarization at the different wavelengths. A quarter-wave plate
converts the circularly polarized beams into orthogonal, linearly polarized beams.
The maximum frequency difference that can be achieved practically using a
magnetic field is 4 MHz. Alternatively, acousto-optic modulators can be used
to achieve a frequency split as large as 20 MHz.158 The resulting laser light
passes through a polarization-sensitive beamsplitter. Light with one polarization
Figure 5.34 The Michelson laser interferometer used to measure the X position of the
stage.
188 Chapter 5
and frequency f1 is reflected off a mirror mounted on the wafer stage, while the
other beam with frequency f2 is reflected to a fixed reference mirror. Because the
wafer stage may be moving, the frequency f1 will be Doppler shifted by an amount
∆ f , given by159
v v
∆ f = 2 f1 = 2 , (5.14)
c λ1
where v is the velocity of the stage, c is the speed of light, and λ1 is the wavelength
of the light incident on the moving mirror.
After reflections, the two beams of light are recombined at a heterodyne receiver
capable of measuring the difference frequency f2 − f1 ± ∆ f . Maximum measurable
velocity is set by the requirement that ∆ f < f2 − f1 . Comparing this to a reference
measurement of f2 − f1 enables a determination of the stage velocity through
Eq. (5.14). By integration of the velocity, the stage position is determined.160–162
Systems today typically use interferometers that potentially measure position with
λ/1024 ≈ 0.6-nm precision.
Although the interferometer is capable of measuring a position that is a small
fraction of the wavelength of the laser light, the stage precision has always fallen
short of such capability. The best current stages can step a Cartesian grid accurately
to about 5 nm and are repeatable to about 2 nm (3σ), far less precise than λ/1024 =
0.6 nm. A simple way to measure stage precision is to use pattern structures to
measure overlay on the wafer. Typical types of such structures are discussed in
Chapter 9. The first part of the structure is stepped across the wafer, and then the
second part of the structure is stepped, so that the two structures are concentric if
the stepping is perfectly precise. The discrepancy between interferometer precision
and actual stage performance is a consequence of changes in the air through which
the interferometer beams travel that effectively changes the wavelength of the
light.
The effective wavelength of the light in air can vary because of environmental
changes (Table 5.12). Since the density of air changes nonuniformly along the path
of interferometer beams, the phase of the light is shifted, resulting in measurement
errors. These fluctuations in density result primarily from localized sources of
heat or motion. Interferometer errors due to temperature- or pressure-induced
fluctuations in the optical path length of the air surrounding the wafer stage are
reduced by shielding the path from air currents and thermal gradients. Stepper
designers go to great lengths to maintain temperature uniformity throughout the
environmental enclosure of the steppers, in order to avoid air turbulence induced
Table 5.12 Changes in environmental parameters that will

result in a one part-per-million change in the wavelength of
light in air.163
Air temperature 1 ◦C
Pressure 2.5-mm Hg
Relative humidity 80%
Wafer Steppers 189
by thermal gradients. All sources of heat that can be remotely operated are removed
from the enclosure. Heat-generating parts that must be in the enclosure, such
as stage motors, are covered with temperature-controlled jackets.164 However,
since the stage must be able to move rapidly and freely within a large area,
it is impossible to shield the entire path length. Lis has described an air
turbulence–compensated interferometer that could potentially reduce the error due
to environmental fluctuations,165 but requirements appear to have exceeded the
improvements that such a system could bring.
In order to meet the very tight overlay requirements of sub-40-nm half-pitch
processes, it is necessary to fundamentally address the problem of air turbulence
and reduce the length of the path through air in which the light of the metrology
system travels. The latest generation of exposure tools makes use of encoders to
decrease such path lengths substantially (to ≤2 mm), thereby reducing turbulence
control and compensation requirements. Encoders make use of gratings, from
which light beams are diffracted, as illustrated in Fig. 5.35, where the grating is
placed on the wafer stage. Alternatively, the grating could be above the stage, with
the laser and detection electronics incorporated into the stage itself.
With encoders, the stage position is measured by having the +1st - and −1st -order
diffracted beams recombined.166,167 As the stage moves the resulting fringe pattern
also shifts (see Fig. 5.36). This fringe pattern can be measured with precisions
of 1 nm or better.168 Unfortunately, it is not yet possible to produce gratings that
are very accurate over long distances, so exposure tools that use encoders must
still have interferometers for calibrating the encoders and ensuring orthogonality
between the X and Y stage motions. As an historical note, an early commercially
available wafer stepper from a company called Optimetrix used an encoder to
measure stage position, but did not also have a laser interferometer. Lack of stage
accuracy contributed to Optimetrix’s inability to gain substantial market share.
Wafer stages need to move in more than one direction, so there are
interferometer beams to measure motion in the Y axis as well as the X axis. More
Figure 5.35 Illustration of the encoder concept used to measure stage position. Above the
grating is a module that contains the laser, as well as optics and electronics for detecting
the diffracted beams. The effects of air turbulence are minimized by making the distance
between this module and the grating short. Two-dimensional gratings can be used to provide
positional information in both the X and Y directions.
190 Chapter 5
Figure 5.36 Illustration of phase differences between the +1st - and −1st -order diffracted
beams as the stage moves. These phase differences lead to changes in the fringe pattern
produced by recombining the diffracted beams, and these changes are used to measure
stage position.169
than one beam in the X or Y axis enables measurement of stage yaw or rotation170
(Fig. 5.37). This is important because stages can rotate, as well as undergo
rectilinear motion. Modern stages have as many as six or more interferometer
beams to control rotation about the X, Y, and Z axes. This is important to minimize
the impact of Abbe errors that result from stage rotations, as illustrated in Fig. 5.38.
A single interferometer beam measures the distance traveled by the point on the
stage mirror where the beam is reflected, not how far the wafer center has moved.
These can be different because of stage rotation.
Not only must the stage position be measurable to high precision, it must
be controllable. This is accomplished by means of precision motors, bearings,
Figure 5.37 Multiple beams for measuring yaw.

Wafer Steppers 191
Figure 5.38 Illustration of Abbe errors.163
and feedback loops. In order to provide smooth motion, the wafer stage must
slide on some type of low-friction bearing. The original GCA system had Rulon
feet that slid on highly polished metal surfaces. Oil was applied periodically to
maintain smooth motion. Other stages have incorporated roller, air,171 or magnetic
bearings.172,173 Air bearings, riding on ultraflat granite or steel surfaces, are
commonly used.174
Even though near-perfect stage precision might be obtained, stage motion still
may not be accurate for a number of reasons. One reason might be cosine error,
illustrated in Fig. 5.39. In this situation, the stage travel is not parallel to the
interferometer beam. The result is an error proportional to the cosine of the angle
between the line of stage travel and the interferometer beam, i.e., the path of the
interferometer beams is 2d/cosθ rather than 2d, where d is the distance that the
stage actually travels. Cosine errors effectively change the scale by which distance
is measured by a factor of cosθ. Systematic position errors due to deviations
from ideal flatness of the stage mirrors, at least relative to a reference, can be
characterized and compensated for using software.
In order to achieve high stepper throughput, the stages must be capable of
moving at high velocity while maintaining good control of position. Acceleration
and jerk (the third time derivative of position) capability must also be high (see
Table 5.13). This is difficult to achieve because stages have become massive
in order to accommodate large wafers, be robust against vibrations, and remain
stiff, yet have the light mass needed for high acceleration. Since the imaging
performance of the stepper can be severely affected by vibrations,175 the rapid
movements of the wafer stage must be effectively decoupled from the optical
Figure 5.39 Illustration of cosine error.

192 Chapter 5
Table 5.13 Capability of high performance stages. These values

are those available in the open literature, but they likely do not
represent today’s state-of-the-art for acceleration and jerk, which are
probably much larger. During operations that do not require great
precision, such as wafer loading and unloading, the wafer stage
speed is usually greater than the maximum speed during exposure
scanning.176
Wafer stage speed (scanning)177 700 mm/sec

Acceleration176 0.5G = 4.9 m/sec2
Jerk178 500 m/sec3
column through pneumatic isolation and active damping mechanisms. Since

the reticle stage must move 4× faster than the wafer stage (in systems with
4× lens reduction), there are even greater challenges for accelerating and scanning
the reticle. The difficulties involved with scanning the reticle become greater
with increased lens reduction, providing additional motivations for maintaining
moderate values for lens reduction.
Vibrational analysis is typically accomplished by finite-element analysis in the
design of new wafer-stepper bodies to find and minimize natural resonances at
the low frequencies (0 to 200 Hz) that can blur projected images. High-frequency
vibrations are naturally suppressed due to the large mass of wafer steppers.
Vibrations need to be controlled in order to maintain good imaging and overlay.
With the advent of scanning reticle and wafer stages, control of vibrations
assumes an even larger role. The mechanical problem of scanning a reticle stage
at four or five times the velocity of a wafer stage moving in the opposite direction,
while keeping the positions of the two stages synchronized to an error of less than
10 nm, requires the highest degree of active vibration control available. Scanner
throughput is ultimately limited by the stepper’s overlay error at the highest
scan rates.179 The problem of measuring the positions of two stages moving in
opposite directions at speeds that are several hundreds of millimeters per second
and synchronizing their positions to within a few nanometers so that overlay rules
are met is a significant challenge to modern interferometry, digital computing, and
mechanical control systems.
One of the potential problems of scanning is the shift in the center of mass of the
exposure tool during the scan. This is particularly significant when the reticle stage
is scanned, since it moves four times as fast and as far as the wafer stage (assuming
4× lens reduction). With a large shift in the center of mass, forces generated during
the reticle scanning can be transmitted mechanically to the wafer stage, and from
the wafer stage back to the reticle stage. These mechanical interactions can reduce
scanning accuracy significantly. To reduce these errors, balance masses are used.
While the reticle is being scanned in one direction, the balance mass is scanned
in the opposite direction, thereby maintaining a fairly fixed center of mass.180 A
similar balance mass can be used for the wafer stage.
Wafer Steppers 193
5.7 Scanning
In a step-and-scan exposure tool, it is necessary that the reticle stage scanning be
synchronized with the wafer stage scanning. The optical image of a feature k may
be misplaced because of imperfect scanning or synchronization between the reticle
and wafer stages. If the placement error in the x direction at time ti is ∆x(ti ), then
the resulting feature in resist will be misplaced by an amount
X
∆xk = ∆xk (ti ) , (5.15)
i
where the sum is over all times during which the particular feature is being imaged
through the slit of lens. For a scanner with an excimer laser light source, each time
ti will correspond to a laser pulse. For scanners using arc-lamp light sources there
are analogous equations involving integrals. It will be assumed for the remainder of
the discussion in this section that the light source is pulsed. Since not all position
errors ∆x(ti ) will be identical there will also be variations in the positions of the
optical images of a specific feature k about its average position:
r
1 XN 2
σk = ∆xk (ti ) − ∆xk , (5.16)
N i=1
where there are N pulses during the scan. There are usually specifications for the
quantities given in Eqs. (5.15)n ando(5.16) for a particular model of scanner, and
statistics of the sets of values ∆xk and {σk }. The specified tool moving average
n o
(MA) is usually given as the mean +3σ for the set ∆xk , while the moving standard
deviation (MSD) is the mean +3σ for the set {σk }.
A nonzero MA implies that there will be pattern placement errors, contributing
to imperfect overlay (discussed in the next chapter), while the MSD will cause
images to be blurred (see Fig. 5.40). This blurring has been called image
“fading.”134 For advanced exposure tools, MA < 1, while MSD < 3 nm, and
perhaps even below 2 nm.181–183
There are also systematic errors that can cause image fading. For example,
fading occurs if there is a mismatch between the lens reduction and the scanning
speed. For an explanation of this, suppose the reticle is moving at a speed vR and
the wafer is moving at a speed vW . During a scan of time t, the aerial image moves
a distance vR t/N at the wafer plane, where N is the lens reduction. During this same
period of time, a point on the wafer moves a distance vW t; therefore the amount of
blur caused during the scan is
v
R
− vW t. (5.17)
N
As shown in the next chapter, the quantity in brackets is nonzero when there is
an asymmetric magnification or skew error. Thus, there is systematic image fading
when there is an asymmetric overlay error.
194 Chapter 5
Image fading leads to a number of consequences.184 Random scanning errors

(caused by MSD) lead to general image blur and degradation of the image
log slope. Line-end shortening can also result, as well as a change in the bias
between isolated and dense features (Fig. 5.41). Image fading due to asymmetric
magnification errors will affect lines that are perpendicular to the scan, while
not having an effect on lines that are parallel to the scan. As one can see from
Figure 5.40 Image fading from imperfect synchronization between the reticle and wafer-
stage scanning that leads to the aerial image not staying at a fixed position on the wafer
during the scan. The result is image blurring.
Figure 5.41 Simulated image contours for 100-nm lines and spaces, with no random
stage synchronization errors and with MSD in both the X and Y directions, having random
Gaussian distribution, with σ = 25 nm. The parameters for the imaging are a wavelength of
193 nm, NA = 0.8, and quadrupole illumination. Note that line shortening is affected more
than linewidths, and lines are shortened more with fading.
Wafer Steppers 195
Fig. 5.40, image fading will cause an increase in linewidth. Since asymmetric
magnification errors affect only lines parallel to the scan, such errors lead to
a bias in linewidth between horizontal and vertical lines.185 Thus, one should
be cautious when applying asymmetric overlay corrections, as might be done to
correct for such errors as reticles. Because linewidth bias varies quadratically with
fading (Fig. 5.42), small asymmetric field terms can be employed without affecting
linewidths significantly.
5.8 Dual-Stage Exposure Tools

The transition from 200-mm wafers to 300-mm wafers brought the prospect of a
significant decrease in exposure throughput, as measured in wafers per hour, since
many more scans of the wafer are required for larger wafers. (For further details on
exposure-tool throughput, see Chapter 11.) This also occurred at a time when the
projection optics of the exposure systems were becoming an increasing fraction of
the system cost. That meant that there was an increasing economic penalty for the
time when the lens was not being used, i.e., when the system was aligning wafers
or mechanically moving wafers on and off the chuck, instead of exposing. One
solution to this problem was to have two stages.186
In a dual-stage exposure tool, one stage is used for loading and unloading
wafers, and for metrology, such as alignment and focusing. Once these operations
are completed, the stage is moved under the lens, where the wafer is then exposed.
While this exposure is taking place, a new wafer is loaded on the other stage (after
unloading a wafer that may already be on that stage), and the process is repeated. In
an alternative implementation, only the wafer chucks are swapped, rather than the
complete stages. With either approach, dual-stage exposure tools have the potential
for very high throughput.
In addition to providing greater throughput, the dual-stage systems have several
other potential advantages. One of these is that extensive wafer metrology
Figure 5.42 Change in linewidth as a function of image fading for lines in a 5-bar structure.
The measure for the abscissa is the amount of fading across the scan due to asymmetric
magnification [Eq. (5.17)].184
196 Chapter 5
(alignment and focus) can be performed without loss of throughput, at least up to a

point, because the measurements can be performed without detracting from wafer
exposure time, thus compromising productivity. In the first dual-stage exposure
tool that was introduced, the Twinscan platform from ASML, the wafer topography
is mapped in detail. A z-axis interferometer is then used during exposure to control
the focusing. This has the potential for much better focus control.186
Nikon has introduced exposure tools that also have two stages, but only one of
them is a wafer stage—the other is for metrology. In order to maintain optimum
tool control it is necessary for the exposure tools to perform self-calibration
periodically. Beginning with their model S609, Nikon has used a separate “tandem
stage” that performs this scanner self-metrology during the times when wafers
are being loaded onto or unloaded from the wafer stage.187 An illustration of a
tandem stage is shown in Fig. 5.43. Regardless of the dual-stage approach adopted,
significant improvements in scanner throughput have been achieved by both Nikon
and ASML.
Dual-stage exposure tools are obviously much more complex than their
single-stage counterparts. With such complexity comes the potential for reduced
reliability and greater tool purchase price. Nevertheless, because of their potential
for higher throughput, such systems can be cost competitive. The relationship
between throughput and the lithography costs will be discussed further in
Chapter 11.
5.9 Lithography Exposure Tools before Steppers

The first type of lithography used for the fabrication of integrated circuits was
contact printing. This was a simple technique, in which the mask was brought into
direct contact with the resist, as illustrated in Fig. 5.44. Contact printers were very
simple and inexpensive tools, and good resolution could be achieved, because the
Fresnel-diffracted light just below the mask produced features that were very close
to the sizes of the features on the mask (see Fig. 5.45). However, defects were a
very serious problem with contact printing. Dirt and particles on the mask would
Figure 5.43 Illustration of Nikon’s tandem stage.187

Wafer Steppers 197
Figure 5.44 Illustration of contact printing.
Figure 5.45 Calculated diffraction pattern just below a mask surface. Partially coherent
light with the wavelengths of 365 nm, 405 nm, and 436 nm, with a cone angle of incidence
of 8 deg was assumed. (a) 1-µm mask feature and (b) 5-µm mask feature.188
cause defects on the wafers. After each wafer printing the mask would pick up
additional particles from the wafer, or get scratched, and the mask would then need
to be replaced after being used to expose only a few wafers, in order to maintain
yield.
In order to reduce mask costs and improve yields, proximity printing was
introduced, where the mask was positioned a few tens of microns above the
resist surface (Fig. 5.46). By not coming directly into contact with the wafer, the
198 Chapter 5
Figure 5.46 Illustration of proximity printing.
problems of wafer defects and mask degradation were both addressed. However,
having a gap between the resist and the mask reduced resolution, as can be seen
in Fig. 5.45. As the distance from the mask is increased, the light distribution
broadens due to diffraction, and edge acuity degrades. A useful expression that
estimates the resolution of proximity printing as a function of the gap is189
r
T
resolution = kP λ g + , (5.18)
2
where λ is the wavelength of the light, g is the gap between the mask and wafer, T
is the resist thickness, and kP is a parameter analogous to k1 in optical-projection
lithography. Resolution versus the size of the gap is shown in Fig. 5.47.
A schematic of a commercially available proximity and contact printer is shown
in Fig. 5.48. Such systems can provide both proximity and contact printing.
Automatic wafer handling, alignment capability, and gap control are also available
on contemporary proximity printers.
Because of the defects associated with contact printing and the resolution limits
and difficulties of maintaining linewidth control with proximity printing, optical
Figure 5.47 Resolution versus gap for proximity printing, assuming a wavelength of
0.365 µm.
Wafer Steppers 199
Figure 5.48 Exposure units of a SUSS MicroTec Mask Aligner. For this system, resolution
is specified as <3 µm for proximity printing with a gap of 20 µm and <0.8 µm with vacuum-
assisted contact printing.190
projection was pursued as an alternative to address both of these problems. The

result was the Micralign series of full-wafer scanners, built by Perkin-Elmer (see
Fig. 5.49).191 These scanners differed from contemporary step-and-scan systems
in several fundamental ways. First, the entire wafer was exposed during a single
scan. Since the wafers were only 3 in. (76.2 mm) or smaller at that time, the
required imaging area was much smaller than would be necessary today to cover
an entire wafer. Second, the imaging was 1×. By engineering the optics properly,
this enabled the use of existing proximity-printing masks in the Micraligns.
Another key ingredient in the Micralign design was an all-reflecting, ring-
field lens.192 The use of mirrors to form images enabled the use of broadband
light sources, reducing issues associated with standing waves. Ring-field optics,
Figure 5.49 Schematic of the optics of a Perkin-Elmer scanner. The mask and wafer are
scanned together.
200 Chapter 5
in which the imaging field is a curved slit, enabled a significant reduction in

aberrations without introducing a large number of optical elements. The numerical
aperture of the Micraligns was 0.167. Although this seems like a low numerical
aperture by contemporary standards, with a wavelength of 365 nm it had a Rayleigh
resolution of 1.3 µm and a practical resolution of ∼2 µm, which was quite
adequate at the time the Micralign was introduced. Since the wafer and mask were
scanning together with the same mechanical mechanism, the specifications for the
mechanical scanning mechanism were based on the requirements of linewidth
uniformity, not overlay, and were much looser than the requirements of wafer
steppers. Later, Canon also introduced full-wafer scanners using similar optics.193
In the late 1970s and early 1980s, full-wafer scanners were the dominant tools of
choice for producing leading-edge devices.
Over time the Micralign systems went through a series of improvements. As
wafer sizes increased from 76.2 mm to 150 mm, the Micralign field sizes were
increased accordingly in the Models 500 and 600. Imaging could be changed
slightly from 1:1 printing to enable improvement in overlay by providing capability
for compensation of wafer expansion and contraction during processing. The
wavelength range was extended to DUV wavelengths, enabling printing ∼1 µm.
The full-wafer scanners had a number of advantages over early wafer
steppers.194 The scanner’s broadband illumination resulted in significantly less
difficulty with standing waves and associated issues, particularly when patterning
aluminum metal layers. Throughput was also significantly higher on the scanners.
Over time, the scanners lost all advantages to steppers. Advances in scanner optics
were required just to provide capability for larger wafers, leaving little potential
for increasing numerical aperture and resolution. For submicron lithography on
larger wafers, the smaller imaging fields of the wafer steppers became a necessity.
By the mid-1980s there was wide-spread use of wafer steppers for leading-edge
lithography. Perkin-Elmer sold their exposure tool business to Silicon Valley Group
(SVG), and SVG was later acquired by ASML.
Contact printing, proximity printing, and full-wafer scanners are still in use for
making micromechanical devices, packaging, and components of various types,
even if not used for producing leading-edge integrated circuits. Suppliers of
proximity printers include EV Group of St. Florian am Inn, Austria, and SUSS
MicroTec of Germany. The advantages and disadvantages of the various exposure
methods are summarized in the following table (Table 5.14).
Table 5.14 Advantages and disadvantages of various exposure methods.
System Advantages Disadvantages
Contact printer Simple and inexpensive Defects

Proximity printer Simple and inexpensive Resolution limited
Full-wafer scanner Moderate cost and high throughput Resolution limited
Step-and-repeat High resolution Cost
Wafer Steppers 201
Problems
5.1 Suppose that 0.5% (3σ) dose control is required from excimer laser pulse-
to-pulse stability. If the single pulse-to-pulse stability of the laser is 2.5%
(3σ), show that the maximum scan speed consistent with the dose control
requirement is 960 mm/sec for a scanner with a slit height of 4 mm.
5.2 For a laser interferometer with a maximum Zeeman frequency split of f2 − f1 =
4 MHz, show that the maximum stage velocity that can be measured is 1266
mm/sec.
5.3 If the heterodyne receiver in a laser interferometer is capable of measuring
frequency changes as small as 10 Hz, show that the the slowest measurable
velocity that such a system can measure is 3.16 × 10−3 mm/sec.
5.4 Suppose that the projection optics of a stepper consists of 25 refractive
elements, and with the application of antireflection coatings the reflectance
from each element surface is 0.5%. Show that the total transmission of the
projection lens is 78%.
5.5 Suppose that fields are scanned at a length of 30 mm. Show that 0.1 ppm of
asymmetric magnification (in ppm) will lead to 3 nm of error across the scan.
From Fig. 5.38, is this expected to lead to significant linewidth errors?
5.6 Why are lenses that are designed to image well over a wide bandwidth less
sensitive to changes in barometric pressure than narrowband optics?
5.7 A typical ArF resist has 30 mJ/cm2 sensitivity, and about 100 pulses are
required to expose the resist. This means that the energy density per pulse
is 0.3 mJ/cm2 . This is also approximately the energy density in the bottom
element of the lens, which is close to the wafer. Imaging will be degraded
at a significant level if the index of refraction in the final lens element is
∆n = 1000 ppb or greater. With this energy density and a pulse duration
of τ = 45 nsec, show that a lens made from Sample B of Table 5.8 will
be degraded after 95.4 billion pulses. With 12.5 billion pulses per year in
manufacturing, what is the lifetime of a lens made from material B? What
is the lifetime if resists with sensitivity of 50 mJ/cm2 are used? Should the
user request a laser with pulses stretched to 100 nsec?
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Chapter 6
Overlay
Integrated circuits are built through a sequence of patterning steps. If the transistor
shown in Fig. 6.1 is going to be contacted electrically so that it functions properly,
the contact to the gate must physically connect to the gate and not short electrically
to the source or drain. This requires that the pattern created at the contact-masking
step be placed correctly on top of the pre-existing transistor structures. As one can
see from Fig. 6.1, this placement does not need to be perfect, but it must be within
certain tolerances. Transistors will function so long as the contacts have sufficient
overlap with the appropriate parts of the transistor and do not contact the parts of
the transistor from which they are supposed to be electrically isolated.
The lateral positioning between layers comprising integrated circuits is called
overlay (see Fig. 6.2), which is defined precisely in SEMI Standard P18-92 as
follows:1
Overlay—A vector quantity defined at every point on the wafer. It is the
~ between the vector position P
difference O ~ 1 of a substrate geometry, and the
~ 1 in an overlaying pattern, which
vector position of the corresponding point P
may consist of photoresist:
~=P
O ~2 − P
~ 1. (6.1)
As feature sizes shrink, so do the overlay tolerances between layers (see

Table 6.1). While overlay is a vector quantity, the quantities in Table 6.1 are, by
convention, the maximum tolerable magnitudes for overlay in either the X or Y
direction. A related quantity, registration, is defined similarly to overlay:1
Registration—A vector quantity defined at every point on the wafer. It is the
~ between the vector position P
difference R ~ 1 of a substrate geometry, and the
~ 0 in a reference grid:
vector position of the corresponding point P
~=P
R ~1 − P
~ 0. (6.2)
Note that overlay is a relative quantity, while registration is an error compared to

an absolute standard P~ 0.
216 Chapter 6
Figure 6.1 A contacted transistor. For the transistor to function properly, the contacts must
overlay the appropriate features.
Figure 6.2 Examples of overlay errors.
Table 6.1 DRAM overlay requirements from the 2008

International Technology Roadmap for Semiconductors.
Logic overlay requirements are ∼25% less stringent. As
will be discussed in Chapter 8, overlay requirements are
much tighter for double patterning processes.
Node(DRAM half pitch) Year Overlay requirement (nm)
68 2007 13.6
45 2010 9.0
32 2013 6.4
22.5 2016 4.5
Overlay 217
Overlay is achieved through the process of alignment, which is discussed in

this chapter. There are many types of alignment systems, and several of these
are described as well. In addition, sources of overlay errors and techniques for
analyzing these errors are discussed. Further information on controlling overlay in
manufacturing operations is available in Lithography Process Control.2
6.1 Alignment Systems

Wafers on laser stages can be moved with great precision, as described in the
previous chapter. For this capability to be useful, it is necessary to relate positions
in the wafer’s coordinate system to positions in the stage’s coordinate system.3 The
ultimate goal of the alignment process is to place the wafer under the lens so that
the patterns being exposed will overlay patterns already existing on the wafer. To
be able to accomplish this using the extraordinary precision of the laser stage it is
necessary to determine the positions of patterns on the wafer in terms of what is
already known, which is the position of the stage. Chips and other special patterns
are placed on the wafer at positions specified in terms of the wafer’s coordinate
system. The goal of wafer alignment is to determine those chip positions in stage
coordinates.
It is easier to understand how the positions of chips known in the wafer’s
coordinate system can be related to stage coordinates by first assuming that both the
wafer’s and stage’s coordinate systems are orthonormal and rectilinear; that is, the
coordinate systems have X and Y linear axes that are perpendicular to each other. It
is further assumed that distances measured along the X axis are the same as those
measured along the Y axis in both the wafer and stage coordinate systems, but the
wafer and stage coordinate systems may measure distances differently. This means
the “ruler” for the wafer coordinate system may be different from that of the wafer
stage. These assumptions are only approximate for actual situations encountered in
wafer processing (which will be discussed shortly), but it is useful to consider this
simple case first. With these initial assumptions, the position of a point (XW , YW ) in
the wafer coordinate system is related to the position (XS , YS ) of that point in the
stage coordinate system:
XS = S (cos θ XW − sin θ YW ) + OX , (6.3)
and
YS = S (cos θ YW + sin θ XW ) + OY , (6.4)
where (O x , Oy ) is the position of the origin of the wafer coordinate system in the
stage coordinate system, while θ is the angle of rotation between the two coordinate
systems (Fig. 6.3). The measurement scales of the wafer in relation to the stage
coordinate systems is represented by S . Thus, the wafer and stage coordinate
systems are related by four parameters: S , θ, OX , and OY . These parameters can
be determined by measuring the wafer stage positions of two points on the wafer.
218 Chapter 6
Figure 6.3 Transformation between the stage and wafer coordinate systems.
Issues that arise from having stages where the X and Y motions are not orthogonal
or do not have the same scale are discussed later in this chapter.
Locating points on the wafer with nanometer precision is accomplished by the
stepper’s alignment system. Specially designed structures called alignment marks
or alignment targets are placed on the wafer. The positions at which they are
placed are specified in the coordinate system of the wafer. The stepper’s alignment
system is designed to recognize the alignment targets optically and determine their
locations in the coordinate system of the stage. The key objective is to place
the wafer under the projection optics so that new exposures overlay pre-existing
ones, and this is accomplished by using the laser stage as a very accurate ruler.
The details of the alignment process are discussed in this chapter, along with the
methods used to characterize overlay errors.
Before the wafer is placed on the stage it is positioned mechanically. The
stepper’s prealignment system is used to locate the wafer’s center and orient the
wafer, using the wafer’s edges and notch (or flat) as mechanical references. The
centered and oriented wafer is then placed on the stage. Representative values for
the placement accuracy of prealigned wafers are shown in Table 6.2. These values
are typical of mechanical tolerances. Wafer prealignment enables the alignment
targets to be brought within the alignment system’s field of view, which is usually
at most a few hundred microns in diameter. Some alignment systems have such
small fields of view that an optical alignment, intermediate between the coarse
mechanical prealignment and the fine wafer alignment, is necessary.
Table 6.2 Typical values for prealignment accuracy.
Typical repeatability values (3σ)
Translation 10–100 µm
Rotation 0.1–1 mrad
Overlay 219
The prealignment or the intermediate optical alignment must ensure that the
fine alignment system captures the correct alignment target, which can be a
problem when multiple alignment marks have been generated at several prior
process layers. Because there may be limited silicon real estate in which alignment
targets can be placed, the targets will need to be placed as close together as
possible. Mark separation must be consistent with prealignment or intermediate-
alignment capability to avoid having the fine-alignment system capture the wrong
target. Some alignment targets consist of periodic structures, such as gratings, and
misalignment can occur when the prealignment or intermediate-alignment error is
more than half of the periodicity of the alignment mark.
Alignment marks are placed on the wafer at the first masking step. The marks
may be contained within each exposure field, typically within scribe lines, or
they may be placed in areas near the wafer edge (Fig. 6.4). The information of
ultimate importance consists of the locations of the product dies. The relationship
between the positions of the alignment marks and the product dies is established
by the design of the mask that is first used to pattern the alignment marks. Thus,
knowledge of the locations on the wafer of the alignment marks coupled with
the design data enables the determination of the product die positions. Within an
exposure field, there may be one or several alignment marks depending upon the
stepper’s design and the user’s alignment strategy.
It is also important at the first masking step that the X axis of the reticle is aligned
parallel to the X axis of the wafer stage. The consequence of failing to do this is
shown in Fig. 6.5. The reticle is oriented properly by placing alignment marks on
the reticle. Generally, these reticle alignment marks are outside of the exposure
field.
At each subsequent masking step, the stepper’s alignment system is used to
determine the position of some of the alignment marks on the wafer. It is also
possible to place new alignment marks on the wafer with each new exposure, and
Figure 6.4 Alignment marks can be placed within exposure fields, typically in the scribe
lines between product die, or outside of typical exposure fields.
220 Chapter 6
Figure 6.5 The pattern that results when the reticle is rotated with respect to the wafer
stage.
align subsequent layers back to the new alignment targets. Alignment schemes are
discussed in more detail later in this chapter.
After the positions of the alignment marks are determined, the next step toward
achieving layer-to-layer overlay is to align the X axis of the pattern on the wafer
with the X axis of the stage, similar to the requirement for the reticle (Fig. 6.3).
This requires a wafer rotation that is typically accomplished by rotating the chuck
on which the wafer is mounted. The wafer can then be moved, using the laser
interferometer to precisely measure the wafer’s movements in X and Y, and to
position the wafer correctly under the lens, so that the patterns of new exposures
will overlay pre-existing patterns. Wafer stage rotation is measured using multiple
beams in the interferometer (Fig. 5.37).
After the existing wafer patterns are made parallel to the stage’s X axis, the
wafer is translated using the interferometrically controlled stage. The amount
of translation between alignment and exposure is dependent upon the designed
relationship of the alignment targets and the exposure fields. By aligning to two
marks, four pieces of positional information are acquired: the X and Y positions
of both wafer alignment marks. This provides information for the required rotation
and translations. However, there is one additional piece of information acquired
during the alignment of two marks that is essential for achieving good overlay. The
separation between the marks provides a measure of the expansion or contraction
of the wafer between masking steps. Wafer expansion or contraction up to
several parts per million is quite normal during the processing of silicon wafers,
a consequence of the deposition and removal of thin films from the wafer.4–7
For example, wafer contractions of ∼3 ppm of 100-mm wafers were reported
for wafers prepared for LOCOS oxide isolation, as a consequence of silicon
nitride depositions. Similarly, oxide depositions cause wafers to expand by similar
amounts. The importance of correcting for these expansions or contractions is the
subject of Problem 6.1.
Overlay 221
With two alignment marks, it is possible to correct for wafer rotation, X and
Y translation, and isotropic expansion; i.e., it is possible to correct for expansion
that is the same in the X and Y directions. With three or more alignment marks,
it is possible for the stepper to correct for different expansion in the two axes if
the alignment marks are not colinear with a single axis. Moreover, by choosing
multiple alignment marks that are not all colinear on a single axis, it is possible
to correct for rotation of the patterns on the wafer with respect to both axes of
the stage. Such may be necessary when a stepper, either the one used for the pre-
existing pattern or the one used for patterning the overlaying exposure, has X and
Y stages that do not move orthogonally, i.e., at 90 deg to each other.
6.1.1 Classification of alignment systems

There are many different types of alignment systems and approaches to alignment.
Alignment systems can be classified in a number of ways as listed in Table 6.3.
Every alignment method can be classified within all three categories of alignment
method given in Table 6.3. For example, an alignment system might be a dark-field,
off-axis system, and also use enhanced global alignment.
6.1.2 Optical methods for alignment and wafer-to-reticle referencing

One type of classification is the optical method used to locate the alignment marks.
Most commonly, the wafers are imaged through microscope optics using bright-
field or dark-field methods that parallel common modes of imaging in microscopes.
With the diffraction method, beams from a diffraction grating are used to locate
positions on the wafer.
The original GCA 4800DSW had an off-axis, white-light, bright-field
microscope that could inspect two alignment marks on the wafer (global alignment)
at high magnification with a binocular viewing head. In later versions, the images
of the alignment marks were displayed on a black-and-white TV monitor. A pair of
alignment marks consisting of crosses (+) separated by three inches on the wafer
were viewed and moved manually by the joystick control of the stage to fall within
fiducial marks inside the microscope’s optics. The reticle was aligned to the optical
column by a separate alignment microscope and manipulator system. Once the
Table 6.3 Classification of alignment methods.
Alignment classification Types
Optical method Bright field

Dark field
Diffraction
Referencing of wafer to reticle On axis or through-the-lens (TTL)

Off axis
Number of alignment sites Global

Enhanced global
Die by die
222 Chapter 6
wafer was aligned to the fiducial marks, it was moved a known distance of several
centimeters to the appropriate location for exposure. This was done using the laser
interferometrically controlled stage to ensure precise motion control. If the reticle
and wafer were perfectly aligned and if all the distances were as designed, then the
wafer was well aligned. The overlay capability of this system was approximately
±0.7 µm.
There were a number of inadequacies with the alignment system in the first
steppers. Alignment was accomplished manually, both in terms of having the
operator visually ascertain when the wafer alignment marks were positioned
properly relative to the fiducials, and in having the operator move the wafer
manually using a joystick. The reticle was also aligned manually and positioned
using mechanical manipulators. Today’s wafer steppers use automatic forms
of optical pattern recognition, and wafer motion is controlled using automatic
feedback between the pattern recognition system and the precise wafer stage.
Because the wafer was not aligned directly to the reticle in the GCA DSW4800,
periodic calibrations involving test wafers were required to ensure that the
individual wafer and reticle alignment provided the required overlay.8 Moreover,
the baseline—the distance between the align position and the expose position—
in this stepper was unstable with respect to temperature and barometric pressure,
and varied widely in time. This baseline error severely limited both the overlay
performance and the productivity of this stepper since frequent calibrations were
required to maintain adequate overlay.
Modern steppers that use off-axis alignment have automated self-calibration
that essentially eliminates the baseline error effectively and efficiently.9 The
highly precise laser stage again plays a central role in the calibrations. In a
typical implementation, an artifact containing a wafer-style alignment mark and
a detector is placed on the wafer stage.10,11 The separation between the alignment
mark and the detector must be known very accurately. The detector is designed
to detect marks located on the reticle and must be responsive to the exposure
wavelength. By shining light at the exposure wavelength through the reticle marks
and locating them with the stage-mounted detector, the position of the reticle image
is determined in the coordinate system of the stage. For excimer laser steppers,
the self-metrology must be synchronized with the detection of pulsed light. Upon
determining the position of the reticle, the position of the wafer alignment system
is identified by aligning the wafer-style mark on the artifact using the wafer
alignment system. The distance between the wafer alignment system and the reticle
image is measured using the laser stage, which provides an extremely accurate
determination of the baseline. Because the self-calibration can be done quickly, the
baseline can be updated frequently, thereby ensuring good alignment at all times
and without suffering the significant loss of productivity that accompanied early
off-axis alignment systems. By using light at the exposure wavelength to align
the reticle, challenges related to chromatic correction for performing the reticle
alignment are avoided. An excellent summary of the issues associated with off-
axis alignment has been written by van den Brink, Linders, and Wittekoek.12
Overlay 223
Systems have also been developed for aligning wafers directly to the
reticle.3,13–15 There are a number of challenges associated with this approach,
because direct wafer-to-reticle alignment must be accomplished through the
projection optics instead of a dedicated alignment microscope. In order to achieve
the best imaging, the projection optics are designed to image over a very narrow
range of wavelengths. Through-the-lens (TTL) alignment must necessarily avoid
broadband illumination. The exposure wavelength is the simplest to use for TTL
alignment since this is the wavelength at which the projection lens has minimum
aberrations. However, there are disadvantages with alignment of wafers at the
exposure wavelength (see Problem 6.2). Other wavelengths can be used for
alignment, but they require additional optics to correct for chromatic aberrations.
These must be redesigned for each new family of projection optics. Moreover, to
accommodate TTL alignment at nonactinic wavelengths, it may be necessary to
compromise some aspect of imaging at the exposure wavelength. For example,
antireflection coatings on the lens elements may no longer be optimal at the
exposure wavelength in order to avoid spurious reflections at different wavelengths
used for alignment. In spite of such problems, the disadvantages associated with
alignment at the exposure wavelength have been found to outweigh the benefits,
and late-generation TTL alignment systems operated at nonactinic wavelengths.
Monochromatic illumination used for alignment may lead to thin-film interference
effects for wafer reflectance signals when faced with the normal range of thickness
variation in films like nitride or oxide resist.16,17 Asymmetries in resist coatings
over the alignment marks, when viewed in monochromatic light, may also lead
to alignment errors.18 However, issues associated with thin-film optical effects
have been encountered and solved with many off-axis alignment systems that use
monochromatic illumination, so this problem is not unique to TTL alignment, nor
is it insurmountable.
Until quite recently, the relatively low NA of the stepper lens, which necessarily
serves as the objective lens of a TTL alignment system, has had lower resolution
than a dedicated alignment microscope. The resolution for the purpose of
alignment is further degraded, relative to the imaging resolution, if an alignment
system uses a longer wavelength than is used for imaging (see Problem 6.3). This
is problematic, since overlay control must be a fraction of the minimum feature
size.
For many years, the steppers from ASML used a phase-grating alignment
system19 to directly align reticle and wafer images through the main stepper lens.
Instead of relying on an optical-line-edge profile to produce an alignment signal,
the ASML alignment system involved a phase grating on the wafer produced
by etching an alignment mark into the wafer to produce alternating-phase light
(Fig. 6.6). The maximum alignment signal resulted when the two phases differed
by 180 deg, something that was achieved by etching the alignment mark to the
appropriate depth (see Problem 6.5). Auxiliary optics compensated for optical path
differences between HeNe laser light (λ = 632.8 nm) as used by the alignment
system and the actinic light for which the imaging lens was designed (Fig. 6.7). By
working with the diffracted signal, it was possible to filter the image to produce
224 Chapter 6
Figure 6.6 A phase-grating alignment mark. In practice, the lower parts of the mark may
be filled with a different material than that which covers the higher parts, so there may be
an intensity as well as a phase difference between the two sets of beams.
Figure 6.7 ASML’s through-the-lens alignment system.
excellent signal-to-noise, with good immunity to small defects and poor linewidth-
edge definition. By not relying on edge detection, the resolution requirements of
the alignment optics were relaxed considerably (see Problem 6.4). The diffraction
alignment method can also be used in an off-axis mode.20
ASML also promoted the use of the so-called zero-level alignment strategy in
which the wafer has alignment marks etched directly into the substrate before any
other processing. All subsequent masks are aligned to the zero-level marks. This
alignment strategy has some obvious disadvantages, such as requiring additional
exposures and wafer processing to produce the alignment marks. However, the
zero-level approach has certain advantages, particularly if it is possible to maintain
the integrity of the mark through all subsequent processing. This is often possible
because the process used to generate the alignment marks can be optimized for
the purpose of alignment rather than some overriding circuit device consideration.
The ability to align to well-maintained marks is a significant advantage. Moreover,
since all layers align to the same marks, certain offsets, such as those that result
from placement errors of alignment marks due to lens distortion, do not affect
overlay. This can be understood as follows. The absolute position of an alignment
Overlay 225
mark is displaced from its designed position due to lens distortion and reticle
registration errors. If all process layers are aligned to the same alignment marks,
they all have the same registration error due to the lens and reticle errors, and
this registration error produces no net overlay error. When alignment marks are
generated at many different masking steps, on many different steppers, different
errors are introduced at different masking steps. It is possible to correct for these
errors, but the corrections can become difficult to maintain over a base of many
steppers.
There is another advantage to the zero-layer alignment scheme. If every process
layer has alignment
√ variation σ to the zero level, then the layer-to-layer alignment
variation is 2σ for any pair of process layers. On the other hand, when alignment
21
is sequential (Fig. 6.8), the overlay between two process layers √ can be larger.
For example, the overlay between layers D and A would be 3σ with sequential
alignment. There are, of course, some disadvantages to the zero-layer scheme. It
may involve an extra processing step, and it does not allow for ultimate alignment
accuracy of one layer to another since all alignments are secondary.
Because there is no associated baseline error, TTL alignment appears to have an
inherent advantage over off-axis alignment systems. However, there are a number
of problems that arise during the implementation of TTL alignment systems. As
mentioned previously, it is necessary to provide for color correction since there
are a number of reasons to avoid aligning at the actinic wavelength.23 This is
not a difficult optical problem to solve, but it does require new alignment optics
every time new projection lenses are introduced. It also means that the coatings
on the lens elements must accommodate the alignment and actinic wavelengths.
As a consequence, both imaging and alignment are ultimately compromised. For
these reasons, companies that, in the past, have implemented TTL alignment
systems, such as ASML and SVGL, have more recently introduced off-axis
alignment systems,20 often not incorporating the TTL alignment capability at
Figure 6.8 Alternative alignment trees. A, B, C, and D are different process layers. It is
possible to have hybrid alignment trees.22 For example, both layers C and D could be aligned
to marks generated on layer B.
226 Chapter 6
all. For their newest generations of exposure tools, ASML offers only off-axis
alignment capability, similar to what is available from Nikon and Canon.
Most alignment systems employ some type of microscope optics to view
alignment marks. The first steppers used bright-field imaging, but these often
had significant process sensitivities. For example, resist that coats asymmetrically
over alignment marks24,25 with appreciable topography can induce shifts in the
image of the alignment target.26 As shown in Fig. 6.9, the spin coating of resist
over topography does not produce symmetrical films. With nonplanar alignment
marks, optical alignment systems are susceptible to thin-film interference effects
that can result in low-contrast signals27 or misalignment.28 Because spin coating
is a radial process, the misalignment goes in opposite directions on diametrical
sides of the wafer and results in a scaling error. (Classes of overlay errors are
discussed later in this chapter.) Resist-coating processes can be modified to reduce
the impact of thin-film optical effects.29 Optical modeling has shown that dark-field
alignment systems are less sensitive to these thin-film optical effects than bright-
field or diffraction alignment systems.30 Because of reduced process sensitivity,
alignment systems based on dark-field imaging were introduced in steppers made
by Ultratech,31 GCA,32,33 and Nikon.34
Dark-field alignment systems have problems of their own. For example, with
grainy and highly reflective metal, polysilicon, or silicide surfaces, a significant
amount of light is scattered into the dark-field cone. Consequently, steppers with
dark-field alignment systems also feature bright-field options for use on metal
layers. The user can then select, by layer, the alignment optical type that gives the
best overlay. Modeling has been used to gain further insight into the acquisition
of alignment targets.35–38 The influence of grains can be minimized by the use of
low-coherence illumination (large σ) in the alignment optics,39 or through the use
of interference alignment techniques, which involve the design of the alignment
system and are generally beyond the control of the user. A good reference detailing
optimization of dark-field alignment on a stepper is given by Smith and Helbert. 40
Figure 6.9 Resist films coated over topography will be asymmetric. When this topography
is a wafer alignment mark that is detected optically, misalignment can result from the
asymmetry.
Overlay 227
Misalignment can happen due to poor optics in any alignment system. For
example, nontelecentric lenses (to be discussed later in this chapter), in which
there is a coupling between defocus and lens magnification, result in alignment
variations as focus changes. Asymmetric illumination of alignment marks also
produces misalignment, similar in effect to real asymmetry in the alignment marks.
Canon has developed a broadband TV alignment system that uses a high-
resolution CCD camera system to align the wafer mark to the reticle mark.41 The
broadband illumination helps to reduce thin-film interference effects, while the
CCD camera has extremely small effective pixel sizes. However, the broadband
illumination dictates a separate optical system from the projection lens, so this
is an off-axis alignment system and must rely on autocalibration to achieve tight
registration.
6.1.3 Number of alignment marks

Different numbers of alignment marks per wafer can be used. The original
GCA wafer stepper used the minimum number of alignment marks—two per
wafer—as did a number of early machines from other stepper suppliers. This
often resulted in less-than-optimal overlay because of noise in the alignment
signal. One method that was attempted in order to improve overlay was die-by-
die alignment, where wafers were aligned to each field just prior to exposure.15
This had some advantages over competing systems of the time, because these
die-by-die alignment systems did not have significant baseline errors. Particular
implementations of die-by-die alignment achieved a certain level of success, but it
was ultimately a misguided effort because in the most common circumstances,
where the poor overlay was caused by noise in the alignment signal, overlay
could not be improved by this approach. In fact, die-by-die alignment actually
made overlay worse when overlay errors were dominated by alignment signal
noise. Moreover, throughput was decreased when compared to two-point global
alignment, adding insult to injury. With good stage interferometry and control,
the long distances that the wafer stage needs to travel between alignment and
exposure is not a problem. Die-by-die alignment is fundamentally advantageous
only when the wafer-stage control is worse than alignment noise. It has proven
straightforward to build highly precise wafer stages where the operating conditions
can be controlled, while wafer alignment targets vary with the process and are
therefore difficult to anticipate. The baseline problem has also been overcome by
suitable automatic calibration methods.
An alternative to both two-point global alignment and die-by-die alignment is
enhanced global alignment (EGA), introduced by Nikon.42 With EGA, usually
between five and ten alignment marks are acquired, but then the rest of the
procedure is similar to that of two-point global alignment. Enhanced global
alignment has the advantage of acquiring more data for the alignment than two-
point global alignment, enabling the effect of noise to be reduced by averaging.
The positions of the alignment targets are measured in the coordinates of the
stage (XS , YS ). On the other hand, the alignment targets are placed at positions
228 Chapter 6
(XW , YW ) in the coordinate system of the wafer. In terms of the stage coordinates,
the positions of the product die can be determined by assuming that θ in Eqs. (6.3)
and (6.4) is small, and the stage and wafer coordinate systems are then linearly
related:
XS = S X XW − θX YW + OX , (6.5)
and
YS = S Y YW + θY XW + OY . (6.6)
Typically, the coefficients are computed by a least-squares fit to the measured

alignment data.43,44 These equations differ from Eqs. (6.3) and (6.4) in that
the coefficients in the two equations are decoupled. This is done so that actual
deviations from the ideal situation, such as having nonorthogonal stages or
different scales in the X and Y directions, can be dealt with. The two pairs of
equations are equivalent when S x = S y = S , θ x = θy = θ, and a small value
of θ is assumed. The parameters in Eqs. (6.5) and (6.6) have similar significance
for the alignment operation as the factors in Eqs. (6.3) and (6.4). For example, the
coefficients θX and θY represent the amount the wafer needs to be rotated, bringing
the wafer’s X and Y axes parallel to the stage X and Y axes, respectively, in the
absence of scaling corrections. It is possible for θ x , θy , which occurs when the
stage X and Y axes are not perpendicular for all steppers, and similarly, S x , S y
when the distance scales are different between the X and Y axes. The terms O x
and Oy still give the distance between the center of the stage and wafer coordinate
systems. With the coefficients in Eqs. (6.5) and (6.6), the positions of the product
die and exposure fields can be known in the coordinates of the stage, enabling the
exposure fields to be moved into proper position for exposure.
Enhanced global alignment has proven to be extraordinarily effective and has
been adopted on commercial steppers today as a standard alignment scheme.
Enhanced global alignment gives better overlay than die-by-die alignment
whenever the precision of the laser stage is greater than the precision of
the stepper’s ability to capture alignment signals. In particular, it has reduced
sensitivity to degraded individual alignment targets.
6.2 Overlay Models

Lithographers need to characterize overlay errors in order to make improvements.
Overlay errors can be considered in terms of a hierarchy (Fig. 6.10). The most
fundamental errors are those that occur when only a single stepper and ideal
substrates are used, and where the latter provide high signal-to-noise alignment
signals. This basic set of overlay errors is well described by overlay models,
which will be discussed in detail shortly. When more than a single stepper is
used, an additional set of overlay errors is introduced, referred to as matching
errors. Finally, there are process-specific contributions to overlay that can result
Overlay 229
Figure 6.10 Hierarchy of overlay errors. The wafer stage and linear errors comprise the
foundation.
in nonideal alignment targets. A full accounting of overlay errors in terms of a

hierarchy is useful for assessing and improving overlay,45 and each of these issues
is discussed in the remainder of this chapter.
The control of overlay requires the use of mathematical models because such
models are employed directly in the software of wafer steppers when aligning
wafers and transforming wafer positions to stage coordinates (as described in the
previous section). There is a necessary interplay between the model parameters
used to evaluate overlay errors and the model parameters of the stepper’s internal
software. The overlay models conform to the physics of wafer steppers, either step-
and-repeat or step-and-scan, as appropriate. There are two categories of overlay
errors: intrafield, which involve the variation of overlay errors within exposure
fields, and interfield, which are the errors that vary from exposure field to exposure
field across wafers. Both categories are discussed in this section.
Interfield errors can be understood by considering the overlay error at equivalent
points in each exposure field. Conventionally, this is the center of the exposure
field. Let (X, Y) be the coordinate of a point on the wafer corresponding to the
center of some exposure field. The center of the wafer is the most convenient
location for the origin of the coordinate system, and is placed there for the
following discussion. Overlay errors vary across each wafer, so one can consider
the overlay errors at the exposure field whose center is located at position (X, Y) to
be given by
∆X = fX (X, Y), (6.7)
and
∆Y = fY (X, Y), (6.8)
where ∆X is the overlay error in the X direction and ∆Y is the error in the Y
direction. The overlay error ∆X can be expressed in a MacLaurin series of the
230 Chapter 6
function fX :
∆X = T X + e x X − RX Y + higher order terms. (6.9)
The sign prior to the RX Y term is negative to put these in the same form as the
alignment equations [Eqs. (6.3) and (6.5)]. There is a similar expression for ∆Y:
∆Y = T Y + ey Y + RY X + higher order terms. (6.10)
If only linear terms are retained, then Eqs. (6.9) and (6.10) become
∆X = T X + e x X − RX Y + e x (6.11)
and
∆Y = T Y + ey Y + RY X + ey , (6.12)
where e x and ey are the residual errors that do not conform to the model. The most
common source of residual error is the imprecision of the stepper’s stage, which
is on the order of 5 nm or less (3σ) for the current generation of wafer steppers.46
Another source of nonmodeled error arises when multiple steppers are used, which
is the issue of matching that is discussed in the next section.
The linear terms in Eqs. (6.11) and (6.12) have physical meanings. Each layer
can be considered as patterns printed on a rectangular or near-rectangular grid.
The parameters T X and T Y represent translation errors in the X and Y directions,
respectively, and indicate an overall shift of the printed grid relative to the grid of
the substrate layer. The factors E X and EY are scale errors, which represent the
errors made by the stepper in compensating for wafer expansion or contraction.
Scale errors are dimensionless and are usually expressed in parts per million. The
coefficients RX and RY are rotation factors. When RX = RY , one grid is rotated
relative to the other, and this accounts for the sign convention chosen in Eq.
(6.11). If the angle between the axes of the grids is not equal, then RX , RY .
This latter error is referred to as an orthogonality error since it represents the
situation in which the grid for at least one of the layers (substrate or overlaying)
has nonorthogonal axes. In the presence of orthogonality errors, one can still talk
of a grid rotation error, given by
RX + RY
. (6.13)
2
The rotation prefactors are sines of angles, but since
θ ≈ sin θ, (6.14)
Overlay 231
for small θ, the rotations are usually expressed in radian measure, typically in
units of microradians. This linear model for characterizing grid overlay errors [Eqs.
(6.11) and (6.12)] was introduced by Perloff,44 and it is still widely used today.
Stage precision is typically measured by stepping a pattern on a wafer and then
printing a second pattern on top of the first. These exposures are performed without
removing the wafer from the chuck or removing the reticle between exposures. The
reticle used for this testing typically has both parts of a structure that can be used
for measuring overlay between two layers. (Such structures will be discussed in
more detail in Chapter 9.) The two parts of the structure are offset on the mask, so
the wafer is shifted when it is placed under the lens for the second exposure. Thus,
stage precision means that a wafer can be moved from one position to another
many millimeters away and then returned to the original position to within 5 nm or
better (3σ). This is an extraordinary level of mechanical control.
Nonlinear overlay errors can arise. While these are typically smaller than the
linear ones, they may not be insignificant. One source—matching—is discussed
in the next section. Another observed example of nonlinearity was caused by
the heating of wafers during i-line exposures resulting in nonlinear errors along
with a wafer scaling–error component.47 A wafer may also change temperature
during the alignment and exposure operations if the wafer is at a temperature
different from that inside the stepper environmental enclosure when the wafer is
first moved into the stepper and is not allowed to come to thermal equilibrium
prior to processing48 (see Problem 6.6). Wafers can experience nonlinear plastic
distortions, often caused by rapid thermal processing,49 which are not corrected
by alignment methods that account only for linear errors. Nonlinear errors are not
corrected by the software of most steppers, which use a linear model, though there
have been proposals for incorporating nonlinear effects.50 Some of the errors that
are not included in the model of Eqs. (6.11) and (6.12) are discussed in the next
section.
Overlay errors may also vary across each exposure field. These types of errors
are referred to as intrafield errors, examples of which are illustrated in Fig. 6.11.
Consider, for example, a magnification (or reduction) error. The lens reduction
typically has nominal values of 4:1 or 5:1, but the magnification deviates from
these nominal values by some small amount. When there is wafer expansion or
contraction between masking steps it is necessary for the stepper to be programmed
to measure this change and compensate for it, not only in grid terms, but in the size
of each exposure field as well. Errors in this correction result in magnification
errors. The other primary intrafield errors are shown in Fig. 6.11.
Intrafield overlay models for wafer steppers were introduced by MacMillan
and Ryden in 1982.51 Since then, the most significant change has been the
introduction of models for step-and-scan systems. The models for step-and-scan
systems include parameters for asymmetric magnification and skew, which are not
relevant for step-and-repeat systems.
Suppose the same stepper is used for printing two layers, one overlaying the
other. The overlay error at any point on the wafer is the sum of the grid errors,
defined previously as the overlay errors at the center of the exposure field, and
232 Chapter 6
Figure 6.11 Intrafield overlay errors deviate from these nominal values by some small
amount.
overlay errors that vary across each exposure field. Let (x, y) be the coordinates
of a point on the wafer, relative to the center of the exposure field in which it is
contained (Fig. 6.12). For a step-and-repeat system, the intrafield overlay errors
are modeled as51
δx = t x + mx − ry + T x xy + T y x2 + e x , (6.15)
and
δy = ty + my + rx + T y xy + T x y2 + ey . (6.16)
In these equations, the parameter m represents a magnification error. It is

dimensionless and is usually expressed in parts per million. The magnification error
can be interpreted as follows. The error in overlay increases linearly with distance
from the center of the exposure field. The rate at which this error increases with
distance from the center of the exposure field is the magnification error coefficient
m. For step-and-repeat systems the magnification error is the same in x and y
directions. The coefficient r represents reticle rotation. As with wafer rotation, this
is usually expressed in microradians. Reticle-rotation errors also increase linearly
with the distance from the center of the exposure field, and the error coefficient
is the same for errors in x and y for step-and-repeat systems. The terms e x and ey
are residual errors that do not conform to the model. The factors T x and T y are
trapezoid error coefficients, and are discussed next.
Trapezoid errors result from magnification that varies across the exposure field
and results from the phenomenon of perspective, where more distant objects appear
smaller in size (Fig. 6.13). When reticles are not perpendicular to the optical axis,
some portions of the exposure field are further away from the lens than others. For
Overlay 233
Figure 6.12 Intrafield overlay is measured relative to the center of each exposure field.
Figure 6.13 The imaging of telecentric and nontelecentric lenses.
normal lenses this results in a variation in magnification across the exposure field—
that is, trapezoid errors. Telecentric lenses have magnification independent of the
distance between the object and lens over a limited range of separations. Stepper
lenses have always been telecentric on the wafer side (magnification independent
of wafer focus), but newer generations of lenses are also telecentric on the reticle
side. These double-telecentric lenses are free of trapezoid errors.
Trapezoid errors introduce an anomaly into the overlay models. If all intrafield
errors are symmetric about the origin, then the intrafield errors average to zero (by
definition of being relative to the center of the exposure field) up to measurement
234 Chapter 6
noise, at least when considering overlay where the same exposure tool is used for
both layers. As one can see in Fig. 6.11, trapezoid errors are not symmetric with
respect to the center of the exposure field. The introduction of trapezoid to the
model requires the inclusion of translation terms t x and ty to adjust for the center
offset of the trapezoid errors.
Grid (interfield) models are identical for step-and-repeat and step-and-scan
systems, but the appropriate intrafield models differ. For step-and-scan systems,
the intrafield model is
δx = m x x − r x y + e x , (6.17)
and
δy = my y + ry x + ey . (6.18)
The step-and-scan model is similar to the step-and-repeat model for double-

telecentric lenses, with some differences. Most notably, the magnification
coefficients (m x and my ) and rotation coefficients (r x and ry ) in Eqs. (6.17) and
(6.18) are independent in the two equations and are not coupled, as in Eqs. (6.15)
and (6.16).
The magnification for step-and-scan systems can be different in the x and y
directions because the magnification in the x direction has a different origin than
the magnification in the y direction. The magnification in the direction of the scan is
determined by the relative speeds of the reticle and wafer stages. Ideally, the reticle
stage should move N times faster than the wafer stage, where N : 1 is the reduction
ratio of the lens (typically, N = 4.) When the reticle stage speed is faster than N
times the wafer stage speed, the printed field is shorter in the scan direction. This
can be understood as follows. Suppose the scanning occurs for a time t, during
which the entire reticle field is scanned. The length of the field scanned on the
reticle, in the scan direction, is given by
LR = vR t, (6.19)
where vR is the speed at which the reticle is scanned. Similarly, the size of the field
on the wafer, in the scan direction, is given by
LW = vW t, (6.20)
where vW is the scanning speed of the wafer. The reduction in field size, in the scan
direction, from reticle to wafer is
LR vR
= . (6.21)
LW vW
Overlay 235
If vR > NvW , then the field reduction in the scan direction is larger than N. The
magnification in the direction perpendicular to the scan is determined only by
the lens-reduction factor (∼N:1), since the image size in that direction is defined
entirely by the reduction optics.
For step-and-scan systems, intrafield rotation issues are more complicated than
for step-and-repeat systems. For step-and-repeat exposure tools, intrafield rotation
involves the relative orientations of the wafer stage, reticle, and existing patterns.
Step-and-scan systems have an additional component, the reticle scanning stage.
Pure reticle rotation occurs when the scans of the reticle and wafer stages are
parallel, but the reticle is rotated relative to both. The origin of field skew is left to
the reader to derive in Problem 6.7.
For any point on the wafer, the overlay error is the sum of the interfield and
intrafield errors. In the X direction, the total overlay error is OX,x = ∆X + δx, and
the overlay error in the Y direction is OY,y = ∆Y + δy, at the point (X + x, Y + y)
(see Fig. 6.12). For step-and-scan systems:
OX,x = T X + E X X − RX Y + m x x − r x y + ρX,x , (6.22)
and
OY,y = T Y + EY Y + RY X + my y + ry x + ρY,y , (6.23)
where ρX,x and ρY,y are total residual errors. There are similar equations for step-
and-repeat systems.
Classifying errors is important for controlling overlay, because intrafield and
interfield overlay errors generally arise from different causes. For example, reticle-
rotation errors involve the alignment of the reticle, while wafer-rotation issues
involve separate alignments. In order to classify overlay errors the coefficients
in Eqs. (6.22) and (6.23) need to be determined. The most common method for
extracting these coefficients from measured data (OX,x , OY,y ) is the method of least
squares.52,53 In this technique, more data are needed than there are parameters. For
Eqs. (6.22) and (6.23), measurements need to be made at two points per exposure
field or more, in order to model intrafield effects. (Each measurement site provides
two measurements, one in X and one in Y.) The least-squares method determines
the set of coefficients {T X , T Y , m x , . . .}, which minimizes the sum of squares of the
residual errors:
X
ρ2X,x + ρ2Y,y , (6.24)
X,x,Y,y
where the sum is extended over all measured points. Computational speed and
insensitivity to noise are among the reasons why the least-squares method is
the mathematical technique most commonly used. Coefficients obtained from the
least-squares method do not represent local minima. The choice of mathematical
236 Chapter 6
methods used to determine the model coefficients is further discussed later in this
chapter.
Example: Misregistration of patterns on reticles can produce overlay errors. An
engineer wants to compensate for reticle registration errors measured on a product
reticle. Errors on the reticle that fit the model of Eqs. (6.15) and (6.16) were
corrected on step-and-scan systems. Constants were added to each of these
equations as well, to correct for translation shifts. The reticle errors, as measured
on the product reticle, are given in Table 6.4. The model coefficients are given in
Table 6.5. As can be seen, a substantial fraction of the reticle error is eliminated
by applying magnification, rotation, and translation offsets. For example, the
registration error at the position (−69.5, 0) is given by
δx = X-translation + m x x − r x y + e x , (6.25)
= −10.6 + 0.963 × 69.5 − 0.329 × 0.0 + e x , (6.26)
= 56.3 + e x . (6.27)
The measured error is 63 nm, so the model was able to account for most of the
registration error at that point, and most of the error was therefore correctable.
Table 6.4 Reticle registration errors. The first two columns are the positions where
registration is measured. The third and fourth columns are the registration errors, as
measured, and the last columns are the residual errors, after the modeled part of the errors
is subtracted from the raw data.
Measurement positions Measured registration errors Residual registration
errors:
step-and-scan model
x (mm) y (mm) δx (nm) δy (nm) ex (nm) ey (nm)
−69.5 0.0 63.0 0.0 6.7 −9.7

69.5 0.0 −63.0 0.0 14.5 −12.9
−30.2 51.0 17.0 −15.0 15.3 −2.2
30.2 51.0 −14.0 1.0 42.4 12.4
30.2 −51.0 −21.0 30.0 1.9 −5.4
−30.2 −51.0 48.0 29.0 12.8 −5.0
−29.9 50.8 −41.0 −16.0 −42.5 −3.3
29.9 50.8 −82.0 −7.0 −25.9 4.3
29.9 −50.8 −61.0 39.0 −38.3 3.7
−29.9 −50.8 48.0 52.0 13.1 18.1
Table 6.5 The model coefficients, determined by least

squares, for the reticle misregistration data in Table 6.4.
x translation −10.6 nm y translation 11.3 nm
mx −0.963 ppm my 0.023 ppm

rx 0.329 µrad ry −0.459 µrad
Overlay 237
The step-and-scan models considered to this point have been purely linear. From
Eqs. (6.9) and (6.10) it is readily seen that the interfield terms can be expanded
to include nonlinear terms, and a similar approach may be taken to characterize
intrafield overlay errors. A nonlinear model was used in the early days of stepper
lithography to describe mix-and-match overlay between a stepper and a Perkin-
Elmer scanner.54 With occasional exceptions,55 only linear terms were considered
sufficient for controlling overlay until approximately 2001, at which point interest
in nonlinear models began to increase. Part of this increased interest was the
result of tightened requirements for overlay, beyond the typical 0.7× reduction
node-to-node. With shrinking, everything did not scale at the same pace. As a
consequence, overlay went from being ∼1/3 of the half pitch to ∼20% of the half
pitch (see Table 6.1). At the same time the difficulty of improving overlay also
increased, and it became necessary to find improvement wherever possible. The
introduction of 300-mm wafers appears to have been accompanied by a higher
level of nonlinear wafer distortion induced by processes such as film deposition
and thermal annealing.56 After years of concentrated efforts to minimize linear
errors, the nonlinear components and residuals became a larger fraction of the total
overlay errors.57
The need to address nonlinear overlay errors requires a substantial increase
in the number of wafer alignments and overlay measurements. If one can
legitimately assume purely linear and isotropic errors, then only two across-wafer
and two within-field alignments are needed, and only a few more measurements
are required if parameters such as field magnification require asymmetric
compensation. On the other hand, a much larger number of measurements is
needed when there are substantial nonlinear contributions to the overlay error,
potentially reducing scanner throughput as well as increasing metrology costs. If
the nonlinear signature is reproducible wafer-to-wafer, at least within a single lot
of wafers, then a large number of alignment and measurement sites can be used on
one wafer to determine this signature, which can then be applied to other wafers
on which fewer alignments are made. Nonlinear contributions are also a significant
contributor when two layers, between which overlay is a concern, are exposed on
a different scanner. This problem that arises from using more than one scanner is
the topic of the next section.
6.3 Matching
A set of nonrandom overlay errors not included in the overlay models are found
in situations where more than one stepper is used. These errors are referred to
as matching errors since they refer to the degree on which the pattern placement
produced on one stepper matches that of other steppers. There can be grid and
intrafield matching errors. Grid matching errors arise from absolute stepping errors.
While stepper stages are extremely repeatable, their stepping may deviate at each
stage position, on average, from a perfect grid. When a single stepper is used for
both the substrate and overlaying layers, these average deviations cancel out. A
different situation arises when different steppers are used for the two layers. Some
238 Chapter 6
differences in the stepping of different stages are correctable. For example, scale
errors can arise when the beams of the interferometer are not exactly perpendicular
to the mirrors on the stage (Fig. 6.14). The laser beam travels a distance of 2h,
while the stage travels a distance d. The system is designed on the assumption that
h = d, while actually
d
h= . (6.28)
cos θ
This indicates a scaling error proportional to cosθ, which is why these errors are
designated as cosine errors—being a linear error, it can easily be corrected.
It is also possible that the X and Y steppings are not truly perpendicular on one
machine, resulting in a grid that is not perfectly orthogonal. This is correctable
through software if the magnitude of the error is known. Stability of orthogonality
is important, so stage mirrors are usually made from thermally stable materials,
such as Zerodur, and it is preferable to have the X and Y stage mirrors fabricated
from a single block of material to maximize stability.58
Nonlinear grid-registration errors originate in the nonflatness of the stage
mirrors. Consider the stage mirrors drawn in Fig. 6.15. The branch of the
interferometer that measures the stage’s position in the Y direction measures
apparent movement in the Y direction as the stage is moved from left to right
because of the mirror’s nonflatness. When a single stepper is used, the resulting
stepping errors, relative to a perfect grid, do not lead to overlay errors because
these stage-stepping errors occur for all layers and cancel each out. Because mirror
nonflatness arises from mirror polishing, the nonflatness generally varies from
stepper to stepper, and stage mismatch occurs. For modern wafer steppers, the
stage mirrors are flat to approximately λ/40, or about 16 nm, where λ = 633 nm is
the wavelength of light of the stage’s interferometer.
Grid-registration errors can be corrected using software.59 Typically, reference-
matching wafers are used for matching all steppers in a facility to the same
positions. Look-up tables can be used for these corrections, or the grid models can
Figure 6.14 Cosine error in a stage interferometer.

Overlay 239
Figure 6.15 Stage mirror nonflatness that leads to nonlinear stage-matching errors.
be expanded to higher orders. The second-order interfield term is wafer bow.60

Matching grids to less than 5 nm in not uncommon. Laser interferometers for
wafer steppers usually have more than one beam for each direction in order
to measure stage rotation during stepping. Mirror nonflatness can then lead to
intrafield rotation as fields are stepped across wafers55 that are not captured by
models that treat the reticle rotation the same in every field. This is eliminated by
proper accounting of mirror nonflatness.
Lenses do not always place geometries where they belong. For example, suppose
the pattern on the reticle consists of a perfect rectangular grid (Fig. 6.16). Because
of the lens-placement errors, the vertices of the pattern are slightly moved.
Placement errors run from 200 nm on older lenses to <10 nm on contemporary
machines. These errors may be inherent in the design or result from fabrication
imperfections. The design contribution is referred to as lens distortion and has a
known functional form for static exposures:
∆r = D3 r3 + D5 r5 , (6.29)
∆x = D3 xr2 + D5 xr4 , (6.30)
∆y = D3 yr2 + D5 yr4 , (6.31)
Figure 6.16 Lens-placement errors.

240 Chapter 6
where r is the radial distance from the center of the lens field,
q
r= x2 + y2 . (6.32)
Because of the magnitude of the exponents of terms in Eq. (6.29), D3 and D5 are
referred to as third- and fifth-order distortion, respectively. Systematic distortion in
scanning systems results from the averaging of Eqs. (6.30) and (6.31) across the
slit during the scan. This leads to image blurring, so it is important that distortion
be low in the lenses used for scanning lithography.
Distortion tends to be fairly constant within a particular lens family. However,
there are strong economic reasons to minimize the numbers of very high-
performance steppers, and to mix-and-match steppers of different types.61
Consequently, lenses of more than one type are usually used to fabricate
semiconductor devices. Older generations of projection optics had nonzero levels
of distortion in the design, where the magnitude of ∆x and ∆y, due to distortion
alone, could be as large as several tens of nanometers, sometimes up to 200 nm. In
such situations good matching could be achieved only within given lens families,
particularly when different lens designs might have distortions with opposite signs
for D3 and D5 . The designs of modern lenses have negligible levels of radial
third- and fifth-order distortion. For these newer lenses, placement errors are due
primarily to manufacturing imperfections, which tend to produce intrafield errors
that are not systematic, as in the case of third- and fifth-order lens distortion.
Polishing variations across the surfaces of lenses and mirrors and inhomogeneity
in optical materials can lead to intrafield registration errors. These tend to have
random patterns.
While distortion is extremely stable for i-line systems, distortion varies with
very small shifts—less than a picometer—in wavelength for DUV systems.62,63
Consequently, additional controls are needed on DUV machines, the most critical
being wavelength control. Modern KrF excimer lasers, the light source for 248-
nm exposure systems, contain internal wavelength references that provide good
wavelength control.64 As with anything, this calibration system can malfunction or
drift, and there is always the potential for change in third- and fifth-order distortion
as a consequence of a small shift in wavelength. Also, changes in barometric
pressure change the wavelength of light in the air, and excimer steppers must adjust
for this correctly, or third- and fifth-order distortion may be introduced.
For step-and-scan systems the intrafield placement errors also have a scanning
component. In some cases, lenses have improved to the point that intrafield
placement errors are dominated by the stage scanning.65 Part of this reduced
contribution from the lens is due to the scanning itself, because the static lens-
placement errors are averaged during the scan. If the lens-placement error at static
field position (x, y) is ~ε(x, y), then the placement error ~e(x) of the scanned image at
Overlay 241
slit position x is66

Z W
1 2
~e(x) = ~ε(x, y)dy, (6.33)
W −W
2
which is illustrated in Fig. 6.17. Note that there is no variation (at a given slit
position of x) of the intrafield placement errors in the y direction from the static
lens-placement errors if the scanning is perfect. Such errors in the y direction must
necessarily result from the scanning.
There are random and systematic contributions to the scanning errors. In this
case random means more than failure to conform to some intrafield error model.
These random errors vary from field-to-field and are independent of measurement
error. These are average errors during the scan, so they lead to overlay errors
but not image fading, which results from variations during the scan. This random
component does not exist in step-and-repeat systems, so there is more potential for
overlay errors with scanners, even for a stepper to itself. Moreover, the stage that
scans the reticle can malfunction, another control problem unique to step-and-scan
systems.
The intrafield overlay contains some theoretically correctable contributions that
can be fit to the overlay model [Eqs. (6.22) and (6.23)]. When using two different
exposure tools, one for the first layer and the other tool for the second layer, there
are additional components that arise from differences between the two lenses that
do not conform to the model. The matching of the lenses is the set of residual
overlay vectors remaining after subtracting out the correctable contributions. These
sets of vectors are dependent upon the criterion used for determining the model
parameters. The least-squares method is used most commonly, but it is not the
only reasonable criterion. For example, since devices are usually designed to yield
so long as overlay is less than a particular value and fail when the value is exceeded,
yield can be maximized when the worst overlay errors are minimized.67 This
criterion consists of the minimization of

max ρ x , ρy , (6.34)
x,y
Figure 6.17 Lens-placement errors in the scanning slit.

242 Chapter 6
where ρ x and ρy are the residual errors in Eqs. (6.22) and (6.23). The minimization
of Eq. (6.34) differs from the least-squares criterion, which consists of the
minimization of the quantity in Eq. (6.24) and typically leads to different model
coefficients. We say that lenses are matched when correctable parameters are set
to minimize the selected criterion, either Eq. (6.24), (6.34), or another that may be
chosen.
The least-squares method has two key advantages. The first is computational
simplicity, since model coefficients can be found through simple matrix
calculations. The least-squares method also provides transitivity,68 that is, if
Stepper A is matched to Stepper B, and Stepper B is matched to Stepper C, then
Stepper A is also matched to Stepper C. Minimization of maximum error does
not share this characteristic.69 This is a practical problem when matching many
steppers within a large fabricator.
When only a single stepper is used, the intrafield overlay model accounts for
nearly all of the intrafield overlay errors, and the overlay errors throughout the
entire field are therefore inferred from measurements at only a few points within
the exposure fields. It is quite a different situation when more than one stepper is
used. Matching methodology must account for overlay in the areas of the exposure
field that are not accessible when measuring product wafers. Specialized structures
are normally used for measuring overlay, and these are usually placed in the scribe
lanes between product dies. This limits the amount of overlay data collected on
product wafers, since most of the exposure field is occupied by product devices,
not overlay-measurement structures. This limitation on the number of points within
each exposure field at which overlay can be sampled has significant consequences
since overlay is measured in areas where the product is not placed.
Suppose overlay is measured on several fields of the wafer, and also within
each field at four sites with the same intrafield positions. One can fit the acquired
data to the overlay model [Eqs. (6.22) and (6.23)] by minimizing the appropriate
metric (least squares, minimum error, etc.). This approach may not optimize the
overlay over the entire exposure field, particularly the parts of the field in which
the product is located and overlay is not measured. This is demonstrated in the
following way.69 Between two steppers the overlay is measured on a 12 × 11 grid
with 1.95-mm spacings in the x and y directions within the exposure field. The
resulting lens matching is shown in Fig. 6.18. In a gedanken (thought) experiment,
the overlay measurements are considered at only four points among these 132 sites,
in a pattern that resembles a typical overlay-measurement plan. Several subsets
of four points are considered in Fig. 6.19. For each set of four sites, the overlay
model coefficients are recalculated and plotted in Fig. 6.20. As one can see, the
resulting model coefficients vary significantly among sampling plans. Recall that
the baseline set of coefficients was the one that optimized the overlay over the entire
exposure field, not just at the four corner points. By measuring at only four points
and adjusting the stepper to minimize overlay at just the measured points, overlay
is moved away from the optimum, overall. This problem occurs when different
steppers are used for the overlaying of patterns.
Overlay 243
Figure 6.18 Matching between two particular step-and-repeat and step-and-scan

systems.
Figure 6.19 Various sampling plans for measuring overlay. In Sampling Plan #1,
measurements are taken in the four extreme corner measurements sites.
In earlier discussions it was mentioned that the production of good devices

requires that critical parameters remain within specifications at all locations within
the dies. Lens mismatch may result in particular points at which overlay is very
poor. Overall overlay may be very good, but the die at the field location where the
mismatch occurs yields poorly. An example of this is shown in Fig. 6.18, where
the bottom left corner of the field has a point with particularly bad overlay. Overall,
the overlay is good, but the die located in that corner consistently has poor overlay.
With one to eight die per field being typical, a single bad site within the exposure
field can degrade the yield significantly. The concept that good yield requires
parameters at all points of a die to be within specifications was first introduced
in the context of overlay.67
To complicate matters further, it has been observed that lens-placement errors
vary with illumination conditions, such as partial coherence71–73 or off-axis
244 Chapter 6
Figure 6.20 Model parameters for different sampling plans of the single data set shown in
Fig. 6.18.
illumination.74–76 For purposes of maximizing depth-of-focus or exposure latitude,

different illumination conditions are often used at different layers. For example,
large values for the partial coherence are used for gate and metal layers, at least
when binary masks are used. Small values of partial coherence are used for contact
layers and phase-shifting masks. Consequently, there are intrafield errors, even
when the same stepper is used for all layers, if different illumination conditions
are used for different layers. The overlay errors between a first layer printed with
standard illumination (NA = 0.63, σ = 0.65) and a second layer exposed using the
same numerical aperture, but a partial coherence of σ = 0.3, are shown in Fig. 6.21.
Even though both layers are printed using the same lens, there is considerable
intrafield error. Each vector is the overlay error at the point located at the tail of the
vector. It should also be noted that the use of a single stepper does not guarantee
the nonexistence of grid and intrafield matching errors, because drift, database
corruption, and stepper malfunction are possible. However, such events are rare,
Overlay 245
Figure 6.21 The overlay errors between a first layer printed with standard illumination
(NA = 0.63, σ = 0.65) and a second layer exposed using the same numerical aperture, but a
partial coherence of σ = 0.3.69
and the matching errors discussed here occur infrequently when single steppers
are used with fixed operating parameters.
The changes in lens-placement errors caused by variations in illumination
conditions can be understood by considering the imaging of a simple diffraction
grating, discussed in Chapter 2. With various angles of illumination incidence
numerical apertures, and the pitches of the pattern, the light of a grating
pattern projected through a lens passes through different parts of the lens. Many
aberrations are a result of variations in the polishing of optical surfaces and
inhomogeneity in glass materials. Light rays going through one part of the
lens have different errors than rays going through different parts of the lens.
As a consequence, aberrations vary for light passing through different parts
of the lens. For a given feature, the aberrations of its image depends on the
particular imperfections in those parts of the lens through which the light from
that feature passes. Hence, aberrations vary with pitch, numerical aperture, and
the illumination conditions. The light from patterns other than gratings is also
distributed throughout the optics with dependence upon feature size and proximity
to other features. Since light is diffracted in fairly specific directions with highly
coherent illumination and is more spread out with less coherent light, variations in
distortion for different pitches and geometries are smaller with reduced coherence
(larger values of σ).
To address these issues, at least partly, capability for measuring overlay within
product die has been developed.77 Specialized overlay-measurement marks are still
required, but they have been made small enough (<5 µm × 5 µm) that a quantity of
them can be placed within product die areas without interfering too greatly with the
circuit design. Use of such targets can reduce the impact of incomplete sampling.
As feature sizes shrink, these subtle issues generate overlay errors of
significance. For example, certain aberrations, such as coma, result in a feature-size
dependency for intrafield registration. This is shown in Fig. 6.22, where simulated
246 Chapter 6
Figure 6.22 Overlay errors from coma.78
image-placement shifts of isolated clear lines are plotted against space width,
where the lens has a7 = 0.035 waves of coma.78 In the presence of coma, overlay-
measurement structures with large features measure different overlay than actually
occurs for critical fine-linewidth features in the product.
This implies that overlay measurements do not represent the overlay of critical
features in the circuits. For example, using overlay-measurement structures of
different widths, effective field magnification is found in one instance to differ
by more than 1 ppm between 2.0-µm and 0.2-µm features.79 For a 20-mm × 20-
mm field, the 0.2-µm features that might be found in the circuit are placed ±20 nm
differently at the edges of the field, relative to the positions indicated by the 2.0-µm
features that are conventionally used for overlay measurement. Modern lenses have
lower levels of aberrations than assumed for the calculations of Fig. 6.22, but
image-placement errors of several nanometers still exist between large and small
features. Measuring overlay directly using small features is a problem. Overlay
is typically measured using optical tools (Chapter 9) that can measure features
reliably only if their size is greater than about 0.25 µm. Optical tools are used
for measuring overlay in spite of this limitation because they have throughput and
cost advantages over measurement tools, such as scanning-electron microscopes,
that are capable of measuring smaller features. Subtle issues such as these need to
be addressed when nanometers represent a significant fraction of the total overlay
budget.
In order to enhance productivity, high-throughput steppers with large exposure
fields are often used for noncritical layers, while smaller-field steppers are used for
the critical layers. The mixing of these different types of steppers often results in
nonconcentric exposure fields (Fig. 6.23). Control of overlay requires extensions
of the models discussed thus far, which have assumed that the centers of exposure
fields sit approximately on top of each other.80,81 Overlay needs to be measured
at the corners of the critical fields in order to identify overlay errors associated
with intrafield errors that are associated with the smaller field. Mathematical
models describing field rotation and magnification must take into account the
nonconcentric nature of the fields.
Overlay 247
Figure 6.23 Nonconcentric matching.
Misregistration of geometries on reticles results in overlay errors on wafers.

This misregistration can have random components, as well as other contributions
that vary systematically across the reticles. An example of a systematic variation is
one that varies linearly across the reticle. Such linearly varying misregistration will
appear as a magnification error. It is possible to correct for systematically varying
reticle errors corresponding to adjustable intrafield parameters.70,82 For example,
reticle misregistration resulting from orthogonality errors of the reticle beam writer
corresponds to field skew. Such an error is correctable on a step-and-scan system,
but not a step-and-repeat machine. Correction of reticle errors was described in an
example shown in the previous section.
6.4 Process-Dependent Overlay Effects

The quality of the overlay is very dependent upon the ability of the stepper’s
alignment system to acquire alignment targets accurately. There is an interplay
between the alignment signal and the nature of the alignment targets, which
depends upon the overall process for making semiconductors, including film
depositions, resist coatings, etches, and polishes. Consequently, lithography
engineers need to optimize alignment targets. This optimization includes the
dimensions of targets, film stacks, etch depths, resist coatings, and polishing
processes.
Sputter deposition of metals can cause asymmetries in overlay targets. Metal
ions are partially shadowed by alignment-mark topography, leading to apparent
shifts in the position of the alignment mark (Fig. 6.24). Because sputtering
geometries are usually radially symmetric, the resulting overlay errors often appear
as wafer-scaling errors. The overlay-measurement structures are affected in the
same way as the alignment targets, and the overlay errors are apparent only
after etching the metal. The asymmetry is affected by the geometries of substrate
features, and it is different for large structures used to measure alignment relative
to critical features in the product. If the asymmetries are consistent within a lot and
lot-to-lot, then overlay offsets may be determined off line and used for correction.
248 Chapter 6
Figure 6.24 Metal deposited asymmetrically over alignment targets or overlay-

measurement marks cause shifts in overlay.
Chemical-mechanical polish (CMP) represents a particularly difficult challenge

for overlay.83,84 The purpose of CMP is to produce highly planarized surfaces.
While this helps lithography by reducing thin-film effects and increasing depth-
of-focus, it makes overlay difficult because it reduces alignment-target contrast.
Consider the situation depicted in Fig. 6.25(a). Alignment targets are invisible
when planarization is complete and wafers are covered completely by metal films.
The polishing process is adjusted in order to produce some degree of topography
[Fig. 6.25(b)],85 but the polishing often produces asymmetries [Fig. 6.25(c)],
particularly when the width of the pattern is large. Alignment target deformation
occurs from all CMP processes, such as for shallow trench isolation, and not just
those processes involving metal layers.
There are several things that can be done to improve overlay in the context
of CMP. Alignment mark dimensions can be varied or segmented in order to
Figure 6.25 Effects of chemical-mechanical polishing on alignment marks: (a) alignment

target polished flat, (b) symmetrically recessed alignment target, and (c) asymmetrically
recessed alignment target.
Overlay 249
determine the best mark. Polishing engineers should participate in any programs to
improve overlay, since modifications of the polish process can often reduce overlay
errors considerably, particularly when such errors result from highly variable polish
processes. For example, the use of harder polishing pads may lead to reduced
overlay errors. Stepper manufacturers have also responded with modifications to
their alignment systems, using modified illumination86 and new algorithms for
interpreting alignment signals.87
Problems
6.1 Acceptable values for wafer scaling can be assessed by comparing the effect on
overlay of a 0.01-ppm error in correcting for wafer expansion to the overlay
requirements in Table 6.1. Across a 300-mm wafer, show that a range of 3-
nm overlay error can result from an 0.1-ppm wafer-scaling error. Is this a
significant error for the 32-nm node?
6.2 Give two reasons why alignment systems should be designed to function at
wavelengths other than the ones used for patterning the resist. (Hint: Are there
any particular resist processes that are particularly problematic for actinic-
wavelength-alignment systems?)
6.3 Consider a 0.7-NA 193-nm exposure tool used to pattern 130-nm features.
Show that the diffraction-limited resolution of a through-the-lens alignment
system on this tool, operating at the HeNe laser wavelength of 632.8 nm, is
168 nm. Is this adequate for achieving overlay control that is one-third the
minimum feature size?
6.4 The alignment mark for the ASML alignment system is a phase grating
consisting of approximately equal lines and spaces of 8.0 µm width. If a
HeNe laser is used for alignment and is directed normal to the plane of the
grating, show that the minimum-NA lens required to capture the ±first-order
diffraction beams is 0.04 [use Eq. (2.1)]. What minimum NA is required for
third-order? Fifth-order? Seventh-order? Is this NA requirement too large for
microlithographic-projection optics for through-the-lens alignment?
6.5 Show that the depth required to achieve a 180-deg phase difference for the
first-order diffraction beams from the phase grating shown in Fig. 6.6 is
λ cos θ
.
2n 1 + cos θ
Show that cosθ ≈ 1 is a suitable approximation for first-order alignment on
the ASML alignment system. How much should the depth be adjusted for
optimized seventh-order alignment relative to first-order alignment?
250 Chapter 6
6.6 If silicon wafers have a 2.6-ppm/◦ C coefficient of thermal expansion, show

that a ∼0.01 ◦ C change in temperature will cause a 10-nm change in the
distance between two points on opposite sides of a 300-mm wafer. Is ±0.01 ◦ C
wafer temperature control adequate for the 45-nm node?
6.7 In a step-and-scan system, the reticle must be parallel with the reticle stage, and
the reticle and wafer stages must be parallel to each other. Show that intrafield
skew errors arise when the reticle is parallel to the wafer stage, but the reticle
and wafer stages do not scan in the same direction.
6.8 Show that the range of displacement errors across a 300-mm wafer due to a
0.01 arcsec rotation error is 14.5 nm.
6.9 Suppose a lens has third-order distortion [Eqs. (6.29)–(6.31)]. Show that the
image-placement error caused by this distortion error in the x direction at
position (x, y) in the exposure field is given by:
W2
∆x = D3 x3 + D3 x ,
12
where (0, 0) is the center of the exposure field. Show that the image-placement
error due to third-order distortion in the y direction is zero everywhere.
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Overlay 251
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Overlay 253
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254 Chapter 6
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Overlay 255
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Chapter 7
Masks and Reticles
7.1 Overview
In optical-projection lithography, the patterns on wafers are reproductions of
those on photomasks. The quality of the wafer patterns, as measured by
linewidth control, overlay, and defects, is strongly affected by the quality of
the corresponding parameters on the masks. Linewidth variations on the reticles
ultimately result in linewidth variations on the wafer. Mask-registration errors
contribute to overlay errors. Defects on the reticle may result in nonworking die.
Consequently, masks are critical components of lithographic technology.
The impact from variations and defects on masks is particularly significant when
wafer steppers are used, where the patterns of integrated circuits are formed on
the wafers by the repeated imaging of reticles. This repetitive imaging process
imposes stringent requirements on the reticles. Consider a reticle that contains
four product dies. A single defect on the reticle capable of causing product failure
reduces yield by 25%. Such a large yield loss from a single defect implies zero
tolerance for defects on the reticle. Similarly, linewidth control and registration
must be very good on reticles. Because reticle defects and variations are reproduced
repetitively, photomask technology is an important aspect of lithography. Current
and future mask requirements from the 2009 International Technology Roadmap
for Semiconductors (ITRS) are shown in Table 7.1.
Photomasks are fabricated with techniques similar to those used in wafer
processing. A photomask blank, consisting of an opaque film (usually chromium-
or molybdenum-containing compounds) deposited on a glass substrate, is covered
with resist. The resist is exposed according to the circuit pattern; the resist is then
developed, and the exposed opaque material is etched. Photomask patterning is
accomplished primarily by means of beam writers, which are tools that expose
mask blanks according to suitably formatted circuit designs. Two types of beam
writers—electron and optical—are used, and both are discussed in detail in this
chapter.
At this early point in the discussion of photomasks, the strict difference between
a mask and reticle is explained. In the early days of integrated circuits, the patterns
of an integrated circuit were formed by transferring the patterns from masks to
the wafers. For every layer, the transfer was 1:1 between the mask and wafer; the
patterns for all of the dies on the wafer were contained on the mask. The mask
258 Chapter 7
Table 7.1 Optical mask requirements. White cells mean solutions exist or are expected.
Light gray cells indicate that significant work is required before solutions are found. Dark
gray cells indicate that no solution may exist by the appropriate date. The phase-shifting
mask (PSM) is described in more detail in Chapter 8.
Year of introduction 2010 2012 2014
“Technology node” 45 nm 36 nm 28 nm
DRAM/MPU/ASIC wafer minimum metal-1 half-pitch (nm) 45 36 28
MPU gate in resist (nm) 35 28 22
Contact in resist (nm) 56 44 35
Magnification 4 4 4
Mask minimum primary feature size (nm) 99 78 62
Mask subresolution feature size opaque (nm) 71 56 44
Image placement (nm, multipoint) 5.4 4.3 3.4
CD uniformity (nm, 3σ)
Isolated lines (MPU gates, binary or attenuated phase-shifting masks) 2.0 1.7 1.3
Dense lines (DRAM half pitch, binary or attenuated phase-shifting masks) 3.4 2.7 2.1
Contact/vias 1.9 1.5 1.2
Linearity (nm) 7.2 5.7 4.5
CD mean-to-target (nm) 3.6 2.9 2.3
Defect size (nm) 36 29 23
Data-volume (GB) 825 1310 2080
Mask-design grid (nm) 1 1 1
Attenuated-PSM transmission mean deviation from target (+/− % of target) 4 4 4
Attenuated-PSM transmission uniformity (+/− % of target) 4 4 4
Attenuated-PSM phase mean deviation from 180◦ (+/− deg) 3 3 3
Alternating-PSM phase mean deviation from nominal phase-angle target 1 1 1
(+/− deg)
Alternating-PSM phase uniformity (+/− deg) 1 1 1
Magnification: Lithography tool reduction ratio N:1.
Mask minimum primary feature size: Minimum printable feature after OPC application to be controlled on the mask for CD
placement and defects.
Mask subresolution feature size: The minimum width of nonprinting features on the mask such as subresolution assist features.
Image placement: The maximum component deviation (x or y) of the array of image centerlines relative to a defined reference
grid after removal of isotropic magnification error.
CD uniformity: The 3σ deviation of actual image sizes on a mask for a single-size and tone-critical feature. This applies to
features in x and y and isolated features.
Linearity: Maximum deviation between mask “mean to target” for a range of features of the same tone and different design sizes.
This includes features that are equal to the smallest subresolution assist mask feature and up to 3× the minimum wafer half pitch
multiplied by the magnification.
CD mean-to-target: The maximum difference between the average of the measured feature sizes and the agreed-to feature size
(design size). Applies to a single feature size and tone.
Defect size: A mask defect is any unintended mask anomaly that prints or changes a printed image size by 10% or more. The
mask-defect size listed in the roadmap is the square root of the area of the smallest opaque or clear “defect” that is expected to
print for the stated generation. Printable 180-deg phase defects are 70% smaller than the number shown.
Data volume: This is the expected maximum file size for uncompressed data for a single layer as presented to a pattern generator
tool.
Mask-design grid: Wafer-design grid multiplied by the mask magnification.
Transmission: Ratio, expressed in percentage, of the fraction of light passing through an attenuated-PSM layer relative to the
mask blank with no opaque films.
Phase: Change in optical-path length between two regions on the mask expressed in degrees. The mean value is determined by
averaging phase measured for many features on the mask.
Phase uniformity: The maximum phase-error deviation of any point from the mean value.
Masks and Reticles 259
layout was identical to the wafer layout. This approach is different from the way
that wafers are patterned with wafer steppers, where the mask pattern has only part
of the wafer pattern, and full wafer coverage is obtained by repetitive imaging of
the mask. In the earlier 1:1 lithography, the pattern on the mask was often generated
through a lithographic process in which the mask blank was exposed die-by-die on
a photorepeater, a tool that was essentially a stepper that patterned masks instead of
wafers. This method of mask making required an object whose pattern was imaged
onto the mask by the photorepeater. To distinguish between the object whose image
was repeated and that which was the mask shop’s product, the object used on the
photorepeater was referred to as a reticle. The inefficiency of this process, by which
circuit patterns were first transferred from a reticle to a mask and then to the wafer,
was recognized, and the wafer stepper was invented, whereby the circuit patterns
were stepped directly onto the wafers. To be technically correct, the object imaged
by a step-and-repeat system should be called a reticle, but producers of integrated
circuits in wafer fabricators have always referred to their master patterns as masks,
so the terms masks and reticles now tend to be used interchangeably. Regardless of
whether they are called masks or reticles, their form, fabrication, and use is much
the same.
7.2 Mask Blanks

For high-resolution stepper lithography, the most common size for reticles today
is the so-called 6-in. (0.25-in.-thick) format, whose defining dimensions are given
in Table 7.2. For most applications, the glass type of the mask substrate is fused
silica, chosen primarily for its high transmission throughout the ultraviolet portion
of the electromagnetic spectrum and excellent thermomechanical properties. The
coefficient of thermal expansion of fused silica is only 0.5 ppm/◦ C, compared
to 4–100 ppm/◦ C for other types of glass, such as borosilicate glass.1 During
the patterning of the photomask, temperature variations in the mask result in
small amounts of misregistration when using fused silica, while substantial
misregistration occurs when using other types of glass substrate materials. For
example, across 100 mm (a typical distance across the exposed field on the reticle),
a temperature rise of only 0.1 ◦ C causes a 5-nm registration error across a fused
silica plate. Detailed simulations of mask-substrate heating during patterning using
50-keV electrons have shown temperature increases up to 2 ◦ C, with resulting
misregistration errors of 30–50 nm (3σ).2 A substantial portion of these placement
Table 7.2 Sizes of selected SEMI standard reticle formats.8
Edge length Thickness

Nominal size Minimum (mm) Maximum (mm) Minimum (mm) Maximum (mm)
6.0 × 6.0 × 0.25 in. 151.6 152.4 6.25 6.45
6.0 × 6.0 × 0.15 in. 151.6 152.4 3.70 3.90
7.0 × 7.0 × 0.25 in. 177.0 177.8 6.25 6.45
230 × 230 × 9 mm 229.6 230.0 8.90 9.10
260 Chapter 7
errors contribute to correctable magnification errors, but there are residual errors
that are very significant if a substrate less thermally stable than fused silica is
modeled—even with 4× lens reduction. While there is an acceptable level of
registration errors with fused-silica masks seen in these simulations, substrates,
such as borosilicate glass, with coefficients of thermal expansion more than
ten times larger than that of fused silica, would require unrealistic temperature
control to achieve adequate performance. Fortunately, fused silica has excellent
transparency at DUV wavelengths, and new grades have been developed that
have adequate transparency for use as reticle substrates for wavelengths down to
157 nm.3 Thermomechanical stability and good transparency justify the use of
fused silica as photomask substrates, in spite of poor electrical conductivity and
associated electrostatic damage issues.
Ideal fused silica is amorphous, which constitutes another advantage of
this material for mask substrates. Crystalline materials, even those with cubic
symmetry, will have optical properties that depend on the orientation of the
polarization vector of light relative to crystal axes,4 a property referred to as
birefringence.5 Under stress, fused silica may also acquire a significant degree of
birefringence,6 so care must be taken when manufacturing the fused silica from
which photomasks are to be fabricated.7
Just as images on the wafer become blurred when the imaging plane is outside
the depth-of-focus, images also become blurred when the objects are outside the
lens’s depth-of-field. The depth-of-field is the distance that the object can be
moved, parallel to the optical axis, while maintaining good imaging. The depth-
of-field is related to the depth-of-focus by
depth-of-field = (depth-of-focus) × N 2 , (7.1)
where N is the lens reduction (4, 5, etc.). Alternatively, one could say that the
effective depth-of-focus is reduced by reticle nonflatness, by the amount
reticle nonflatness
depth-of-focus = . (7.2)
N2
Depth-of-focus considerations drive specifications for reticle flatness.9 Very flat

reticles are becoming necessary (see Problem 7.2), driving up the cost of mask
blanks considerably. Stress from absorber deposition also warps mask blanks that
are initially quite flat. It is also becoming necessary to consider gravitational
effects. During use, photomasks are supported only outside of the exposure area.
Gravity causes reticles to sag in the areas of the device pattern.10 This gravitational
sag needs to be factored into overall stepper design and focus uniformity budgets.
Chromium- and molybdenum-containing compounds are the most common
opaque materials used for making photomasks. Tantalum-based absorber materials
have also been considered.11 Films of chromium- and molybdenum-containing
compounds12–15 are typically sputtered onto the glass substrates to thicknesses
between 500 Å and 1100 Å. To provide some context, the optical constants of
Table 7.3 Characteristics of chromium films as opaque materials for photomasks.
Wavelength Index of Reflection R from Transmission T through (1−R)×T ×100%

(nm) refraction7 chromium glass a 600-Å film of
interface chromium
436 1.79–i4.05 0.60 0.0009 0.036
365 1.39–i3.24 0.56 0.0012 0.055
248 0.85–i2.01 0.47 0.0022 0.119
193 0.84–i1.65 0.38 0.0016 0.098
157 0.68–i1.11 0.32 0.0048 0.310
chromium are given in Table 7.3. From these values one can see that chromium
films of typical thickness are very opaque. It should be kept in mind that
the absorbers on commercially produced chromium-based photomask blanks
typically are not comprised of pure chromium.16 The properties of chromium- and
molybdenum-containing compounds vary among mask-blank suppliers, who can
provide details for their own specific films.
It should be noted that most of the light is blocked by the chromium through
absorption. Consequently, masks will heat during use.17 Again, most of the
heating effect results in correctable magnification errors with suitably designed
symmetrical reticle platens. Compensating for this will require periodic reticle
realignments, which provide measurements of reticle expansion or contraction,
though this will usually reduce stepper productivity. Regardless, the noncorrectable
registration errors may become significant for the 22-nm node and beyond.
In addition to optical properties, the stress of absorber films is important.
There will be stress relief when the absorber film is etched, and this can lead
to mask distortion—often nonlinear—between patterning by the beam writer
and final mask use.18 The actual distortion pattern will depend upon the mask
layout. Extremes between clear and dark areas on the mask will lead to greater
nonlinearities. Mask distortion following etch can clearly be reduced by using
absorbers that have been deposited with low stress.
7.3 Mechanical Optical-Pattern Generators

The creation of a photomask requires that a circuit design be transformed into
a physical pattern on the mask. Optical-pattern generators were the first tools
to be used for automatically patterning reticles,19 which were then used on
photorepeaters to generate 1× photomasks. A mechanical optical-pattern generator
projected the image of a small rectangle onto a resist-coated reticle blank. The
blank was moved under projection optics on a laser-interferometrically controlled
stage and was exposed according to the circuit design by repetitive exposure of the
rectangle. If it was desired to have an opening in the chrome at a certain location
on the mask, the pattern generator exposed the (positive) resist on the mask blank
when that particular location was in the exposure position. This was achieved by
dividing the design into rectangles. The simplest way to do this was to lay out the
design on a square grid, and each square would become an area to be exposed or
not, depending upon the design.
262 Chapter 7
Consider the generation of a reticle for a chip with an area of 2 mm × 2 mm

on the wafer. Suppose that this reticle was used for fabricating a 1× mask using
a photorepeater with a 10× lens. If the minimum feature size for the circuit was
10 µm (on the wafer), then the photorepeater would expose a square of 100 µm ×
100 µm a maximum of 40,000 times in order to pattern the 20-mm × 20-mm
chip area on the 10× reticle. At the rate of two squares exposed per second, the
/
reticle would be exposed in 5 1 2 hours. As feature sizes decreased and die sizes
grew, the time to expose reticles on mechanical optical-pattern generators increased
geometrically. A faster method for generating reticles was needed, and this need
was met by electron-beam writers.
7.4 Electron-Beam Lithography and Mask Writers

Energetic electrons can induce chemical reactions in resists, just as photons can.
While some resists can operate as both optical- and electron-beam resists, the
resists used in mask making are usually specialized materials, because of the
need for good sensitivity, the need to maintain throughput through the (expensive)
beam writers, and a primary exposure reaction that differs from that in many
optical photoresists (see Section 7.6). Patterning with electrons is accomplished by
focusing the electrons into beams with very narrow diameters. The technology for
making such beams is very mature, having been developed initially for electron
microscopy. Electrons have potential for very high resolution because electron
diffraction occurs over atomic distances. However, electrons scatter in resists,
limiting resolution and inducing proximity effects.
Electron beams can potentially be moved at high speed because the electrons
can be deflected electromagnetically instead of relying on mechanical motion to
scan the beams across reticles that are being patterned. Consequently, electron-
beam mask writers were adopted as chips were designed with high levels of
integration.20 Much is known about electron-beam technology through earlier
and parallel development in scanning-electron microscopy. While many electron-
beam patterning systems have been introduced, the ones most widely used for
mask making for many years originated in the electron-beam exposure system
(EBES) developed by Bell Telephone Laboratories in Murray Hill, New Jersey.21
This technology was licensed and found the greatest commercial success in
the manufacturing electron-beam exposure system (MEBES) tools built by Etec
Systems. For two decades, the MEBES systems were the primary beam writers
used to make photomasks. Applied Materials acquired Etec Systems, but later
greatly reduced operations, as new architectures for electron-beam writers came to
provide superior performance and ultimately supplanted MEBES as the tool used
for making advanced photomasks.
The general structure of electron-beam writers is shown in Fig. 7.1. A resist-
coated unpatterned mask substrate is placed on the X-Y stage. Electron beams are
scanned across the resist surface by a combination of electron optics for short-
range scanning and mechanical stage motion for long-range coverage of the mask
blank. Electron-beam writers are classified according to two characteristics, beam
Figure 7.1 Schematic of an electron optical system for mask writing. For electron writers
where throughput is a priority, the electron source is a thermionic emitter (such as lanthanum
hexaboride), while systems designed for extremely high resolution employ thermal-field
emission sources.22,23
shape and the method of scanning the beam. The two most common beam shapes
are Gaussian round beam and variable-shaped beam. As the name suggests, a
Gaussian round beam has circular symmetry in the writing plane, and the intensity
is well approximated by a Gaussian distribution. In order to form the corners of
rectangular shapes on the mask, such beams must have diameters that are much
smaller than the minimum feature sizes. Shaped beams usually have rectangular
shapes that allow good corner fidelity with relatively large beams, but other shapes
are also possible. As might be expected, shaped-beam systems typically have
higher throughput than Gaussian-beam systems, but there are methods that will be
discussed later in this chapter for maintaining reasonable throughput for Gaussian-
beam systems. Gaussian-beam systems are used where the highest resolution is
needed, while shaped-beam writers are more typically used for the patterning of
reduction masks for use in manufacturing, where resolution can be compromised
to some degree in the interest of economy.
There are two basic approaches to scanning in electron-beam writers. The first is
raster scanning, the principle behind television picture tubes and scanning-electron
microscopes. In this approach, one part of the electron optics is set to scan the beam
back-and-forth across the mask blank, while separate components turn the beam on
and off. In the second type of electron-beam writers—vector systems—the beam
264 Chapter 7
is directed only at those areas that actually get exposed. The distinction between
raster and vector systems is illustrated in Fig. 7.2. As can be seen in the figure,
a significantly smaller area is actually scanned when a vector scanning system
is used for mask writing, compared to a raster scanning system. Further writing-
time reductions are possible by employing a variable-shaped beam, where larger
spot sizes can be used for writing large features, thereby reducing the amount of
scanning even further. Vector systems currently are the primary machines used to
write state-of-the-art masks for the manufacturing of integrated circuits. Examples
of different electron-beam writes are given in Table 7.4.
Improvements in edge roughness are obtained by shaping the electron beam,
and vector scanning systems today typically have shaped beams. A shaped beam
is produced by passing the electron beam through a shaped aperture, or sets of
apertures, in the electron optics.26–29 Examples of shapes that could be produced
by apertures in the Leica30 ZBA32H+ are shown in Fig. 7.3.
While the conceptual advantages of vector scanning with shaped beams have
been long understood, it has taken many years for this architecture to be adopted
widely for mask making. One obstacle that needed to be overcome was the lack
of robust software for converting circuit designs into data formats that could be
used by the e-beam writers.36 Because of strong interest in direct e-beam writing
on wafers, for which system throughput was a major concern, vector scanning
systems continued to be developed even while masks were made predominately
by raster scanning tools. Additional resources became available to develop vector
scanning systems further to meet the stringent challenges of 1× x-ray masks (see
Chapter 13), which required very high pattern fidelity (including geometries with
(a) (b) (c)
Figure 7.2 The area to be written is (a), while (b) illustrates exposure using a raster
scanning system, where the beam is directed over a large area, with the beam blanked
off except when directed at the dark areas. (c) The same area is scanned more quickly with
a vector scanning beam writer, which scans only over the areas that are to be exposed.24
Table 7.4 Examples of commercially available electron-beam writers with different

architectures.
Raster scanning Vector scanning
Gaussian beam ETEC MEBES 5500 Vistec EBPG5000 plus
Shaped beam No systems currently available25 NuFlare EBM-7000
Figure 7.3 Different beam shapes that can be formed by two overlapping apertures.31 The
apertures can often be in different planes within the electron optical column.32–35
corners) and practical writing times.37 Eventually vector scanning systems reached
maturity, and there are several vector scanning systems available today for mask
making, such as the JEOL JBX-3050MV and the NuFlare EBM-7000.38 For high
resolution, the beam voltage in these systems is 50 kV. Parameters of the EBM-
7000 are given Table 7.5.
The area of a mask is patterned using a combination of electromagnetic
beam deflection and mechanical scanning,40 an example of which is shown in
Fig. 7.4. Scanning can move beams over a distance of up to ∼1 mm, while
mechanical motion is required to cover longer distances. Scanning typically occurs
simultaneously with mechanical movement to minimize periods of acceleration
and deceleration that reduce throughput.
If beam writers are set up incorrectly, local linewidth errors can be produced
because of errors at a stripe boundary. This is illustrated in Fig. 7.5. Geometries
that lie on stripe boundaries can have dimensional errors because of pattern
misplacement of separate geometries that comprise the complete feature. Errors
of this type are <1.5 nm (3σ) on a NuFlare EBM-7000, mitigated in part by the use
of two-pass printing, illustrated in Fig. 7.6. With two-pass printing, the extent to
which patterned placement errors cause dimensional errors is lessened by reducing
the degree to which geometries are split across strip boundaries.
Another example of an error at a stripe boundary is shown in Fig. 7.7. One of
the challenges of scanning is ensuring that the stripes are butted against each other
Table 7.5 The key parameters of the EBM-7000.39
Data address unit 0.1 nm–100 nm

Stripe height 184 µm
Minimum feature size 20 nm
Pattern placement accuracy (3σ) 3.5 nm
CD uniformity (3σ) 2.0 nm
Beam voltage 50 kV
266 Chapter 7
Figure 7.4 Scanning a pattern on a mask.
Figure 7.5 A CD error at a stripe boundary. The intended geometry is made too short.
Figure 7.6 Illustration of two-pass printing on the NuFlare EBM 7000.41

Figure 7.7 Example of a butting error.
correctly. Because some geometries extend across stripe boundaries, it is necessary

to ensure that the parts written in separate stripes are connected properly. Deformed
patterns at stripe boundaries, known as “butting errors,” occur. An example of a
butting error is shown in Fig. 7.7. As one can see from Fig. 7.6, this type of error
is also reduced by multipass printing.
There are several types of electron sources used for electron-beam writers.
Thermal sources, typically lanthanum hexaboride (LaB6 ), are usually employed
when high throughput is given priority. In such situations, a secondary concern
is the intrinsic thermal energy broadening that degrades resolution. For high-
resolution tools, field-effect sources, usually thermally assisted, are used, since
these have lower energy spreads than LaB6 sources. The trajectory of an electron
is dependent on its energy, ultimately resulting in electron beams that often acquire
a near-Gaussian intensity profile after traversing electron optics.42 In the following
discussion of raster scanning it is assumed that the beams are Gaussian.
The first electron-beam exposure system (EBES) was based upon raster
scanning. The electron optics in the original EBES system was built from a
modified scanning-electron microscope optical column. One part of the electron
optics scanned a 0.5-µm-diameter electron beam, while another part of the system
blanked the beam.43–45 The system wrote along a scan line that was as long as
0.128 mm. The length of the scan was limited because aberrations in the electron-
beam optics increased significantly as the distance from the beam’s central axis
increased. While the electron optics scanned the 10-keV beam in one direction, a
precision mechanical stage moved the mask blank in the perpendicular direction.
By this means, a stripe the length of the pattern on the mask in one direction, and up
to 0.128 mm in the other direction, was written (Fig. 7.4). Following the completion
of one stripe, another was written, and this continued until the entire mask was
patterned. The original MEBES system evolved through a series of successive
268 Chapter 7
models, MEBES II–IV,46–48 the MEBES 4500, and the last model, MEBES 5500,
released in 1999.
Electron-beam scanning lithography suffers from a fundamental productivity
problem as the feature size decreases. In the most primitive implementation of
raster scanning, the design needs to be divided into pixels or addresses whose
dimensions are equal to those of the exposure beam. As the minimum feature size
on the mask diminishes linearly, the spot size (area) of the exposure beam must
decrease quadratically. For example, if the feature-size width decreases by a factor
of two, the area of the spot size decreases by a factor of four, and, as a consequence,
the number of pixels needed to expose a fixed area on the reticle increases by a
factor of four. If pixels are exposed at a fixed rate, the throughput of the beam
writer decreases by approximately a factor of four each time the minimum feature
size decreases by a factor of two. Fortunately, the writing time of beam writers has
improved, though not at a pace commensurate with decreases in feature size. When
5× steppers were first introduced, the MEBES exposure rate was 40 MHz,49 and the
wafer’s minimum feature size was approximately two microns. Today’s minimum
feature size on the wafer is less than 50 nm, and mask features have scaled even
faster, due to the widespread use of subresolution features (see Chapter 8). To
maintain beam-writer productivity, it would have been necessary for the MEBES
exposure rate to increase to over 64 GHz. Because the exposure rate could not
increase at a rate commensurate with the increase in pixels, mask-writing time has
increased, leading to higher mask-production costs, even with a transition made
to vector-shaped beam architectures. The issue of lithography costs is covered in
more detail in Chapter 11. Optical-beam writers, which can provide lower mask
costs when mask features no smaller than 400 nm are required,50 are discussed
later in this chapter.
Before discussing writing strategies further, some definitions are needed. It is
important to note that designers place circuits on grids that are different from those
used to fabricate the masks. The distinction must therefore be made between the
design grid and the writing grid. When writing, a particular grid point is often
referred to as an address.
To understand the raster-writing strategies alternative to primitive raster
scanning, it must be recognized that the important requirement for many masks
is placement of the edges of geometries, not the minimum geometry size. For
example, consider a process where the minimum pitch is 100 nm, the nominal
feature size is the half pitch, and 4× reduction steppers are used. On the reticle,
the minimum features are nominally 4 × 50 = 200 nm. However, because of the
needs of optical proximity correction, it may be necessary to shrink some features
on the mask by 20 nm, or 10 nm per edge, while other features remain sized at
the original 200 nm. In a mask-writing scheme where the writing address equals
the spot size of the beam writer, a writing grid of 10 nm would be necessary to
generate this mask, even though the minimum feature size on the mask is 180 nm.
With a writing grid and spot size of 10 nm, beam-writer throughput is very low.
To avoid this problem, raster writing schemes have been developed where the
writing grid and spot sizes are larger than the design grid. Moreover, masks are
often patterned with multiple passes. Consider the following example. A circuit
is designed on a grid, which defines the unit scale: the design-grid size is 1.0. In
a writing scheme called multipass, the writing grid is a multiple (laterally) of the
design grid (see Fig. 7.8). Moreover, the x and y 2σ points of the Gaussian spot
are at the edges of the writing grid. By making the spot size large enough, there is
overlap of the tails of the spots, which smooths out the exposure.
Illustrated in Fig. 7.8(a) is one method for moving line edges with the fine
granularity of the design grid, even when writing on a grid twice that size. By
exposing every other spot along part of the right edge the dose is reduced by half,
and the edge is shifted to the left, relative to the edge where every spot is exposed.
This enables higher throughput by using a spot size that is larger than the design
grid.
The multipass gray approach, illustrated in Fig. 7.8(b), takes this concept one
step further. With this technique the writing grid is four times that of the design
grid.51 The pattern area is scanned four times without requiring more writing time
than if the mask was written with a writing grid equal to the design grid by using
only one-quarter dose per pass. Not every pixel is exposed on each writing pass.
By exposing some pixels only once, twice, or three times, the edges of features can
be moved. There is also averaging that takes place with multiple passes that has the
net effect of reducing linewidth, registration, and butting errors.52
Edge features are placed with finer granularity by reducing the number of
exposures at the edge pixels, as shown in Fig. 7.9. In this figure, Gaussians are
placed in a row and centered at points 0, 1, 2, and 3. Each has a standard deviation
equal to two thirds. The total dose is the sum of all of the Gaussians. The three
curves show the doses at the left edge of the pattern when the Gaussian centered
at point 0 has 25%, 50%, 75%, or 100% of the peak magnitude of the doses at the
other points. This represents one, two, three, or four exposures at point 0, while
the other points are exposed on all four passes. As can be seen, the edge of the
Figure 7.8 Different raster-writing schemes: (a) virtual addressing, and (b) multipass gray.
270 Chapter 7
Figure 7.9 Exposure dose as a function of the dose of the Gaussian center at 0.
dose moves as the dose of the edge feature is varied. This approach can also be
combined with pixel deflection for adjusting edge locations on masks.53
From Fig. 7.8 one might expect rough pattern edges to result from patterning
schemes that involve large writing spots. However, reasonably smooth edges are
actually made with large spot sizes, as shown in Fig. 7.10 (see Color Plates). In
this figure, two-dimensional Gaussian spots were placed on grid points with integer
coordinates, and x ≤ 0. The resulting line edge, around a dose of 0.3, is seen to be
reasonably smooth.
It was seen in Fig. 7.10 that reasonably smooth lines are generated from round
Gaussian beams, but shaped beams nevertheless provide improvement, particularly
Figure 7.10 Exposure dose contours from Gaussians placed at integer coordinates (x, y),
with x ≤ 0 (see Color Plates).
with respect to sharpening corners. This was important for making 1× x-ray masks,
and x-ray programs motivated the development of several vector scanning tools.
Another way to improve performance in electron-beam writers is to use
higher beam energies. The original EBES system used 10-keV electrons, as did
subsequent generations of MEBES machines. While the use of electrons avoids
the problems of diffraction and reflection associated with optical imaging, electron
lithography has a different set of issues. One problem is scattering.54 When
energetic electrons pass through matter, electrons scatter. Part of this scattering,
the transfer of energy from the electrons to the resist, is an essential step in the
lithographic process, whereby the solubility of the resist is altered by exposure
to radiation. However, many electrons scatter into directions different from their
original trajectories (Figs. 7.11 and 7.12), resulting in degraded resolution and
proximity effects.55,56 Scattering into the resist film, particularly the forward
scattering that degrades resolution, is reduced by increasing the voltage of the
electron beam. Consequently, newer electron-beam exposure systems have higher
beam energies, with 50 keV being typical.
The scattering of electrons has been characterized as Gaussian broadening, with
different amplitudes and widths for forward and backward scattering.55 With this
approach to the characterization of electron scattering, the energy distribution from
a beam of electrons incident at the origin of a coordinate system is given by:
1 − η −(r2 /α2 ) η −(r2 /β2 )

f (r) = e + e , (7.3)
πα πβ
where r is the radial distance from the origin in the plane of the resist, α is the
width of forward scattering (see Fig. 7.12), β is the width of the backscattering,
and η is the fraction of the total scattered energy that is backscattered.
Figure 7.11 Monte Carlo simulation of electron scattering for PMMA on a silicon
substrate.56 The energies of the electrons for the two different examples are shown in the
corners of the graphs.
272 Chapter 7
Figure 7.12 Illustration of resolution degradation and proximity effects in electron-beam

lithography. The shaded areas are intended for exposure, but electrons will scatter into the
regions that should be unexposed. Both forward and backscattering are shown. The dose
in the “unexposed” portions of the resist depends upon the amount of e-beam exposure in
adjacent areas.
The validity of this characterization has been assessed using Monte Carlo
simulations,57,58 with a representative result shown in Fig. 7.13. While there
is imperfect quantitative agreement between the Monte Carlo simulations and
the double-Gaussian model, there are some observable characteristics. First, the
broadening attributed to forward scattering has higher peak intensity than that
attributed to backscattering, and it also has a range <100 nm. On the other hand, the
broadening attributed to backscattering extends over distances of several microns.
Consequently, forward and backscattering have difference effects. Resolution is
reduced by forward scattering, while backscattering leads to proximity effects.
Regardless of the beam energy, scattering occurs at a level of significance, and
adjustments are required in order for patterns to be sized correctly, regardless
of proximity. Consider the situation shown in Fig. 7.14. A seven-bar pattern is
imaged using electron beams. The total exposure dose is the sum of incident
and backscattered electrons. Note that the scattered dose is greater for the
centerline than for lines near the edges of the seven-bar pattern. One might expect
exact corrections to be very complex for random logic patterns, but fortunately,
the backscattering range of 50-keV electrons is very long (∼10 µm), enabling
proximity corrections to be based upon average pattern densities rather than
detailed layouts.
One clever approach to proximity correction is GHOST, which is based upon the
idea that the background dose can be equalized by using a second exposure.59 The
pattern of the second exposure is the complement of the original, and the halfwidth
of the beam used for the second pass is approximately equal to the distance
over which the electrons are backscattered. The dose for the second exposure is
proportional to the incident dose and the magnitude of backscattering.
The GHOST technique has the disadvantage of requiring a second exposure
pass, reducing overall exposure-tool productivity. Consequently, many electron-
beam writers rely on sophisticated software for proximity corrections.60–62 In
areas that receive considerable dose from electron backscattering, the beam writer
Figure 7.13 Monte Carlo simulation of electron forward and backscattering, compared to
the double-Gaussian model.57,58
Figure 7.14 Dose in electron-beam lithography, including scattered electrons.

274 Chapter 7
exposes with a reduced dose, or the edges of the directly exposed pattern are
shifted, using some of the methods described previously.
Another way that electrons can scatter into unintended parts of the resist film is
by reflection from the bottom of the electron-beam optical column (Fig. 7.15),
a phenomenon often referred to as fogging.63 Software solutions have been
proposed, similar to those used to correct for more direct proximity effects.64–66
Hardware solutions have been implemented involving various types of sufficiently
deep chambers, sometimes with an electrostatic potential to reduce reflections of
electrons from the bottom of the electron-beam column.67,68
Electron beams can impart an electrostatic charge to the substrate, particularly
when a nonelectrically conducting resist is the top layer. The amount of charge
will vary across the substrate according to pattern density, and this will also
vary over time as the mask pattern is being written. This charging can lead to
registration errors, because it will deflect the electron beam from the intended
location.70–72 A number of schemes have been proposed for mitigating the effects
of substrate charging. One proposal involves the generation of a model to predict
the electric fields generated by the electron beam,73 but such models are necessarily
complex, involving both the particular pattern being generated on the mask as well
as the writing sequence. Another approach incorporates electrically conducting
resists74 or electrically conducting overcoats. This method is effective at reducing
electrostatic charging, but overcoats often result in additional defects,75 and the
imaging properties of the electrically conducting resists are not always adequate.
Fundamental to assessing the magnitude of pattern-placement errors is
equipment for measurement. Measuring absolute pattern locations over distances
exceeding 100 mm, yet accurate to nanometers, is extremely challenging. Such
specialized tools exist for performing such measurement, most notably the IPRO4,
currently manufactured by KLA-Tencor.76 While such tools can be calibrated quite
precisely to artifacts,77 it is very difficult to achieve absolute accuracy.78–80 To
accomplish this it is necessary to have accurate linearity across long distances and
nearly perfect orthogonality between axes.
Figure 7.15 Backscattered electrons reflect from the bottom of the electron-beam column,
causing a background of diffuse exposure.69
A beam writer requires input data in a particular format, which is typically

specific to an individual model of writing tool, and this format is different from
those used for circuit design and layout. What is also necessary is a standard
intermediate format for the output of circuit layout tools. Every manufacturer of
beam writers then only needs to be able to input the mask layout in this standard
format and be able to convert the information to a form that can be used directly
by the company’s beam writers (see Fig. 7.16). A standard format is also useful for
mask-defect inspection when comparisons are made between physical inspection
of actual masks and design data. For many years the most popular intermediate
format was GDSII, originally developed by the Calma division of General Electric.
The legal rights to GDSII now reside with Cadence Design Systems. As circuit
complexity increased, GDSII data files became very large and unwieldy, and a new
format was required to reduce file sizes.81 Such a standard is OASISTM —the Open
Artwork System Interchange Standard.82–84 OASIS has largely displaced GDSII
as the intermediate data format for large, complex designs.
To facilitate layout and to control database size, design software typically
involves hierarchical data structures, where sets of data are collected into cells
that can be inserted repetitively. This approach is particularly useful for laying
out memories, but is valuable for all types of design. For example, a NAND
gate is a typical logic structure that can be used repetitively. GDSII and OASIS
are hierarchical data formats, where NAND gates are made part of the layout
as a whole structure, rather than through specification of each primitive shape
Figure 7.16 Use of an intermediate data format.85

276 Chapter 7
comprising the structure. However, beam writers typically require data that can
be streamed at very high writing rates. This requires that design or OASIS data
hierarchy must first be removed, often referred to as “flattening” the data. After
the hierarchy is removed, the circuit patterns need to be converted from polygons
of arbitrary sizes and shapes to the primitive shapes (rectangles, triangles, etc.)
consistent with the beam writer’s architecture. Finally, the data needs to be broken
down into the fields and subfields of the beam writer. This whole process of
conversion from the hierarchical format is known as “fracturing.” As a consequence
of flattening and fracturing, beam-writer databases are usually much larger than the
original design files.
7.5 Optical Mask Writers

Optical raster scanning systems are also widely used for patterning masks. The
ALTA systems produced by Applied Materials are examples of such optical
raster scanning beam writers. The architecture of an ALTA system is shown
schematically in Fig. 7.17.86 Light is generated by a laser. In the first models
of optical raster scanning systems, this was an argon ion laser, operating at
a wavelength of 364 nm, and improved resolution of optical-beam writers has
since been achieved by using shorter wavelengths. For example, second harmonic
generation of the 514-nm Ar laser line produces DUV light at a wavelength of 257
nm.87 This light is then passed through conditioning optics and a beamsplitter. In
Figure 7.17 Schematic of the ALTA architecture.

the ALTA 4700, 32 separate beams are produced. By means of an acousto-optic

modulator, the light intensity in each beam is set to one of 16 levels. The beams
then propagate through a zoom lens that, along with a large number of gray levels,
enables fine adjustment of line edges, down to a 5-nm effective address unit. Rapid
scanning of the light across subfields on the mask is accomplished by the use of a
rotating polygon, which is a 24-faceted mirror that can spin at rates up to 20,000
rpm.88
The ALTA 4700 has a 42× reduction lens with an NA of 0.9, enabling a
minimum feature size of 400 nm.89 (With a 4× stepper lens, this represents a
minimum feature size on the wafer of 100 nm.) There have been proposals to
extend this resolution to 200 nm.90 Such a high numerical aperture necessitates
good focus control. The mask undergoing patterning is moved on a laser-
interferometrically controlled stage. There is also an alignment system on the
ALTA 4700 that enables overlay of second patterns to those pre-existing on the
mask, a requirement for the production of certain types of phase-shifting masks
(discussed in the next chapter).
There are several advantages to optical-beam writers. With 32 beams, these
systems are capable of high throughput. Beam-writer throughput has a significant
impact on mask cost, since a substantial fraction of mask cost is due to the high cost
of beam writers. With a high-throughput beam writer, this cost can be distributed
among a larger number of masks. This helps to reduce the cost of masks with
features that are not so small that they need to be fabricated using an electron-
beam mask writer. The small effective address unit is useful for fine adjustment
of linewidths on the mask, an important factor for implementing optical proximity
corrections (also discussed in the next chapter). Optical exposures allow the use of
well-characterized optical resists for mask making. This provides some advantage
over electron-beam pattern generation, particularly as plasma etching of masks
becomes more common.
Another approach to the optical patterning of masks is to use a micromirror
array, much like those used in data projectors. Such systems are made by Micronic
Laser Systems AB. The basic configuration for their Sigma7500-II system is shown
in Fig. 7.18. Light is produced by a KrF excimer laser. After conditioning by
illuminator optics, the light is reflected from a beamsplitter and then from a spatial
light modulator (SLM).91 The SLM is an array of 106 mirrors, each of which is
16 × 16 µm in size, which are demagnified by 200× using an 0.82-NA lens.92
The mirrors of the SLM are deflected to produce the desired pattern on the reticle
substrate. The minimum main feature size for the Sigma7500-II is specified as 220
nm.
7.6 Resists for Mask Making

Resists for optical pattern generation need to be matched with the beam writer’s
exposure wavelength, just as the resists used for wafer patterning need to be
matched to the stepper’s exposure wavelength. For many years, it has been
common practice for mask makers to use mask blanks precoated with resist by the
278 Chapter 7
Figure 7.18 Schematic of the Micronic Sigma7500 II architecture.
blank supplier. As typical i-line resists are sufficiently stable, this is a reasonable
thing to do for masks generated on optical-beam writers. An example of a resist
commonly used with 364-nm exposure systems is iP3500 from Tokyo Ohka Kogyo
Co., Ltd. With optical exposure, there are standing waves in the resist, reducing
process control. This is improved by the use of post-exposure bakes, just as is
found in wafer processing.93
Mask-patterning tools operating at DUV wavelengths lead to the prospect of
chemically amplified resists, with all of the instabilities discussed in Chapter 3.
The transition to DUV optical-patterning tools has motivated mask shops to coat
the mask blanks themselves. These also require post-exposure bakes. Control of
bake temperatures of the resist is more difficult with thick glass substrates relative
to what is achievable with silicon wafers. Consequently, low sensitivity of the resist
to the post-exposure bake temperature is an important parameter to consider when
choosing a chemically amplified resist for mask making.
Electron-beam pattern generation usually requires e-beam-sensitive resists.
Since the mechanism for e-beam exposure is different from optical exposure,94
materials optimization is beneficial, although there are some resists, such as
Fujifilm Electronic Material’s FEP171, that work well exposed on e-beam or
DUV optical mask writers. For many years, the most commonly used electron-
beam resist was a positive material developed at Bell Laboratories, poly(butene-
1-sulfone), usually referred to by its acronym, PBS95 (Fig. 7.19). This material is
an alternating copolymer of 1-butene and sulfur dioxide that undergoes scissioning
upon exposure to energetic electrons. The lower-molecular-weight byproducts of
the exposure are soluble in organic solvents. Typical developers for PBS are
mixtures of pentanone and other solvents, such as methyl isoamyl ketone.96
PBS is a reasonably sensitive resist and can be exposed with doses on the
order of 1 µC/cm2 at 10-keV beam energies. Sensitivity is critical for high
patterning-tool throughput. Even with such sensitive resists, several hours are
required to pattern a single mask for a leading-edge microprocessor or memory,
so significantly less-sensitive resists are problematic. PBS also has the virtue of
Figure 7.19 Chemical structure of PBS.
being able to hold up to the wet-etch chemistries used to etch chromium masks.
For these reasons, mask makers long tolerated the otherwise poor lithographic
performance of PBS.97 However, new resists are now being used, such as FEP171
from FujiFilm Electronic Materials, SEBP9092 from Shin-Etsu, or ZEP 7000, a
polymer of methylstyrene and chloromethyl acrylate from Nippon Zeon. All of the
resists require somewhat higher doses (8–10 µC/cm2 ) than PBS, but provide good
lithographic performance and can be used when plasma-etching chromium.98 ZEP
7000 uses an organic solvent developer (a mixture of diethyl ketone and diethyl
malonate, or a mixture of methyl isoamyl ketone and ethyl malonate), which
evaporates much faster than water. Because the development rate is temperature
dependent, and evaporation causes nonuniform cooling, it is more difficult to
control the development of resists that use organic solvents as developers. A
TMAH-based aqueous developer is used with FEP171.99
As electrons penetrate a resist film the electrons undergo inelastic scattering,
resulting in a cascade of secondary electrons.100 Attendant energy transfers can
induce chemical reactions, i.e., exposure of the resist. As discussed previously, this
scattering can limit the resolution potential of electron-beam lithography. In optical
lithography involving photons with 193-nm wavelengths and longer, absorption
occurs between molecular energy levels. Since this is a localized event, it is
typically a photoactive compound or photoacid generator that directly absorbs the
light. In contrast, the high-energy electrons used to pattern masks cause ionization
at the atomic level. Ionization can also be produced by secondary electrons
produced by inelastic scattering of the primary electron beam. The essential
chemical reactions that ultimately lead to changes in the solubility properties of
the resists result from secondary reactions that originate with ionization.
In addition to positive resists, negative resists are used for mask making. With
vector scanning, where scanning is limited to the features that are to be exposed,
exposure times can be reduced substantially for certain patterns by using negative
resists. Another advantage of negative resists is illustrated in Fig. 7.20. Although
there is no significant difference between positive and negative resist processes in
dimensional control of directly patterned features, there is a difference when the
critical feature is a fixed tone. For example, the critical feature for gate masks is
typically a line. Features need to be exposed on both sides of this line when using
positive resists. As a consequence, pattern placement as well as direct linewidth
control will have an impact on the dimension of this most critical feature. When
line-dimensional control is critical, such as for gate masks, negative resists have
280 Chapter 7
Figure 7.20 Exposures using positive and negative resists. To create a line in resist,
exposures to the left and right of the line are required with positive resists, while only the
line itself needs to be exposed when using negative resists.
inherent advantages.101,102 Examples of negative chemically amplified resists are

Fujifilm Electronic Material’s FEN271 and Shin Etsu’s SEBN1637.
Chemical amplification provides good resist sensitivity, but such resists usually
have problems of delay stability and sensitivity to bakes. The resist KRS-XE,
developed at IBM, appears to be relatively insensitive to PEB temperature and
delays between exposure and bake.103 This resist uses an aqueous developer and
has slower etch rates in plasma environments than ZEP 7000.
One of the problems accompanying the transition to higher electron-beam
voltage is heating. While the total mask temperature may not rise very far (see
Problem 7.3), localized heating can be tens of degrees centigrade. This localized
heating has the potential to affect resist behavior significantly. This is shown in
Fig. 7.21. For ZEP 7000 resist, linewidth variations greater than 10 nm have been
attributed to this temperature effect, although chemically amplified resists appear to
be less sensitive to heating by the electron beam.104 If the temperature rise becomes
Figure 7.21 (a) Partially developed novolak-type EBR900 resist following four-pass vector
scanning exposure. The effect of resist heating is apparent, although much less than in
single-pass scanning. (b) Change of effective dose due to heating in four-pass vector
scanning exposure.106
high enough, positive resist can even be converted to negative tone! Because
the local temperature rise is related to the electron-beam dose, the overall effect
depends upon the beam-writing strategy. In particular, vector scanning systems
result in greater local temperature rises than raster scanning systems. The effect is
mitigated in both cases by the use of multipass writing strategies. 105
7.7 Etching
For many years the chromium films of photomasks have been wet etched. Typical
chromium wet etchants contain ceric ammonium nitrate—Ce(NH4 )2 (NO3 )6 —
mixed with nitric, perchloric, or acetic acid.107 With wet etching there is
appreciable undercut. Consequently, chromium thickness variations contribute to
linewidth variations on the reticle, particularly when wet etching is used.
Patterns cannot be transferred with good fidelity into the chromium film with
wet etches when the undercut becomes comparable in size to the features. Features
smaller than 100 nm are found on the mask today, dimensions comparable to
absorber thicknesses. For critical applications, chromium mask etching has moved
to dry etching for the same reasons that wafer etching underwent a transition to
plasma etch processes. Because CrOx Cly species are volatile,108 typical chromium
etches involve mixtures of Cl-containing gases (such as Cl2 and CCl4 ) and O2 ,109
with additional gases added to reduce etch-loading effects that can have an impact
on isolated-dense biases.110
For decades chromium and chromium-containing materials were used for
absorber films on photomasks. However, chromium has proven to be a difficult film
to dry etch, so there has been some work on alternative opaque mask materials,
most notably MoSi. MoSi has been applied extensively for the fabrication of
attenuated phase-shifting masks (which are discussed in the next chapter), and
more recently this material has been used more heavily for binary masks, notably
with Shin Etsu’s Opaque-Molybdenum-Over-Glass (OMOG) material.111 Because
MoF6 , MoCl4 , SiF4 , and SiCl4 are volatile compounds, halogens and halogen-
containing gases are used for etching MoSi.112,113 Since SiO2 is etched by
fluorine chemistries, oxygen is sometimes added to improve selectivity between
the absorber and the glass substrate.
As will be discussed in the next chapter, the SiO2 glass substrate is sometimes
etched to produce a phase shift. In this case, there is a significant knowledge base
from silicon-wafer processing regarding plasma etching of SiO2 . In the case of
photomask etching, compatibility with the resists used for mask making and the
materials used for absorbers is necessary.
7.8 Pellicles
As mentioned at the beginning of this chapter, step-and-repeat and step-and-scan
modes of wafer patterning require masks with no killer defects in order to achieve
good yields. While masks are made without any defects that result in nonfunctional
die, preventing particles from depositing on masks during extended mask usage is
282 Chapter 7
a challenge, even in state-of-the-art cleanrooms. To avoid new printable defects,

pellicles are attached to photomasks.114 Pellicles are thin (∼1 µm) polymer films
stretched across a frame that is attached to the mask (Fig. 7.22). Typical frame
heights are 5–10 mm; 6.35 mm is a typical value, which is the same as the thickness
of the photomask blank, although lower heights are becoming more common.
Particles deposited on the pelliclized photomask fall onto the pellicle or glass
backside of the mask, and are therefore several millimeters away from the chrome
features that are being imaged. With small depths-of-field, these particles are not
going to be in focus.
With typical depths-of-focus less than 1 µm, millimeter standoffs are expected
to blur the image of the particles significantly. The requirements of pellicles go
beyond blurring the images of particulate defects. Pellicle standoffs must be large
enough to prevent defects from reducing the light intensity of the desired mask
patterns significantly. Early theoretical studies115 showed that image intensities are
not affected by amounts greater than 10% as long as the pellicle standoff is at least
as large as
4Md
t= , (7.4)
NA
where M is the lens reduction, NA is the numerical aperture of the lens, and d is
the diameter of the particle on the pellicle. More detailed theoretical investigations
have shown that imaging is protected for particles only about one half of that given
by Eq. (7.4). For example, process windows are not reduced significantly with
pellicle standoff distances of 6.3 mm and particles <90 µm.116 Usually a pellicle
needs to be attached only to the chrome side of the mask, since the glass blank
itself serves the same purpose as the pellicle with respect to particles.117
Pellicle films are usually polymers, with nitrocellulose and forms of Teflon
being common. These materials must be mechanically strong when cast as thin
films, be transparent, and resistant to radiation damage. Good light transmission
through the pellicles is a combination of transparency and optimization of the
thin-film optics.118 Transmission through a nonabsorbing film as a function of
film thickness is shown in Fig. 7.23. As can be seen, the pellicle transmission
is maximized at particular thicknesses, and pellicles are fabricated at thicknesses
corresponding to such maxima. In some instances, antireflection coatings are
Figure 7.22 Cross-sectional view of a mask with a pellicle attached.

Figure 7.23 Calculated transmission through a thin Teflon AFTM film, as a function of film
thickness, for normally incident 248.3-nm light. The index of refraction for the film is 1.3.
applied to the pellicle films. Transparency and resistance to radiation damage

become more of a challenge as the wavelength is shortened. Transitions to shorter
wavelengths have always required some level of pellicle re-engineering. It has been
possible to design and fabricate pellicles that have high transmission at multiple
wavelengths. For example, there are pellicles that are suitable for both i-line and
KrF lithography.
Pellicle frames are usually made of anodized aluminum. Small holes are
commonly drilled into the frame so the pressure of the air in the space enclosed by
the mask and pellicle remains equal to the ambient air pressure.119 These holes are
very small, or involve circuitous routes, to prevent these air paths from becoming
routes for particles that would defeat the purpose of the pellicle. If the surface of
the frame attached to the mask is not very flat, applying the pellicle to the mask
can cause the mask to distort, resulting in registration and focus errors. Induced
registration errors on the order of 100 nm have been measured.120 These distortions
are often unrecognized, because reticle registration measurements are made prior to
pellicle application in many mask shops. The magnitude of the distortion depends
upon the compliance of the adhesive used to bond the pellicle frame to the mask.
Less mask distortion occurs with flatter pellicle frames and more flexible adhesives.
Even with perfectly flat pellicles and masks, there is a potential for mask
deformation induced by the pellicle during use. Pellicle frames are typically made
of aluminum, which has a significantly different coefficient of thermal expansion
than the fused-silica substrate of the photomasks. During exposures, the masks will
absorb some light and heat up. The difference in coefficients of thermal expansion
can lead to reticle deformation. For this reason, people have considered using fused
silica as a material for pellicle frames.
Not only must pellicle adhesives be compliant, but also they need to be low-
outgassing, to avoid material deposition on the mask surface. Because scattered
light can reach the pellicle adhesives, these materials also need to be stable to
exposure by the actinic light. This is a challenge that evolves with changes in
wavelength.
284 Chapter 7
Having a very thin pellicle reduces many of the requirements for the pellicle.
This is a consequence of refraction, and can be understood by considering
Fig. 7.24. If a pellicle is not perfectly flat, normally incident light refracts and
is displaced by a distance of δ given by
!
1
δ = t 1 − sin φ, (7.5)
n
where t is the thickness of the pellicle and n is the index of refraction of the pellicle
material, which is typically 1.3–1.5. For thin pellicles, the displacement of light
rays by refraction is small, even for moderate amounts of pellicle nonflatness. Other
aberrations can be introduced by a tilted pellicle.121
Even a perfect pellicle distorts the wavefront. Consider the situation shown in
Fig. 7.25. Because of diffraction, light propagates from openings in the mask at
a various angles φ. The largest relevant angle is set by the numerical aperture of
the projection optics on the reticle side of the lens, which is the numerical aperture
usually quoted, divided by the lens reduction. This results in moderate angles of
incidence being relevant. For a lens with a specified NA (on the wafer side), there
can be angles φ up to arcsin(NA/N), where N is the lens reduction. For a 0.93-
NA 4× lens, angles can be as large as 13.4 deg. The light rays that are nonnormal
to the pellicle result in wavefront errors. These are calculated as follows. Light
propagating through the space of the pellicle has an optical path length of t/ cos φ
Figure 7.24 Geometry placement errors because of nonflat pellicles.
Figure 7.25 Wavefront aberrations from a pellicle.

in the absence of the pellicle. With a pellicle, the light traverses a different optical
path length to reach the line perpendicular to the straight light ray. The optical path
difference (OPD) is
  


   
  2  
 −1 n sin φ

 

OPD = t  + !# + sin φ tan φ − r .(7.6)
  

" 

 cos φ sin φ  sin2
φ 

cos arcsin

 



n
 n 1− 

n2
 
The first term is the optical path for a ray traveling straight in air. The second term
is for the refracted ray in the pellicle, and the third term is the optical path of the
refracted light from the pellicle to the point where it meets the line normal to the
rays, shown in Fig. 7.25.
To the second order, this gives an optical path difference of
φ2
" !#
1
t n−1+ 1− . (7.7)
2 n
A constant optical path difference simply represents an overall phase shift for all
rays and has no net effect on imaging, unlike variations in phase as a function of
angle. From Table 4.2, we see that Eq. (7.7) represents a focus error. There are also
higher-order aberrations induced by pellicles, representing spherical aberration.122
These aberrations are minimized by the use of very thin pellicles, as seen from
Eqs. (7.6) and (7.7). Aberrations are also minimized by a low value for the index
of refraction n of the pellicle material. Fluoropolymers, which are useful as pellicle
materials because they are transparent and durable at deep ultraviolet wavelengths,
also have reasonably low indices of refraction at exposure wavelengths. For
example, Teflon AF2400 has an index of refraction ≈ 1.35 at a wavelength of 193
nm.123
Additional complexities have accompanied the use of immersion lithography,
which results in high angles of incidence on pellicles (see Problem 7.5). Shown
in Fig. 7.26 is the transmission through a typical ArF pellicle as a function of
the angle of incidence. At low angles, the transmission is very high and varies
little with the angle of light rays incident on the pellicle. However, at numerical
apertures >1.0 relevant to immersion lithography (see Chapter 10), the pellicle’s
transmission varies with angle of incidence, effectively inducing apodization
and causing linewidths to vary (Fig. 7.27) as a function of pitch (among other
consequences). There will also be differences in phase of the transmitted rays as a
function of the angle of incidence.124
Even with pellicles, particulate defects can form on the surfaces of photomasks.
Pellicles protect masks from particles, but they do not prevent gases from entering
the volume between the mask and the pellicle. As noted above, pellicle frames
typically have holes in them to allow for pressure equalization between the
ambient air and the volume between the pellicle and mask. Although the air inside
286 Chapter 7
Figure 7.26 Calculated transmission of light through a pellicle as a function of the angle
of incidence. For the calculations it was assumed that the pellicle thickness was 825 µm
and index of refraction was 1.4.125 Transverse electric light is perpendicular to the plane of
incidence, while transverse magnetic light is parallel to the plane of incidence.
Figure 7.27 Calculated critical dimensions through pitch for 193-nm immersion
lithography.125 A 1.35-NA lens is assumed, with azimuthally polarized C-quad illumination
(0.8/0.5/30 deg), for a nominally 55-nm line on a binary mask. Differences in critical
dimensions over 2 nm are calculated between masks with and without a pellicle. For the
calculations it was assumed that the pellicle thickness was 825 µm and index of refraction
was 1.4.
steppers is very clean, very small amounts (<1 ppb) of contaminants can lead to
photochemical deposition on mask surfaces. This may be enhanced because of
traces of chemicals remaining on the mask surfaces from the mask fabrication
process. Under intense DUV illumination, these chemicals can react and ultimately
form particulates.126,127 For example, ammonium sulfate was one material found
on photomasks on which haze had grown. The ammonium could have come from
ammonium hydroxide used for reticle cleaning, while the sulfur could have come
from sulfuric acid (also used for reticle cleaning) or from sulfur dioxide in the
ambient air. Molecular contaminants can also outgas from pellicle adhesives. A
possible mechanism for the generation of ammonium sulfate is128,129
O2 + photon (193 nm) → 2O

SO2 + O → SO3
SO3 + H2 O → H2 SO4
H2 SO4 + 2NH3 → (NH4 )2 SO4 .
Masks, being made from glass, are fragile, and need to be handled with care. In
addition to the risk of mechanical damage, the use of an electrical insulator as a
substrate makes photomasks susceptible to damage from electrostatic discharge
(ESD).130 For assessing the susceptibility to ESD of particular mask-handling
methods, a mask (the Canary ReticleTM ) has been designed that has structures
particularly liable to electrostatic discharge.131 These consist of arrays of large
chrome rectangles with isolated chrome lines extending from them. The tips of
these isolated lines are close (1.5 µm) to adjacent large chrome areas (Fig. 7.28).
These structures are arranged so that they point towards the interior of the reticle,
with arrays originating from all four sides of the reticle.
Sparks from discharges cause the mask absorber material to melt and can lead
to bridging across gaps on the mask. An example of this is shown in Fig. 7.29.
This has been observed in a controlled experiment when the Canary Reticle was
contained in a nonstatic-dissipative storage case that was subjected to a potential
of several thousand volts. Inferring what will happen to actual reticles from tests
involving the Canary Reticle is not clear, but this reticle can be quite useful in
identifying causes of electrostatic discharge that are actually occurring. Reticle
damage from ESD is a rare event, and tracking down causes is often difficult. The
Canary Reticle, with its enhanced sensitivity to ESD, can expedite the identification
of sources of ESD. More recently, a method has been developed to assess risk for
Figure 7.28 The basic structures of the Canary Reticle.

288 Chapter 7
Figure 7.29 Example of mask damage from ESD.
electrostatic damage to masks that does not involve the use of something like the
Canary mask, which is permanently damaged by testing.132
More recently, another electric field–induced damage mechanism has been
identified: electric field–induced metal migration (EFM).133–135 This occurs when
voltages are too low to cause sparks, but can induce material migration (see
Fig. 7.30). As features have become smaller, the gaps between geometries on
masks have become very small. With very small gaps, even modest voltages can
lead to large electric fields. Simulations indicate that voltages less than 100 V
between structures can lead to field-induced migration. Features close to the edges
of masks are particularly at risk. Masks are often constructed with rings of chrome
surrounding the device patterns, so small features should not be allowed to be close
to this guard ring. Keeping reticles away from the influence of external electric
Figure 7.30 Transmission electron micrographs reveal chromium-oxide migration. Gold is

used to reduce sample charging during the microscopy.
fields are also important, which can be accomplished with suitably designed reticle
cassettes that contain the masks within a Faraday cage.136 The situation is even
more complex, as the amount of material that migrates appears to be related to
the amount of light exposure that the mask receives.137 Fortunately, there are test
devices that can measure electric fields to assess risk.138
7.9 Mask-Defect Inspection and Repair

As noted earlier, there is a very low tolerance for imperfections on masks and
reticles, since a single defect can cause a substantial loss of die yield. Consequently,
there have been substantial engineering efforts with the purpose of designing
and building inspection tools capable of finding defects on masks. Since every
fabricated mask involves a substantial investment, tools have also been developed
for repairing defects, once located. Defect inspection and repair are the subjects of
this section.
Mask-defect inspection tools fall into three general categories: die-to-die, die-
to-database, and particle inspection. The first die-to-die inspection tools were
manual optical comparators,139 which provided human operators with images that
accentuated differences between two features viewed optically. In the operation of
these systems two microscope objectives were focused on equivalent portions of
different dies on the mask. Only small differences were seen when comparing the
images of equivalent portions of two defect-free die of the same design, but there
would be substantial differences if one of the die had a defect. Only a small part of
the mask could be inspected at a time, equal to the field of view of the objectives.
As designs increased in complexity and feature sizes became smaller, it became
necessary to automate this inspection and improve the resolution of the optics.140
This has been accomplished, and several automatic mask-defect inspection tools
are commercially available.
With the introduction of ultra-large-scale integration and the transition to
reduction steppers and scanners, it is possible that only a single die might reside
on a reticle.141 To inspect such reticles for defects it is necessary to compare the
measured optical images of the reticle with calculations of what the image should
be, given a defect-free reticle. Such tools have also been developed, with die-to-
die inspection capability also combined with die-to-database capability within a
single tool.142 Examples of commercially available mask-defect inspection tools
are listed in Table 7.6. In some instances it is not strictly optical images that are
being compared, but auxiliary quantities, such as the amount of light transmitted
through a small area on the mask.143
Finally, there are many systems that detect particles through light scattering.
These are particularly useful for inspections after masks have been manufactured
and initially qualified. In these situations the mask pattern typically remains
undamaged, and acquired defects consist primarily of particles that land on the
mask or pellicle during usage or handling. However, as discussed below, the
assumption that the mask pattern remains undamaged is not always a good one.
290 Chapter 7
Table 7.6 Examples of commercially available mask-defect inspection tools144,145 All of

these tools (except those from Lasertec) have die-to-die and die-to-database inspection
capability.
Company Model name Inspection wavelength (nm)
KLA-Tencor Teron 600 193
Applied Materials Aera2 193
NuFlare NPI-5000 Plus 199
Lasertec MATRICS X700 213
Because the optical properties of materials vary with the wavelength of light,
particularly when considering light of wavelengths in the visible versus ultraviolet
portions of the electromagnetic spectrum, defect detection is strongly wavelength
dependent. The most dependable defect inspection can be expected from inspection
tools that use light at or near the wavelength of light used for exposures. Hence,
when KrF lithography was the leading-edge optical technology, inspection tools
often used 257-nm light. This was near the 248-nm wavelength of the KrF
light and could be produced conveniently by frequency doubling the emission of
514-nm argon-ion continuous-wave lasers. Continuous-wave lasers are useful for
inspection, because it is convenient to acquire data at rates considerably faster than
the 1–6 kHz frequencies of excimer lasers. Nevertheless, some inspection tools use
excimer lasers for illumination, and good inspection rates have been achieved.
Masks need to be cleaned to remove any particles that sit on the surfaces of the
mask and could block the transmission of light. Such particles are usually referred
to as “soft” defects. The majority of “hard” defects on masks consist of missing
absorber, or absorbing material being where it should have been removed. Over
time, four approaches to defect repair have been developed and implemented:
(1) Laser ablation and deposition146–148
(2) Focused ion-beam sputter etch and ion beam–assisted deposition149–151
(3) Micromachining using atomic-force microscope techniques152–155
(4) Electron beam–assisted chemical etching and deposition.156
Laser repair tools were the first to be adopted and served the semiconductor
industry well for many years. However, such tools are limited by finite optical
resolution, and ion-beam tools were introduced to address the needs associated
with small features on masks, since ion beams can be focused to very small
spots.157 Most typically, gallium ions are used, because high-current gallium-ion
sources can be made.158 The ion energy is typically tens of keV, to provide the
kinetic energy for sputtering opaque defects.159 However, such highly energetic
beams also tend to implant into the glass substrate, leaving a “stain” that results in
an imperfect repair. To reduce this “stain,” gases are introduced into the chamber
containing the mask to assist chemically in the removal of unwanted material. In
their neutral state these gases are inert, but they will produce energy in the area that
is being bombarded with ions. Chemically assisted processes also enable sputtering
and subsequent redeposition of material to be reduced. Ion beams can also be used
to add absorber where it is missing by injecting appropriate gases into the chamber
containing the mask that is under repair. With the use of hydrocarbon-containing
gases,160 a carbon patch can be formed where the ion beam strikes the surface of
the mask.
Over time, concerns with gallium staining and sputtering led to the development
of electron beam–based repair tools.161 For removing unwanted absorber, gases
are introduced into the chamber containing the mask, and material is removed
by means of electron beam–assisted etching. The addition of material to
replace missing absorber is accomplished in an analogous way. Micromachining
approaches have also been used for repairing masks, but only for material
removal.162
Inspection tools will find defects and imperfections on masks, but the
printability of these defects is an issue of practical importance, since the repair of
defects is a complex and expensive process that should be avoided if unnecessary. It
was recognized long ago that the printability of a defect depends upon its proximity
to other features on the mask.163 This is illustrated in Fig. 7.31. Consider a process
for which the smallest feature that can be resolved on the wafer is 40 nm in size.
For 4× reduction optics, this means that the smallest printable feature on the mask
is 160 nm. An isolated object of half that size (80 nm) is well below the resolution
of the system and will not print. On the other hand, an 80-nm size feature that is
a protrusion into a narrow space will push that same space below the resolution
limit, and such a defect will likely print. Since the printability of a defect is context
related, and there are many possible configurations for geometries on masks, the
subject of mask-defect printability is complex and has been the subject of much
study.164–169
Figure 7.31 Illustration of mask defects of identical widths. The isolated feature will not
print, while the defect which is a protrusion of the right line is printable.
292 Chapter 7
As noted, the printability of a defect is important to know in order to decide

whether or not to attempt a repair. Moreover, the repair itself may induce damage
that can print. Hence, it is very useful for mask shops to have means of determining
mask-defect printability, and it is greatly preferable to have the means to do this
other than by using extremely expensive steppers or scanners. One way to do this
is through the use of an aerial-image-microscope system, more commonly referred
to by its acronym, AIMSTM .170–172 In these tools, high-resolution optics are used
to measure the aerial image from a small portion of the mask. Because the field of
view (∼15 µm × 15 µm) is considerably smaller than the imaging field of systems
used to pattern wafers, the optics of AIMS tools are much smaller and considerably
less expensive than those of full-field exposure tools. Moreover, the complexity
of resist processing is avoided, with the downside that subtleties involving the
resist are not taken into account. An example of the information obtained from
an AIMS tool is shown in Fig. 7.32. The pictures in this figure illustrate that
Figure 7.32 (a) A scanning-electron micrograph of a bridging defect on a mask, and (b)
the measured aerial image from the mask. (c) The corresponding results after the mask was
repaired (see Color Plates).
defect printability can be directly measured. AIMS measurement prior to repair

provides data for determining that the repair is actually necessary, while a later
AIMS measurement is used to assess the quality of the repair. Inspection tools that
are based on the images, as would be produced by exposure tools, simplify mask
making by combining the AIMS function into the inspection tool.173 Even with
such types of defect-inspection tools, an AIMS tool still might be used in the mask
shop in order to qualify defect repairs.
As seen in this chapter, mask and reticle technology is quite complex. The need
has been discussed for zero defects, good linewidth control, and good registration,
because of the “tyranny of the stepper,” which causes reticle imperfections to be
repeated hundreds of times per wafer. In the next chapter it is seen that these
requirements have become even more challenging because highly complex masks
are often used to provide enhanced lithographic capabilities.
Problems
7.1 For a mask fabricated on a fused silicon substrate, show that the separation
between two geometries nominally separated by 100 mm changes by 5 nm for
a 0.1 ◦ C temperature change. (The coefficient of thermal expansion for fused
silica equals 0.5 ppm/◦ C.) For the same change in temperature, show that the
separation error would be 600 nm for a mask fabricated on a borosilicate glass
substrate with a coefficient of thermal expansion equal to 60 ppm/◦ C.
7.2 Reticle nonflatness consumes part of the depth-of-focus budget. It is desired
that reticle nonflatness reduce the depth-of-focus budget by no more than 10%.
For a 100-nm depth-of-focus, show that the reticle flatness must be <160 nm
in order to be consistent with this 10% criterion and assuming a 4× lens. What
would this be for a 6× lens?
7.3 Suppose a mask is patterned by a beam writer with a 50-keV beam energy over
an area of 100 × 100 mm, using a resist with 10-µC/cm2 sensitivity. Assume
the pattern density is 50%. For a standard 6-in. mask (152 × 152 × 6.35 mm),
with a heat capacity of 0.71 J/gm·K and density 2.2 gm/cc, show that the mask
temperature rises by 0.11 K, assuming all electron energy is converted to heat
and there is no heat conducted away from the mask substrate. (The electronic
charge is 1.6 × 10−19 C and 1 eV = 1.6 × 10−19 J.) Assume that the absorber
is sufficiently thin that its contribution to the thermal mass is negligible. Refer
to Problem 7.1 to assess the significance of such a temperature change on
registration errors.
7.4 Show that the maximum angle for a ray that passes through the top element of
a 1.35-NA 4× lens is 19.7 deg.
7.5 Consider a 1.35-NA 4× lens. For a perfectly flat, 1-µm-thick pellicle, show
that, due to the pellicle, the optical path of the wavefront varies by 15.3 nm.
Assume that the refractive index of the pellicle = 1.35, and take the refraction
by the pellicle into account by using [Eq. (7.7)].
294 Chapter 7
7.6 Using Eq. (7.4), show that pellicles with 6.3-mm standoff provide protection
for particles as large as 366 µm when using a 0.93-NA 4× lens for imaging.
7.7 From Eq. (7.6), show that the pellicle-induced wavefront errors → 0 as either
n → 1 or t → 0.
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Chapter 8
Confronting the Diffraction Limit
As k1 factors [Eq. (2.8)] fall below 0.8, a number of effects become observable that
are not seen when k1 is larger. Processes with small values of k1 began to appear
in the mid-1990s, and are quite common today, as seen from Table 8.1. Some of
the effects seen in patterns generated with low-k1 processes are discussed in this
chapter. Several techniques that are also described—such as off-axis illumination
and phase-shifting masks—have been developed to address the shortcomings of
optical imaging as feature sizes become smaller than the wavelength of light.
Methods to improve image contrast that involve modification of the mask or
illumination are referred to collectively as resolution-enhancement techniques
(RET) and are discussed in this chapter.
8.1 Off-Axis Illumination

As discussed earlier, coherent light that illuminates a grating is diffracted in
very specific directions [Eq. (2.1)]. For normally incident light, sufficiently small
dimensions result in situations where all beams except the zeroth order are
diffracted outside the entrance pupil of the imaging optics (Fig. 8.1). In this
case, no pattern is formed, because a single beam is a plane wave, containing no
spatial information, as was explained in Chapter 2. For normally incident (on-axis)
illumination, the grating is not imaged when the pitch is too small, because only a
Table 8.1 The evolution of k1 in manufacturing.
Year Wavelength (nm) NA Half pitch (µm) k1
1980 436 0.28 1.50 0.96

1983 436 0.35 1.20 0.96
1986 436 0.45 1.00 1.00
1989 365 0.45 0.70 0.86
1992 365 0.54 0.50 0.74
1995 365 0.60 0.35 0.57
1997 248 0.50 0.25 0.50
1999 248 0.63 0.18 0.46
2001 248 0.80 0.13 0.42
2004 193 0.75 0.10 0.39
2007 193 0.93 0.07 0.34
308 Chapter 8
Figure 8.1 On-axis and off-axis illumination. With off-axis illumination, diffraction orders
>0 are propagated through the projection lens. The features on the mask are perpendicular
to the plane of the illumination.
single beam, the zeroth-order beam, is transmitted through the lens. This illustrates
the limitation to resolution imposed by diffraction.
On the other hand, consider the situation in which two plane waves (of unit
amplitude) intersect, shown in Fig. 8.2. In this case,
2
Intensity = ei(kx x+kz z) + ei(−kx x+kz z) (8.1)
= 4 cos2 (k x x) . (8.2)
With two plane waves intersecting, a pattern with structure can be imaged.
Consider the situation in which the illumination is not normally incident
(Fig. 8.1). For such off-axis illumination it is possible for the zeroth-order light
and one first-order beam to enter the entrance pupil of the imaging optics. In this
situation, there is a pattern imaged onto the wafer. From this simple analysis, one
might expect to enhance image contrast by eliminating the illumination with small
angles of incidence, since those light rays contribute only to the background light
intensity without providing spatial modulation, for very small features.
From Fig. 8.1, one might also expect that off-axis illumination should improve
the depth-of-focus, because the angular spread of the light rays in the off-axis
Confronting the Diffraction Limit 309
Figure 8.2 Two plane waves intersecting.
situation is less than that for conventional illumination. This is understood by

considering the situation depicted in Fig. 8.3. In the limit of geometrical optics,
a lens focuses light to a point in the plane of best focus. In another plane, the point
broadens to a circle. The diameter of this circle increases with distance z from the
plane of best focus. Circles of diameter up to a certain maximum may be tolerated
before one says that the image is too blurry, and this establishes the depth-of-focus.
Lenses with smaller numerical apertures require a larger distance z0 to produce
circles of a specified diameter. Hence, images produced with smaller numerical
apertures have larger depths-of-focus. As can be seen in Fig. 8.1, a similar effect
occurs with off-axis illumination. The angle formed by the intersecting zeroth- and
first-order beams is smaller than is obtained in the on-axis case, even if the ±first-
order diffraction beams are captured by the lens, enabling pattern image formation.
Thus, off-axis illumination has the potential to increase the depth-of-focus, as well
as improve resolution.
The depth-of-focus enhancement from off-axis illumination can be analyzed
further. Consider the off-axis geometry shown in Fig. 8.4, where only the zeroth-
order ray and one first-order diffracted ray enter the lens. These two plane waves
can be summed to generate a field amplitude that can be squared to produce the
light intensity at the wafer plane. In application, illumination symmetric at ±θ0
angles of incidence are used. Summing the light intensities from the two incident
rays of illumination, the total light intensity at the wafer plane is given by1
Figure 8.3 Illustration of the depth-of-focus in the context of geometrical optics.

310 Chapter 8
Figure 8.4 Light rays diffracted by a diffraction grating of pitch p. In the figure k = 2π/λ.
This example is appropriate for 1:1 optics. Angles and dimensions will be scaled by the lens
reduction for reduction optics.
I(x, z) = 2a20 E02 + 2a21 E02

" q ! # !
2πz 2πx
+ 4a1 a0 E0 cos
2 2
1 − (sin θ0 − λ/p) − cos θ0 cos , (8.3)
λ p
where a0 is the amplitude fraction of the light’s electrical field in the zeroth-
order beam, a1 is the fraction of the electric field in the first-order beam, E0 is
the amplitude of the incident electric field, p is the pitch of the grating, x is the
lateral distance along the wafer, and z is the amount of defocus. This equation is
independent of z, i.e., independent of focus, when
q
cos θ0 = 1 − (sin θ0 − λ/p)2 , (8.4)
which occurs when
λ
sin θ0 = . (8.5)
2p
Equation (8.5) shows an important characteristic of image enhancement when

using off-axis illumination: the optimum parameters, such as the angle of incidence
for the illumination, are pitch dependent.2 This indicates that process-window
enhancement can be obtained for a particular pitch when using a given angle for
the off-axis illumination, but that the enhancement may be less or nonexistent for
other pitches.
In practice, infinite depth-of-focus is not obtained, because the illumination

consists of more than two rays of light coming from angles ±θ0 . Instead, the
illumination is comprised of light incident over ranges of angles around the
optimum. This occurs for several reasons. First, maintaining a reasonable level of
light intensity requires that illumination be collected over a finite range of angles.
Additionally, a finite range of angles for the illumination results in light that is
spread out as it propagates through the lens. Spreading the light out within the
projection optics has a number of benefits. One advantage is reduced sensitivity
to aberrations in the projection optics. This occurs because phase and amplitude
errors of one particular ray of light are averaged with the errors from other rays. The
resulting image quality will not be determined by worst-case errors.3 In addition,
with finite collection angles, the light is less concentrated as it propagates through
the projection optics, reducing the potential for glass damage (see Section 5.4).
Finally, light from a point source is very coherent, which leads to interference
issues, as discussed in Chapter 5. For all of these reasons, the illumination is
incident over a range of angles. Since this results in less-than-optimal performance,
there is pressure on the exposure tool manufacturers to reduce lens aberrations and
enhance illuminators to provide high light intensity even when the illumination is
directed over a narrow range of angles.
Illumination that contains light incident on the mask in a cone from all
angles from zero to a maximum defined by the partial coherence σ is called
conventional illumination, while illumination from which the normally and near-
normally incident light rays are excluded is called off-axis illumination. The type
of illumination that has been described thus far, where the light is incident on the
mask from just two opposing directions, is a particular type of off-axis illumination
called dipole illumination.
Illumination is typically described by partial coherence σ rather than an angle
of illumination. From the defining equation for σ [Eq. (A.11) in Appendix A] and
Eq. (8.5), one can see that the optimum illumination angle for dipole illumination
is given by
! !
1 λ
σ= . (8.6)
NA 2p
Because light is collected over a finite range of angles, off-axis illumination is

usually described by a pair of σ values, one representing the outer angle (σouter )
and the other value signifying the inner angle (σinner ). The optimum value given by
Eq. (8.6) is usually intermediate between σouter and σinner .
The benefits of off-axis illumination for enhancing image contrast have been
long known among optical microscopists. Motivated by experience in microscopy,
the concept of oblique or off-axis illumination was introduced to microlithography
in 19864 and it has since been explored extensively.2–9 It is now commonly used
for fabricating integrated circuits.
Features that are parallel to the plane of the illumination (Fig. 8.1) have their
imaging degraded with dipole illumination, relative to conventional illumination,
312 Chapter 8
because conventional illumination contains at least some off-axis rays for all
geometries, regardless of orientation. For more general geometries, illumination
must be configured accordingly. The construction of one such design is illustrated
in Fig. 8.5. Because it is difficult to visualize illumination from many angles,
it is convenient to depict the illumination in the form of its image in the pupil
plane of the projection lens. Figure 8.5 is such a depiction. In such pupil plane
representations, light in the center represents on-axis illumination, while light at
increasing distances from the center corresponds to illumination at larger angles
of incidence on the mask. As can be seen in that figure, there are four regions
where good imaging for horizontal features overlaps the good imaging for vertical
features. Illumination where light rays propagate only from those overlapping
regions is referred to as quadrupole illumination. From Fig. 8.5 and Eq. (8.6),
it can be seen that the optimum center point for the overlap regions occurs at
 √  !
 2  λ
σ =   . (8.7)
2NA p
Each stepper company has its own name for its particular implementation
of quadrupole illumination. Nikon calls their system super-high-resolution
illumination control (SHRINC),8 Canon has named theirs Canon quadrupole
effect for stepper technology (CQuest),10 and ASML’s system is called Quasar.11
Typically, the regions of quadrupole illumination are not square in shape, but are
often circular or annular sections.
A common configuration that applies to objects of arbitrary orientation is
annular illumination, where the light comes down from an annulus, centered on
the optical axis, and forming the envelope of a cone. Optimum annular illumination
consists of an annulus that approximates all regions of Fig. 8.5, which are good for
either vertical or horizontal patterns. While annular illumination is not beneficial
for all patterns, nor is it the optimum type of off-axis illumination for other
patterns, such as gratings aligned in a single direction, it does provide process-
Figure 8.5 Construction of quadrupole illumination. This is the image of illumination in the
pupil plane of the projection optics.
window enhancement while still imaging many patterns adequately. Hence,

annular illumination has been used extensively.
Annular illumination can be generated by placing an aperture with an annular
opening in the path of the illuminator, such as that shown in Fig. 8.6(a).
However, this reduces the overall intensity of the light as well, since it blocks
much of the available light, reducing the overall exposure-tool productivity. More
sophisticated illuminators transmit most of the available light into the annulus of
illumination.12,13 As described in Chapter 5, annular illumination can be generated
using axicons in the illuminator optics. Illuminators which provide high off-
axis intensity usually can generate light efficiently in portions of an annulus, so
quadrupole and dipole illumination often appear closer to what is shown in Fig. 8.7,
rather than what is shown in Fig. 8.6.
A full definition of dipole or quadrupole illumination requires specification of
the inner sigma, the outer sigma, and the subtended angle of the apertures. This is
illustrated in Fig. 8.8. For apertures that are circular, a more restrictive definition
is sufficient [Fig. 8.8(b)]. Annular illumination is often described by the ratio
σinner /σouter , where common ratios are 2:3 and 1:2. Smaller values provide stronger
enhancement effects for particular pitches.
The situation described above and leading to Eq. (8.3) is a situation involving
two-beam imaging. With suitably chosen off-axis illumination, only the zeroth-
order and one of the first-order beams enters the entrance pupil of the lens. This
leads to Eq. (8.3), in which all dependence of the image in the z direction can
be eliminated, i.e., the imaging can be independent of focus. No such conditions
exist (where all of the beams are in phase, independent of z) with three-beam
Figure 8.6 Illumination pupil plane images for (a) annular illumination, (b) quadrupole
illumination, and (c) dipole illumination.
Figure 8.7 (a) Dipole and (b) quadrupole illumination generated from an annular source.
314 Chapter 8
Figure 8.8 Parameters for specifying quadrupole illumination. The parameters shown in
(a) can be used to describe the illumination generated from an annular source (Fig. 8.7),
while the parameterization shown in (b) is applicable to illumination with circular sections.
imaging, such as occurs with on-axis illumination (Fig. 8.1). This line of reasoning
leads to a general conclusion: resolution-enhancement techniques (RET) that can
produce two-beam imaging provide better performance than methods that generate
three-beam imaging. Dipole illumination improves the process window because it
leads to “two-beam” imaging, rather than “three-beam imaging.” This is a general
theme for all techniques to improve resolution and process window: try to create a
situation in which two-beam imaging occurs.
Conventional illumination consists of a cone of light, specified by a partial
coherence parameter σ. Annular illumination can be viewed as a cone of light
with an inner cone removed. The optics used to create any particular illumination
usually will not result in a sharp cutoff for the light around the edges of the cone.
Instead, the illumination will fall from some large value to zero or near zero over
a range of angles. This results in ambiguity over the exact illumination profile
for specific values of σ that are given. Consider conventional illumination. Some
stepper companies will define σ by the angle at which 90% of the integrated light
energy is contained, while others may define it as the angle in which 100% is
contained. Neither is correct nor incorrect, but users must be cautious when trying
to compare results from two different exposure tools, or between experimental
and simulated results. Subtle differences in illumination profiles can lead to very
different results.
Results for off-axis illumination from more detailed analyses and measurements
found the following:
(1) Enhancement is seen for features smaller than the coherent cutoff limit (k1 =
0.5). Above this limit there is no difference between conventional and off-axis
illumination.
(2) The depth-of-focus improvement for grouped features is much greater than for
isolated features.
(3) Grouped/isolated-feature print bias, discussed in more detail in the next
section, is affected by off-axis illumination.
Illumination optimized for one pitch may work poorly for other pitches. For
patterns with more than one pitch, this is a problem. Illumination sources that
include some on-axis illumination, though at lower intensity than for the off-axis
light,14,15 have shown good results for multiple structures. In such cases, the off-
axis illumination is used to ensure good patterning of the most critical features,
while sufficient additional illumination is added to enable adequate printing of
those patterns that are less difficult to print. Dipole illumination produces the
biggest process-window enhancement for dense lines oriented in a single direction,
while contacts typically image best with illumination that takes into account their
intrinsic two-dimensional character. These examples suggest that many different
types of illumination might be useful in lithography. Indeed, one of the papers
in which off-axis illumination for lithography was first proposed concluded with
the speculation that illumination might be custom engineered for individual
layers.5 Dipole, quadrupole, and annular illumination might be considered only
as examples of a wide variety of illuminator configurations that could be used
to enhance process windows. For example, researchers at Canon have introduced
a method, IDEAL, which involves modified illumination and assist features to
improve the printing of contacts.16 More recently, this idea has been generalized to
a method that can be used for calculating optimal illumination patterns for a wide
range of patterns.17
As suggested by Figs. 8.6 and 8.7, illumination can become very complicated. In
Chapter 5 it was shown how an axicon can be used to produce annular illumination
without losing very much light. More complex illumination can also be produced
efficiently using diffractive optical elements (DOE). Locally, a diffractive optical
element is a blazed grating, illustrated in Fig. 8.9. Efficiency is achieved by setting
the diffraction angle β to the angle at which the light is refracted at the glass-air
interface, which occurs when
n sin (α) = sin α + β ,

(8.8)
where n is the index of refraction of the glass. On a larger scale, diffractive optical
elements are more intricate than simple gratings, as needed to produce complex
illumination shapes, and the techniques of computer-generated holography are
used to design the DOEs.18,19
Another method for producing complex illumination is through the use of
micromirror arrays, similar in concept to those used in data projectors and flat-
panel televisions.20 While more complex and expensive than a DOE, this approach
has the advantage of programmability, which is advantageous for research and
development, as well as for manufacturing environments where large numbers of
different illumination shapes are required. In the latter case, the higher-capital cost
of the programmable illuminator is offset by the expense avoided by not purchasing
a large quantity of DOEs.
For patterning a simple diffraction grating, dipole illumination is optimal. For
more complex patterns, other types of illumination, such as annular or quadrupole,
might be better. It is possible to determine what is the optimal illumination for
316 Chapter 8
Figure 8.9 A blazed diffraction grating. Beveling leads to high efficiency in light transmitted
in the indicated direction. The profille on an actual diffractive optical element will not have
the perfect saw-tooth shape shown in this figure, with less than 100% efficiency as a
consequence.
a given pattern. For every illumination source point, the quality of the patterning
can be assessed. Using criteria set by a lithographer, source points can be retained
as part of the illumination or not. While conceptually simple, this is difficult in
practice. The set of criteria used to assess the illumination can include linewidth
control, image-log slope, line-end shortening (discussed in the next section), and
mask-error factor (the topic of Section 8.3). All of these are important, and the
engineer needs to weight them as appropriate for the application.
Off-axis illumination provides a means of enhancing optical lithography.
Although specific illumination settings improve imaging performance only for
a narrow range of pitches, this is still an advantage for many applications,
such as memories, where many structures are highly periodic. When there are
multiple pitches to be patterned, the problem is more difficult. Some additional
complications resulting from patterns with multiple pitches are discussed in the
next section.
8.2 Optical Proximity Effects

Light-intensity profiles for features representing two different generations of
lithography are shown in Fig. 8.10. The light-intensity profiles of 1.0-µm lines,
imaged with 0.35-NA g-line optics (k1 = 0.8), are compared with the images of
0.35-µm lines, patterned with 0.54-NA i-line lenses (k1 = 0.5). For each line size,
the light intensities are shown for lines in two different configurations. In the first,
the lines are isolated, with no other patterns near the line whose light-intensity
profile is plotted; the other configuration is where the line is part of a grating
pattern consisting of equal lines and spaces. For the 1.0-µm lines, the light-intensity
profiles are nearly the same, whether the line is isolated or part of a grating.
Lines that are close to one another are referred to as grouped or dense lines. The
situation is quite different for the 0.35-µm lines, where there is a readily observable
difference between the light-intensity profiles of the isolated and grouped lines.
Assuming that the linewidth corresponds to the light intensity at the 0.3 level,
there is a small difference in size between the grouped and isolated 1.0-µm lines
Figure 8.10 Light-intensity profiles for 1.0-µm and 0.35-µm features. Both line sizes in the
image are calculated using Prolith for isolated lines and lines that are part of a grating
consisting of equal lines and spaces. The solid lines are the light-intensity profiles for
isolated lines, while the dashed lines represent lines that are part of gratings that consist
of equal lines and spaces.
(0.042 µm, or 4.2%), while the 0.35-µm lines differ in size by 76 nm, or 22%.
This difference in line size between isolated and grouped lines is referred to as
the iso-dense bias. It is an effect of the proximity of features to other geometries
and becomes more significant as k1 becomes smaller. As seen in this example,
proximity effects were small for k1 = 0.8 and were not significant for older
processes, which had such values for k1 (see Table 8.1). On the other hand, modern
processes are characterized by much smaller values of k1 , and proximity effects
are now significant. This proximity effect represents an additional manifestation of
diffraction within the context of optical lithography.
Proximity effects can be quite complicated. Just discussed was the iso-dense
bias at two extreme pitches, with line-space ratios of 1:1 and 1:∞. Because of
the proximity effect, linewidths vary over the intermediate pitches as well, in a
nonmonotonic fashion (Fig. 8.11). There are a number of parameters that affect the
magnitude of proximity effects. Lens parameters such as wavelength and numerical
aperture are important, as are illuminator settings including partial coherence and
the use of off-axis illumination. Resist processes can also influence the magnitude
of proximity effects. Because models are inexact for resist processes, particularly
the post-exposure bake step, for accuracy the magnitudes of proximity effects need
to be determined empirically and re-evaluated whenever there are process changes.
The simplest way to compensate for linewidth variations caused by proximity
is to have certain geometries on the reticle resized so that all features print at the
desired dimensions on the wafers. Lines that print larger because of the proximity
effect are made slightly smaller on the reticle. These adjustments of features
on the masks to correct for proximity effects are known as optical proximity
corrections, and are often referred to by their acronym, OPC. While the objective
is conceptually simple, the implementation of optical proximity corrections is not
trivial. In a typical chip design, features occur in a large number of configurations,
318 Chapter 8
Figure 8.11 Simulated linewidths for 150-nm lines imaged at best focus on varying
pitches. The parameters of the simulation (using the commercially available simulator, Solid-
C) where NA = 0.75, λ = 193 nm, and σ = 0.6. An aerial-image threshold of 0.3 was used to
determine the linewidth.
not just simple grating structures. Different types of situations that occur are
depicted in Fig. 8.12.21
Masks generally include geometries of various dimensions. Over a wide range
of sizes, the printed features equal approximately the size of the corresponding
feature on the mask divided by the lens-reduction factor. However, as feature sizes
approach the resolution limit of the lens, nonlinearity is introduced.22 This is shown
in Fig. 8.13. Grating patterns consisting of equal lines and spaces were printed on
a Micrascan II (4× lens reduction, 0.5 NA, λ = 250 nm) over a range of sizes. The
resulting spacewidths were measured and plotted. For reticle dimensions ≥1300
nm = 4 × 325 nm, the wafer dimensions transferred 4:1 to the wafer, while for
smaller features, the wafer dimensions varied more rapidly as a function of reticle
feature size. A feature size of 325 nm corresponds to k1 = 0.65.
When critical geometries are involved, corrections on the mask are necessary to
compensate for this nonlinearity if features will be printed over a wide range of
sizes. Print bias is a function of feature size, and this can be corrected by resizing
(a) (b) (c)

Figure 8.12 Different configurations in which proximity corrections are needed.
Configuration (a) is a one-dimensional situation in which linewidth bias is needed. Line-
end shortening needs to be addressed in configuration (b), while 2D corner rounding is
problematic in configuration (c).
Figure 8.13 Transfer of features from a reticle to the wafer. The features are reduced in
size by 4× for large feature size, but the reduction changes for features near the resolution
limit of the lens.
features on the mask. Although nonlinearity is not a consequence of proximity,

size adjustments on the mask to correct for nonlinear printing are often included
under the umbrella term of OPC. It has become common practice to refer to
all adjustments made to mask features compensating for the effects of low-k1
patterning as optical proximity corrections, even though many of these do not
directly involve proximity among geometries.
Optical systems act as low-pass filters, removing high-spatial-frequency
components of the pattern; in lithography, it is often necessary to compensate for
this. The imaging of a diffraction grating under coherent illumination, discussed
in Chapter 2, provided an example of spatial filtering by optics. The lens collected
diffracted beams representing the low-spatial-frequency parts of the object, while
the aperture of the lens cut off beams from high spatial frequencies. Thus, the
lens, when forming the image, filters out the high-spatial-frequency components
of the object. A similar situation for incoherent imaging was also discussed in
Chapter 2, where the intensity of each spatial frequency was transferred from the
object to the image but was multiplied by the MTF. Because the MTF is always
≤1, decreases monotonically with increasing spatial frequency, and is zero above a
cutoff frequency, imaging with incoherent light also results in spatial filtering. As
might be expected, spatial filtering occurs when imaging with partially coherent
light, although the analysis is more complex.
Another set of corrections that are included under the rubric of OPC are the
adjustments made to the mask in order to compensate for the observable spatial
filterings when k1 becomes small. The most familiar of these involves the imaging
of contacts, where square patterns on the mask print as circles. Corners, which
represent high-spatial-frequency parts of geometries, are effectively filtered by the
optics. Small geometries called serifs have long been added to features on contact
masks (Fig. 8.14).23 Serifs, properly sized, are subresolution, and do not print with
fidelity. Rather, they modify the image of the contact, producing a pattern that
has more discernible corners than would be printed without them. This technique
does not have universal applicability. For example, it does not apply in situations
320 Chapter 8
Figure 8.14 Contacts on a reticle: (a) without serifs, and (b) with serifs.
where the spacing between contacts is already a minimum resolvable distance, and
additional layout effort is required to create the reticle where serifs have been added
to the contacts.
Serifs may be used for structures other than contacts in order to reduce corner
rounding. L-shaped features, such as shown in Fig. 8.15, may have serifs added
(dark and clear). In this case, a clear serif is often referred to as a notch. An example
will be shown later that illustrates the need to correct corner rounding in order to
maintain gate linewidth control over active regions. As with many techniques that
we now apply to semiconductor lithography, serifs were used to reduce corner
rounding much earlier in other applications.24 This simply illustrates the universal
nature of physics, since similar physical situations can arise across a diverse range
of technological applications.
Subresolution structures, such as serifs, have a significant impact on mask
making. When subresolution features were first introduced, they represented a
decrease in the minimum feature size on the masks much greater than the
usual 0.7× node-to-node reduction. Mask makers were required to improve their
resolution capabilities quickly. Fortunately, the linewidth control for subresolution
assist features is not as stringent as for critical features that print. The intentional
use of subresolution features also complicated the mask-inspection problem. Very
high resolution is needed to inspect subresolution features, but then a large number
of defects that don’t print are also detected, increasing the time for defect review.
Figure 8.15 An L-shaped structure without serifs. (b) The same L-shaped geometry with
serifs to reduce corner rounding.
This illustrates an advantage of mask-defect inspection systems that are based on

the aerial image.
Subresolution features are used to solve other optical lithography issues in
addition to corner rounding.25 For example, off-axis illumination is a powerful
method that is used to enhance the patterning of periodic structures, but it
provides no benefit for isolated lines. By adding subresolution features, such as
the scattering bars shown in Fig. 8.16, on the same pitch as dense features that
are on the same reticle, the patterning of the isolated lines can benefit from the
off-axis illumination.26 When properly designed, these scattering bars do not print.
The subresolution features shown in Fig. 8.16 are sometimes referred to as assist
features27 or subresolution assist features (SRAF). Subresolution features will also
reduce iso-dense bias.28
Another issue that arises when k1 becomes small is line shortening,29 where a
rectangle whose width W is printed to size but has a length L that prints too short
(Fig. 8.17). Where there is room, rectangles can be biased longer on the reticle to
give printed features the desired length. Compensation may also be required for
corner rounding30 for geometries other than contacts. Hammerheads (Fig. 8.18)
can be added to mask patterns to compensate for both line shortening and corner
rounding. In closely packed circuits, such as memories, there is often insufficient
room for biasing, and other techniques may be required, such as those techniques
discussed below.
For large-k1 lithography, mask and design patterns could be the same, in order to
produce an equivalent result on the wafer. With k1 < 0.5, the mask pattern needs to
be changed in order to get the designed patterns on the wafers. These adjustments
to the mask are also referred to as optical proximity corrections. However, there are
other effects that occur when k1 < 0.5 that limit the degree to which adjustments
Figure 8.16 Subresolution scattering bars applied to isolated lines.

322 Chapter 8
(a) (b)
Figure 8.17 Line-end shortening (a) on the mask, and (b) on the wafer. The width of the
rectangle is printed to size, but the length is too short.
Figure 8.18 Hammerhead used to correct for line shortening and corner rounding.
can be made. One of the most significant of these effects, the mask-error factor, is
the topic of the next section.
An example of the application of optical proximity corrections is shown in
Fig. 8.19. Without OPC, several problems can be seen. Resist linewidths for
dissimilar pitches are different, even though the widths are the same on the
mask. When patterning transistors, this leads to devices with different electrical
characteristics. Without OPC, the ends of lines do not extend as long as desired,
which is the problem illustrated in Fig. 8.17. As narrow lines approach pad areas,
the linewidths expand gradually in the resist patterns, not abruptly as in the mask
layout. Compensation for this rounding is needed by using notches to ensure good
gate linewidth control over the active regions. Finally, the corners of the large pad
areas are rounded—a loss of pattern fidelity and desired edge placement. These
problems are seen in the resist patterns of Fig. 8.19(b).
All of these problems can be improved by modifying the patterns on the masks
with optical proximity corrections, as shown in Fig. 8.19(c). By changing feature
sizes on the masks, gate linewidths are adjusted to match transistors on different
Figure 8.19 Example of optical proximity corrections (OPC).31 (a) An uncorrected pattern,
and (b) the resulting pattern in resist. The corrected mask pattern is found in (c), with the
resulting resist pattern in (d). The SEM images are not on the same scale. The transition of
features from narrow lines to large pads does not occur abruptly as in the design. Without
OPC this results in substantial variation in the length of the gate over the active regions.
pitches, and serifs and hammerheads are added to address the problem of line-
end shortening and corner rounding. Notches are introduced to reduce the problem
of necking, where linewidths change gradually between narrow lines and large
patterns at the ends of the lines.
Implementation of optical proximity corrections is a major task for advanced
semiconductor lithography. This is a phenomenon that is associated with low-k1
lithography, as noted in the introduction to this section. Very little or no OPC
engineering was necessary prior to the 250-nm generation, although it required
the most engineering resources of any single aspect of lithography development
324 Chapter 8
inside semiconductor companies by the 130-nm generation. Early approaches to

OPC, such as those applied to 180-nm technology, were typically rule-based. In
this type of implementation, iso-dense bias corrections, line extensions, and serifs
were applied to features based on a set of rules for each type of feature. As
k1 values became smaller, more sophisticated methods became necessary. While
the concepts of optical proximity correction, as presented in this section, are
reasonably straightforward, their reliable application to ultra-large-scale integrated
circuits is by no means trivial.
Feature biasing and added assist features such as serifs or subresolution features
not only affect a particular feature of interest, they also modulate the images of
nearby geometries. Thus, there is a need to compute optical proximity corrections
based on optical models, and OPC solutions must necessarily be global in nature.
This model-based OPC implies a formidable computation challenge for highly
integrated parts. For example, consider AMD’s “Shanghai” quad-core 64-bit
WindowsTM -compatible microprocessor. This chip has ∼758 million transistors,
and it is necessary to determine the optical proximity corrections for every single
transistor. Of these 758 million transistors, a significant number are in cache
memory, where the proximity corrections can largely be repeated cell-to-cell, but
there are also tens of millions of transistors of random logic that require correction.
For such large numbers of features, automation is required for the application of
OPC. The software for this automation must be very reliable, since correcting
errors on even a small fraction of the features is a major task.
Optical proximity corrections are determined by first calculating the aerial
images for all features on the mask. This requires very efficient algorithms. Once
the aerial images are calculated, adjustments are made for resist effects such as
the diffusion and chemical reactions that take place during post-exposure bake.
The physics of this step, while conceptually comprehensible, are very complex,
as discussed in Chapter 4. First, bases are typically added to chemically amplified
resists, so there are at least two diffusing components: the base and the photoacid.
Second, the diffusivities of these moieties depend upon the density of the polymer
matrix, and this density is a complex function of the amount of deprotection that
has already occurred at the time of interest as well as the thermal history of the
resist. This means that the diffusivity is a function of position since the amount of
deprotection varies according to the amount of exposure, and it is also a function of
bake time. There are multiple chemical reactions that must be considered as well,
such as deprotection and acid-base neutralization. The result of this complexity
has been difficulty in identifying models of sufficient accuracy, yet simple enough
to be readily applied. Because there are no easily implemented models based on
first principles for the post-exposure bake step for chemically amplified resists,
these adjustments for resist effects are typically based on measurements.32 Even
though these resist effects are nonoptical in nature, adjustments made on the mask
to compensate for them are still referred to as part of the OPC, by convention.
As optics are extended to very large numerical apertures, optical simulations
must be of increasing sophistication. For numerical apertures greater than 1.0,
vector models that take into account topography and polarization-dependent
reflection and refraction at the reticle and wafer are required in order to achieve
good accuracy. Such models can be applied to small areas (∼1 µm × 1 µm), but
application to full chips is beyond current cost-effective computational capabilities.
Thus, approximation methods are needed.
Adding to the OPC challenge is the need to maximize process windows. The
optimum illumination condition can be determined for a given mask pattern, but a
different illumination condition may prove optimal after applying optical proximity
corrections. Thus, adjusted optical proximity corrections must be calculated with
the newly determined optimum illumination condition. This is often an iterative
process. An illumination that appears to give a good process window is identified,
and the optical proximity corrections are calculated. The illumination is then
reassessed, and possibly adjusted to provide a larger process window. Then the
OPC needs to be recalculated. This process is repeated until solutions converge.
OPC introduces additional complexities in design databases. In a memory array,
the memory cells are identically designed. This allows for compression of the data
through a hierarchical structure, where memory arrays may be stored compactly
as a basic cell along with its repetitive layout. After OPC is applied, the cells on
the outside of the arrays do not have the same reticle layout as the inner cells.
This perturbs the hierarchy and results in much larger data sets that can be many
gigabytes in size.
Optical proximity corrections are implemented by moving edges of features, or
parts of edges, on masks. To do this, the edges of the polygons that comprise the
mask pattern must be divided into smaller fragments, each of which can potentially
be moved. An example of this is shown in Fig. 8.20. Even within the framework of
model-based OPC, assignment of the fragments is often based upon a set of rules.
How finely designs are fragmented will affect how much computation time
is required when using software that moves edges according to the layout
fragmentation. Fragmentation that is too fine can lead to an unacceptably long
computational time and perhaps even numerical instabilities, while fragmentation,
which is too coarse, will not treat corners adequately. However, efficient
Figure 8.20 An example showing pattern fragmentation. The line between each dot is an
edge that can be moved.
326 Chapter 8
computational methods have been developed that enable optical proximity

corrections to be calculated on a very fine and uniform grid.33 Sometimes the
improvement in computational time can be accomplished through the use of
hardware acceleration.34,35 Optical proximity corrections calculated on a very fine
grid are sometimes referred to as dense OPC or gridded OPC, to be distinguished
from sparse OPC. Dense OPC enables calculations without specifying the
fragmentation first, but there remains a need for reducing the mask layout to
rectangles with established vertices, because a physical mask needs to be made
at some point. Fragmenting at a very fine level will increase the number of
geometries, which can increase the time and cost for making reticles, often
substantially. Hence, there is a practical reason to balance how finely OPC is
applied with mask complexity. Adjustments should be made only to the extent
that adequate patterning results.
In model-based OPC the errors in the placement of the printed edges [edge-
placement error (EPE)] are calculated using a lithographic model, once features
have been fragmented. Edges of the features on the mask are moved according to
the computed error, and the edge-placement error is recomputed. This process is
repeated until the edge-placement errors are less than some preassigned value. This
value is determined by the combination of linewidth-control requirements, inherent
model accuracies, and computational errors. Solutions that may be optimal at best
dose and focus may not be useful, because adequate printing is not obtained over
the entire process window. Consequently, optical proximity corrections need to be
calculated throughout the range of potential process conditions for processes with
very small process windows.36
OPC continues to be an area of active research and development. There are a
number of companies that provide products and/or services to assist lithographers
with OPC. Because of the number of unresolved problems, some of which are
discussed above, turnkey solutions are not provided. OPC software should be
considered as a powerful engineering tool, but lithography engineers are still
required to create working solutions. This is analogous to a word processor, which
facilitates writing, but the author’s creativity is still required. As chip designs
become more complex and linewidth-control requirements tighten, computational
methods with increased efficiency are needed, even as it becomes necessary to
account for new effects, such as polarization. Resolution-enhancing techniques,
such as phase-shifting masks (to be discussed shortly), must be implemented as
part of mask generation, of which optical proximity corrections are an integral
part. OPC has become a core element of semiconductor lithography.
8.3 The Mask-Error Factor

One of the consequences of the nonlinear printing of features near the diffraction
limit is a change in the magnitude by which mask linewidth errors are reduced by
lens reduction.37 What can be inferred from the data in Fig. 8.13 is that variations
in linewidths about their nominal size are not reduced by the lens-reduction factor
when k1 gets small. For a set of features of the same designed size, if σreticle is the
variation in these linewidths on the reticle, and σwafer is the corresponding variation
of linewidths on the wafer, then
MEF
σwafer = σreticle , (8.9)
N
where N is the lens-reduction factor and MEF is the mask-error factor, defined by
the following:
∂CDwafer
MEF = N , (8.10)
∂CDmask
where CDwafer is the dimension on the wafer corresponding to a feature of size

CDmask on the mask. For large features, MEF = 1, but the MEF becomes bigger
when k1 is small. As lithography is pushed to the diffraction limit, the mask-error
factor becomes larger. For leading-edge lithographic processes, MEFs as large as
four or greater are common. For mask-error factors equal to 4, reticle linewidth
variations transfer 1:1 on 4×-reduction exposure tools. The entire benefit of lens
reduction, to reduce the impact of reticle variations on wafer linewidth control,
is completely absent. Without significant improvements in mask fabrication, mask
linewidth variations consume increasing proportions of the wafer linewidth-control
budget.
The characteristics of the MEF can be better understood by considering the
imaging of a diffraction grating with incoherent light near the diffraction limit.
In this case the image is given by the first two terms of the Fourier series expansion
of the mask pattern, which is a generalization of Eq. (2.13) to gratings of unequal
lines and spaces:39
" ! !#
CDret 2MT F πCDret 2πN x
I (x) = I0 + sin cos , (8.11)
Pret π Pret Pret
where CDret and Pret are the sizes of the line and pitch on the reticle, respectively,
x measures distance in the wafer plane, and N is the lens reduction. MTF is the
modulation transfer function for spatial frequency equal to the pitch of the grating.
The grating is symmetric about x = 0. When CDret is close to one-half the pitch, the
sine prefactor in Eq. (8.11) is approximately equal to 1.0 and varies little for small
variations in CDret about its nominal value, while the prior term varies linearly with
the mask dimension. If a resist edge x0 corresponds to a threshold exposure dose,
then
" ! !#
CDret 2MT F πCDret 2πN x0
Ithreshold = I0 + sin cos . (8.12)
Pret π Pret Pret
Differentiating Eq. (8.12) with respect to CDret , one obtains

328 Chapter 8
! !
πCDret 2πN x0
0 = 1 + 2MT F cos cos
Pret Pret
∂ x0
! !
πCDret 2πN x0
− 2MT F sin sin 2N . (8.13)
Pret Pret ∂CDret
Recognizing that the dimension of the feature on the wafer is 2x0 , then
∂ x0
MEF = 2N . (8.14)
∂CDret
Consequently,

1
MT F+ 2 cos2 πCD ret
Pret
MEF = . (8.15)
2 πCDret
2 sin Pret
A plot of Eq. (8.15) illustrated in Fig. 8.21 enables us to gain some insight into
the mask-error factor. The mask-error factor is a minimum when the linewidth is
exactly one half of the pitch. Away from this condition, either the line or the space
becomes smaller. It should be noted that the approximations in the above analysis
break down when the linewidth departs far from one half of the pitch. In fact, the
MEF for an isolated line is typically smaller than for equally sized dense lines.
This has a consequence for implementing optical proximity corrections, because
isolated lines have lower MEF than similar lines with scattering bars (Fig. 8.16).37
The optimum process then depends upon photomask quality since the benefits
of scattering bars may be offset by linewidth variations from the photomask.
Near the diffraction limit, contacts have ∼2× the mask-error factor of lines and
spaces of similar width. The mask-error factor is another parameter that must be
considered when optimizing a process since some combinations of mask layout
and illumination can provide very good exposure latitude and depth-of-focus, but
may be very sensitive to small changes in mask linewidth. Overall process control
Figure 8.21 Graph of Eq. (8.15) with MTF = 0.5. The mask-error factor is minimized when
the linewidth is one half of the pitch.39
depends on the contributions from the mask and sensitivities to mask linewidth
variation depend on the mask-error factor.
The mask-error factor is related to the image log slope. Consider the aerial image
for a pattern consisting of lines perpendicular to the x axis. The intensity for this
image is a function of x and also is a function of the reticle dimension, CDret :
I = I(x, CDret ). (8.16)
Variations in the mask CD from its nominal value CDret,0 will cause a change in the
position x0 of the edge of the resist feature. In the context of the thin-resist model,
these changes all occur at constant threshold intensity Ith . Accordingly,
∂ I ∂ I

dI(x, CDret ) = δx + δCDret (8.17)
∂ x x0 ∂CDret CDret,0

= dIth (8.18)
= 0. (8.19)
With suitable rearrangement, the use of Eq. (8.10), which defines the mask-error
factor, and the fact that the wafer CD is 2x0 we obtain40
!−1
∂I ∂I
MEF = −2N (8.20)
∂CDret ∂ x
∂I
! ! !
2N 1
=− . (8.21)
Ith ∂CDret ILS
Once again, it can be seen that a process is more robust when there is a large image
log slope.
As discussed previously, dimensions on the reticle can be resized through design
to adjust for nonlinearity in printing. This works to the extent that features are
sized perfectly on the reticle. With mask-error factors considerably larger than
one, optical proximity corrections are much more difficult to make. Small changes
in linewidth on the reticles will cause large changes of linewidth on the wafers
when the mask-error factor is large. The mask-error factor affects the precision
with which optical proximity corrections can be applied. Consider a 45-nm process
that has a 2-nm bias between isolated and dense lines (on the wafer), printed on
a 4×-reduction exposure tool. For MEF = 1, the linewidths on the photomasks
would need to be adjusted by 8 nm to correct for the isolated-dense bias, while
2-nm adjustments would be needed for MEF = 4. To achieve the desired level of
control, the mask would need to be written on a much finer grid. Depending upon
the architecture of the mask-writing tool, this could greatly increase mask-writing
time and therefore reticle cost.
The mask-error factor has a significant impact on reticle costs. As long as
the MEF = 1, it was necessary for improvements in reticle-linewidth control to
scale directly to the minimum feature size, in order to hold constant the reticle
330 Chapter 8
contributions to wafer-linewidth variations. It has proven to be a challenge for mask

makers to keep pace with decreases in minimum feature sizes that have historically
changed at a rate of −11% per year. The challenge is now much greater,38 since
mask-error factors as large as four or greater are now often encountered. For mask-
linewidth variations to result in a constant linewidth variation (as a percentage
of the critical dimension) on the wafer, multiple improvements in the quality of
photomasks are required. To the degree that this is technically feasible, it still
comes with a cost. Alternatively, phase-shifting masks can be used, which can
reduce the impact of reticle-linewidth variations considerably.41 Phase-shifting
masks are discussed in the next section.
8.4 Phase-Shifting Masks

Another method for addressing the resolution limits imposed by diffraction is phase
shifting. While there are now many types of phase-shifting masks, they all employ
the same basic concept, which is well illustrated by the original version introduced
by Levenson, Viswanathan, and Simpson,42 and a similar form is used here, in its
contemporary embodiment, to introduce the subject. Consider a grating imaged
optically using a lens with a particular numerical aperture and partial coherence.
Imaging is degraded because light from a clear area on the mask is diffracted into
regions that ideally are completely dark (Fig. 8.22). The nominally dark regions
have light diffracted into them from the spaces on both the left and right. The
idea behind the alternating phase-shifting mask is to modify the reticle so that
alternating clear regions cause the light to be phase shifted 180 deg (Fig. 8.23).
This is accomplished by recessing the mask substrate by a small amount in the
alternating clear regions. With a suitably chosen depth, the light passing through
the recessed region will have a 180-deg phase difference from the light that is
transmitted through the regions that are not recessed. As a consequence, the light
diffracted into the nominally dark area from the clear area to the left of the dark
feature destructively interferes with the light diffracted from the right clear area.
This improves image contrast relative to non-phase-shifted masks, as shown in
Fig. 8.24. Interference is more effective with a high degree of coherence.43 All
phase-shifting masks employ this same basic characteristic, where the destructive
interference of light of opposite phases is used to improve image contrast.
Figure 8.22 The degradation of image contrast because of diffraction.

Figure 8.23 Conventional binary chrome-on-glass reticle and alternating, or Levenson-

type, phase-shifting mask.
Figure 8.24 Simulated light-intensity distributions of a 400-nm pitch grating with equal
lines and spaces, imaged with 0.5-NA optics at a wavelength of 248 nm. For the binary
mask image, σ = 0.6, while σ = 0.3 for the alternating phase-shifting image.
Light that travels the distance a in air changes phase by
2π
φa = a, (8.22)
λ
where λ is the wavelength of the light in vacuum. Through the glass material of the
substrate the phase changes by an amount
2π
φn = na, (8.23)
λ
where n is the index of refraction of the mask substrate.

332 Chapter 8
The difference in phase shifting caused by the phase shifter is then
2π
∆φ = a (n − 1) . (8.24)
λ
To achieve the condition ∆φ = 180 deg = π rad, we have the following relationship
for the thickness a of the phase-shifting layer:
λ
a= . (8.25)
2 (n − 1)
There are a number of problems with the alternating phase-shift mask. First,
additional work is required in order to apply it to anything other than an effectively
infinite grating. For example, consider what happens at the edge of a phase
shifter, which must exist if the product consists of anything more than completely
repetitive structures. This can lead to the situation where there is a transition in the
glass from 0 to 180 deg. The light from the clear 0-deg and clear 180-deg adjacent
areas will interfere destructively, resulting in the light-intensity profile shown in
Fig. 8.25.
Such an optical image prints into photoresist (see Fig. 8.26). Implementation
of alternating phase-shifting masks must deal with these edge shifters. Three
approaches have been taken. In the first, additional features are introduced between
the 0 and 180-deg phase areas to produce phase edges of 180 deg, which do
not print. For example, transitions can be made 0 deg → 60 deg, 60 deg →
120 deg, and 120 deg → 180 deg. Generating these additional phases on the
mask requires additional processing for mask fabrication, and there may not be
adequate space to accommodate all of these transitions on masks with very tight
pitches. Alternatively, a second mask can be used to expose the phase edges away.
Neither approach is completely satisfactory. The first method requires additional
Figure 8.25 Light-intensity distribution at a phase edge for coherent light. X = 2πNAx/λ,
where x is the physical distance from the phase edge measured in the same units as λ. The
phase edge occurs at X = 0. The derivation of the function graphed in this figure is given
below.
Figure 8.26 On the left, extra resist printed by the phase edge for a positive photoresist.
The right side of the figure shows what occurs with negative resist. In this idealized diagram,
issues that may exist, such as line shortening and corner rounding, are not indicated.
steps in the reticle fabrication process and is not applicable to very tight pitches,
while the second reduces stepper productivity. In all cases, mask design and layout
is complex. However, the improved capabilities that result from the alternating
phase-shift–type of mask may justify these additional processing steps.
A third approach involves the use of negative photoresist. As one can see from
Fig. 8.26, creating islands of resist using negative resist and phase-shifting masks
avoids the phase-edge problem. This is one of the reasons that negative resists are
again being used for leading-edge lithography.
The printed patterns shown in Figs. 8.25 and 8.26 can be understood as
follows.44 As discussed in Chapter 2, the image of a diffraction-limited lens for
coherent illumination can be obtained from the Fourier transform of the mask
pattern. In the case of the phase edge, the mask pattern has unit intensity, but half
of the pattern has a phase 180 deg (π rad) different from the other half. For this
situation, this transmission is given by
T (x) = 1 for x < 1

(8.26)
=e iπ
for x > 1.
For coherent light, the intensity for this pattern is given by

!
4 2 2πNAx
I(x) = 2 Si , (8.27)
π λ
where the sine integral is defined as

Z θ
sin(z)
Si(θ) = dz. (8.28)
0 z
334 Chapter 8
From Eq. (8.27), one can estimate that the width of the aerial image at a 0.25
intensity is approximately
λ
width = 0.25 . (8.29)
NA
The prefactor of 0.25 in Eq. (8.29) should be compared with the prefactors in
Eqs. (2.4) and (2.7). With the phase edge, one can obtain over a 50% reduction in
the size of a printable feature, compared to non-phase-shifted imaging. Phase-edge
photomasks can be used to delineate extremely narrow lines,45 such as gates and
interconnects.
Phase-shifting masks address the problem of the mask-error factor.46 Shown
in Fig. 8.27 are simulated isolated linewidths as a function of chrome size on an
alternating phase-shifting mask. For small features, the linewidth on the wafer
actually becomes insensitive to the chrome linewidth on the mask, as the object
begins to resemble a phase edge. In this instance, the mask-error factor can actually
be less than 1.0.
One of the problems of a phase-shifting mask with the construction shown in
Fig. 8.23 is the potential for the phase shifter to affect light amplitude as well
as phase. This difficulty is shown in Fig. 8.28. This may occur as a consequence
of etching-induced roughness or three-dimensional optical effects. The resulting
line asymmetry can be characterized and corrected by OPC to maintain linewidth
uniformity. Linewidth size errors may also occur if the phase shifting is different
from 180 deg, which places requirements on the glass-etch process.
Phase edges provide very high resolution, but they have a number of
deficiencies, which limit their applicability. Like alternating phase-shifting
lithography, applying phase-edge lithography to real patterns leads to unwanted
features that must be eliminated by means of a second exposure. It is also difficult
Figure 8.27 The wafer dimension as a function of reticle dimension for an alternating
phase-shifting mask. These results were simulated using PROLITH2, assuming a numerical
aperture of 0.7, best focus, and an imaging wavelength of 193 nm. The feature on the reticle
was an isolated line of chrome. A 30% threshold of the aerial image was used to generate
the wafer dimension.
Figure 8.28 Calculated KrF images for an alternating phase-shifted mask for 250-nm lines
and spaces, assuming 80-nm-thick chromium. The reduced intensity for the light going
through the recessed glass is apparent in the intensities calculated assuming 0.6 NA and
σ = 0.5.47
to modulate the linewidth in a controlled way, such as through adjustment of

chrome widths on the mask. An approach to phase shifting that addresses these
deficiencies of phase-edge lithography is chromeless phase-shifting lithography
(CPL), which uses two phase edges to produce a single line in resist, instead of just
one phase edge. This type of lithography has also been referred to as chromeless
mask (CLM) lithography. It is illustrated in Fig. 8.29, where aerial images are
shown for pairs of phase edges. As the phase edges are moved closer together, a
single line is formed. The width of this line can be modulated by adjusting the
separation between the phase edges. It can be seen that very small features can be
produced by this technique.
CPL did not appear very promising from early studies.44 The degree of
enhancement over binary masks was small, and the width printed on the wafer
was as much as two times larger than the nominal mask dimension (divided by
the lens reduction). This latter deficiency was found to be reduced substantially
when larger numerical apertures (NA ≥ 0.85) were used.48 The small resolution
enhancement was addressed by the use of off-axis illumination.
With CPL, a line in resist can be formed by the phase sequence of 0/180/0
deg, which avoids the problem of phase assignment and extraneous phase edges.
Consequently, with CPL it is possible to expose layers with only one single mask, a
considerable advantage over other methods for implementing strong phase shifting.
There are also challenges associated with chromeless phase-shifting lithography.
Mask patterns formed entirely from glass can have defects that are more difficult to
detect and repair than patterns constructed from chrome or other opaque materials.
The formation of large features also requires additional work. For example, large
features can be formed from arrays of phase edges. Alternatively, chrome can be
used on the mask for large features, while pairs of phase edges can be used for
narrow lines.49 This latter approach requires multiple patterning and etch steps
336 Chapter 8
Figure 8.29 CPL example. Shown are calculated aerial images, assuming a 0.75-NA ArF
exposure tool with quadrupole illumination (0.55 σinner , 0.85 σouter ). The dimensions are at the
wafer.
when making the mask, but it does simplify design, layout, and OPC. There are
also strong optical proximity corrections required with CPL, and these will be
different, in general, from the corrections required with other types of masks.50
An example of considerable line-end shortening observed with the use of CPL is
shown in Fig. 8.30.
CPL exhibits considerable variations in linewidths and mask-error factors as
a function of pitch,51,52 which requires substantial optical proximity corrections;
Figure 8.30 Line-end shortening with CPL.48 A 0.7-NA KrF scanner with quadrupole
illumination was used for exposing the wafer.
in this respect, it less advantageous than alternating phase shifting. However,

the superior throughput, due to the need for only a single exposure, is a strong
advantage of CPL. When contemplating the use of CPL, the existence of patents
related to this technology should be taken into consideration.53
In addition to chromeless and alternating phase-shifting masks, several other
versions of phase-shifting masks have been introduced, and the most common ones
are listed in Table 8.2. One of these, the edge shifter, was just discussed, where it
was seen as an undesirable complication for applying the alternating phase-shifting
mask, and a powerful method for printing isolated lines. The rim-shift phase-
shifting mask54 was developed to address the problem of overlay in the mask-
fabrication process through the creation of a self-aligned phase-shifting structure.
This is illustrated in Fig. 8.31(a). In the fabrication of the rim shifter, the reticle
is patterned with resist, and the phase-shifting material is etched anisotropically.
Then the chrome is etched so it undercuts the phase-shifting material. Among the
issues are rim-size optimization and sensitivities for print biases, slope in the light-
intensity profile, and side-lobe intensities,55 leading back to reticle-fabrication
concerns.
Outrigger phase-shifting masks 56 [Fig. 8.31(b)] involve an approach that
requires some degree of overlay between the step that patterns the chrome and
the step that patterns the phase shifter, but in a mode where the edge of the phase
shifter is placed on chrome, as in the case of the alternating phase-shifting mask.
These types of masks are considered hybrids between phase-shifting masks and
optical proximity corrections of the type discussed in the preceding section.
An extremely attractive type of phase-shifting mask, from the perspective of
mask fabrication, is the attenuated phase-shifting mask. 57,58 In this type of mask,
the nonclear areas are partially transmitting. This can be achieved, for example,
with thin layers of chrome. Other materials, such as CrO, CrON, MoSiO, and
MoSiON,59,60 have also been used. Optical superlattices have also been tried.61
With suitable processing, one can achieve 180-deg phase difference between the
Table 8.2 Types of phase-shifting masks.
Type of phase-shifting mask Alternate names Category Applicable situations
Alternating Levenson strong grouped lines and spaces
Chromeless Chromeless phase-shifting strong lines and spaces, contacts51

lithography (CPL),
chromeless mask lithography
(CLM)
Rim-shift — weak contacts, isolated features
Attenuated leaky chrome, half tone, weak contacts, isolated features
embedded
Phase-edge chromeless, unattenuated strong narrow lines
Outrigger subresolution, additional weak isolated features
aperture
Vortex — strong contacts
338 Chapter 8
Figure 8.31 (a) A rim-shift phase-shifting mask, and (b) an outrigger phase-shifting mask.
clear and nonclear areas, sometimes with an etch of the quartz to an appropriate
depth.
The partial transmission of the nonclear areas is a problem with this type of
mask. For example, the threshold exposure dose for significant resist loss must
be less than the amount of light that “leaks” through. An optimization of the
normalized slope of the aerial image may have unacceptable levels of light in
nominally “dark” areas of the mask (Fig. 8.32). This places requirements on the
resist and on the transmittance of the partially transmitting areas on the reticle.
The attenuated phase-shifting mask is attractive because it can be used in a single
exposure step, and is relatively easy to fabricate. It is particularly useful for
patterning contacts.
Another phase-shifting method that has been proposed for printing contacts and
vias is the optical vortex, illustrated in Fig. 8.33.62 A very dark spot is created at
the intersection of all four phases. Using this type of mask and negative resists, it is
possible to print small contacts and vias, with the virtue of having a low mask-error
Figure 8.32 Light-intensity distributions from an attenuated phase-shifting mask,

calculated with PROLITH2 for various levels of transmission through the “leaky chrome.”
(a)
(b)
Figure 8.33 Vortex layout for printing an array of contacts using phase shifters of 0, 90,
180, and 270 deg. (a) A maskless implementation, while in (b) an absorber on the mask is
added to control the contact diameters.
factor. Requiring four phases, the mask fabrication is more complicated than for a
two-phase mask.
As phase-shifting technology becomes more commonplace, a name is needed
for the conventional type of mask, which consists only of opaque areas (usually
chrome) and quartz or glass. Because conventional masks have only completely
clear or completely opaque areas, they are usually referred to as binary intensity
masks or chrome-on-glass (COG) masks.
Phase-shifting masks are also classified as strong or weak, according to their
ability to suppress the zeroth-order diffraction component, i.e., the extent to which
they produce two-beam imaging. This is seen in Fig. 8.24, where, without a phase-
shifting mask, zero intensity cannot be achieved at any point because of a zeroth-
order component background. Phase-shifting masks other than the alternating or
chromeless are less capable of eliminating the zeroth-order diffraction component.
The combination of rim-shifted and attenuated phase-shifting masks and off-axis
illumination has been found to be a powerful synergy,63,64 since each method is
only partially capable of reducing the zeroth-order light component by itself.
This can be seen from Eq. (8.3). For a mask pattern comprised of a grating with
equal lines and spaces (without phase shift),
1
ao = (8.30)
2
and
1
a1 = . (8.31)
π
340 Chapter 8
Because a0 > a1 , contrast is less than 1.0 (see Problem 8.1). The use of phase-
shifting masks can balance a0 and a1 , thereby increasing image contrast. This
can be understood as follows. With a binary mask the light amplitude varies
between zero and one. With an attenuated phase-shifting mask, this amplitude
varies between one and some negative value. The coefficient a0 is proportional
to the integral of the light amplitude. This is reduced with attenuated phase-
shifting masks, relative to binary masks, because the 0-deg phase-shifted light
is reduced in amplitude by the nonzero amount of 180-deg phase-shifted light.
Similarly, the coefficient a1 is proportional to the range of the amplitude, which
is greater for attenuated phase-shifting masks than for binary masks. In particular,
the combination of off-axis illumination with attenuated phase-shifting masks is
common. Chromeless phase-shifting lithography can be thought of as a variation
of attenuated phase shifting, with 100% transmission, and off-axis illumination is
typically used with this type of mask as well.48
From the preceding discussions, it is clear that a particular type of phase-
shifting mask or alternative illumination is applicable in specific situations but
not in others. For example, alternating phase-shifting masks are useful for dense
lines and spaces, but not for isolated contacts. Table 8.2 lists different types of
phase-shifting methods and the situations that result in enhanced lithographic
performance. Similarly, off-axis illumination was found to improve imaging of
dense lines and spaces, but not particularly useful for patterning isolated features.
FLEX improves the depth-of-focus for contacts, but not lines and spaces, and was
found to reduce ultimate contrast. This appears to be a general feature of many
newly developed methods for enhancing optical lithography: the improvement is
restricted to particular types of features; there is no “magic bullet.”
The fabrication of several types of phase-shifting masks requires additional
processing compared to what is necessary for making binary photomasks. In
particular, the alternating phase-shifting mask requires at least two patterning steps.
This introduces the need for overlay capability in the mask-making process. The
introduction of additional types of features on the reticles imposes new demands
on inspection capabilities. Such new requirements have significant effects with
respect to the capitalization required for making advanced photomasks. There are
also phase defects where either glass is etched in areas where it should not have
been, or glass may remain where it should have been etched. These glass-on-glass
phase defects are often more difficult to detect than defects formed from opaque
materials. Detection of phase defects is facilitated by inspection wavelengths close
to the stepper exposure wavelengths. This has motivated the development of new
generations of mask-defect-inspection tools with wavelengths close to 248 nm and
193 nm.
Attenuated phase-shifting masks are used extensively in manufacturing today.
Because they require little additional processing steps compared to binary masks,
they can be reasonably priced. Design issues typically revolve around the optical
proximity corrections that need to be optimized for the type of mask used.
As illustrated in Fig. 8.26, there are design challenges associated with
alternating phase shifting. In addition to the typical opaque or missing-chrome
defects found on binary masks, phase defects on phase-shifting masks present a

challenge to inspection, since these are glass defects on a background of glass.
The additional steps required for fabrication also result in masks that are more
expensive. As a consequence of all of these challenges, alternating phase-shifting
masks were not used extensively in volume manufacturing for a long time after the
concept was introduced. However, a reported instance of alternating phase-shifting
masks used for high-volume manufacturing demonstrated that the technical issues
could be overcome,65 and the use of alternating phase shifting became more
widespread.
8.5 Putting It All Together

All of the techniques in this chapter need to be considered when optimizing
a process. Lithography engineers must decide whether or not to use phase-
shifting masks, what type of illumination to use, and where to place subresolution
features. OPC must be applied, and the mask-error factor and other mask-related
considerations need to be kept in mind. To make matters more complicated, each of
these choices affects the others. Introduction of subresolution features will change
mask-error factors and print biases, requiring recalculation of optical proximity
corrections. The choice between binary and phase-shifting masks is a fundamental
decision, affecting all other factors.
Illumination optimization was discussed in the section on off-axis illumination.
The calculation of optical proximity corrections and optimum use of subresolution
features requires the assumption of particular illumination. However, after
determining the OPC and inserting subresolution features, the illumination may
require reoptimization. This may be an iterative process that proceeds until
convergence, or at least an adequate solution, is reached.
OPC and subresolution features represent changes to the mask that improve
lithographic capability. Just as there is a methodology for optimizing the
illumination, given a set of mask patterns, it is natural to ask if a similar
methodology can be constructed to optimize the mask. Better yet, can techniques
be developed that simultaneously optimize the source and mask, and avoid
iteration? Given the potential benefits of such a capability, there have been efforts
to develop the means for source-mask optimization (SMO).17,66
Source optimization is by far simpler than mask optimization or simultaneous
source-mask optimization. The general approach for source optimization has been
identified and was described in Section 8.1. A modestly sized set of features may
be used to determine this optimum (or at least near-optimum) illumination. Once
an optimized source is generated, it may be used for generating optical proximity
corrections using existing OPC software and infrastructure. There are software
tools available from several suppliers for source optimization, and engineers within
chip-making companies have developed their own software. Mask optimization is
another challenge altogether. By the very nature of mask optimization, software
must be capable of handling complete mask designs, which can easily contain
342 Chapter 8
hundreds of millions or billions of figures. Addressing this is a much bigger task

than source optimization based on a reduced set of features.
The idea of source-mask optimization is, to some extent, a reformulation of the
problem to be solved. With OPC one asks how the design layout can be modified
in generating the mask layout so that the printed image more closely matches the
desired design layout. The starting point is the design layout, and from that the
mask is modified and effectual illumination is sought to produce wafer patterns
that closely resemble what is desired. With source-mask optimization an attempt
is made to start with the desired layout on the wafer and then solve the inverse
problem of determining the mask and source. For this reason it is sometimes
referred to as inverse lithography technology. However, this is a subtle distinction
since the objective in all cases is to produce a desired pattern on the wafer by
appropriate choices of illumination and modifications of the mask patterns.
The results of attempts at solving this inverse problem have led to some
interesting results. Because the starting point at which OPC is applied is typically
the design layout, the resulting mask usually resembles the design layout, with
suitable resizings of features and the addition of serifs and subresolution assist
features. Even with these modifications, the original design is usually discernible.
Such is not always the case with inverse lithography, as shown in Fig. 8.34. In
this case, it is far from obvious from the mask design that the intent is to print
contacts in resist. As might be expected, the problem of mask inspection when
subresolution assist features are utilized only increases in difficulty when source-
mask optimization is used.
One approach to mask optimization has been to break the layout into pixels.
If the mask is a binary mask, then the optimization process consists of deciding
whether a pixel should be clear or an absorber.68,69 Others have successfully
implemented a pixel-based approach using chromeless phase-shifting masks.70–72
As might be expected, there are many mask-making challenges associated with a
pixelated mask approach.73
Another approach to addressing the situation where k1 is very small is to
eliminate features from the design that are fundamentally difficult to print. For
example, dipole illumination can enable patterning to values of k1 < 0.28, but only
for lines in a single orientation and for very specific pitches. To alter the design
to be more lithographically friendly, the design might be changed so that all of
Figure 8.34 Design layout and mask design of a contact layer, resulting from applying
inverse lithography techniques.67 In both cases the black areas represent the design
features, namely the contacts or the clear areas on the mask.
the critical lines on a given masking layer are oriented in the same direction.74
This approach to making designs more printable is often referred to as design
for manufacturability (DFM). This approach does increase the complexity of
developing new processes, since it requires a greater level of interaction between
lithographers and designers. However, the benefits are such that all companies
making leading-edge integrated circuits use some level of DFM.
The use of resolution-enhancement techniques enables the extension of optical
lithography to processes with values of k1 much smaller than thought possible
before the introduction of these methods. For the reader interested in early studies
of resolution enhancement, many of the original papers on these techniques
have been collected by Schellenberg.75 Since the initial pioneering work,
resolution-enhancement techniques have become a core component of lithographic
technology. How far optical lithography can be extended by the use of these
techniques will be discussed in Chapter 10.
Problems
8.1 Referring to Eq. (8.3), show that a0 = a1 is required to achieve an optical
contrast of 1.0.
8.2 For dipole illumination, show that the optimum value for σ = 1/4k1 . If the
maximum σ available on a scanner’s illuminator is 0.8, what is the minimum
k1 that can be imaged with dipole illumination? For σ = 0.9?
8.3 The index of refraction of fused silica is 1.51 at a wavelength of 248.4 nm, and
n = 1.56 at a wavelength of 193.4 nm. For KrF and ArF lithography, show that
the fused silica should be recessed 243 nm and 172 nm, respectively, in order
to achieve 180-deg phase shifting on an alternating phase-shifting mask.
8.4 If we want to control the phase shift on an alternating phase-shifting mask for
ArF lithography to ±2 deg, show that the etch depth in the recessed areas of
the mask must be controlled to ±1.9 nm.
8.5 Show that the width of the image of a phase edge is 36 nm for an ArF lens
with NA = 1.35. (Numerical apertures greater than one are discussed in
Chapter 10.)
References
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annular illumination,” Proc. SPIE 1927, 137–157 (1993).
2. K. Tounai, S. Hashimoto, S. Shiraki, and K. Kasama, “Optimization of
modified illumination for 0.25-µm resist patterning,” Proc. SPIE 2197, 31–41
(1994).
344 Chapter 8
3. T. Brunner, “Impact of lens aberrations on optical lithography,” IBM J. Res.

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4. G. O. Reynolds, “A concept for a high resolution, optical lithographic system
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346 Chapter 8
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348 Chapter 8
superlattices as phase-shift masks for microlithography,” Proc. SPIE 3790,

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Chapter 9
Metrology
Measurement is required for developing lithographic processes and is fundamental
to engineering and manufacturing control. The problem of accurate measurement
is particularly significant for lithographers, where the extremely small features of
state-of-the art processes have pushed measurement capabilities to their limits, and,
some might say, beyond. Some of the metrology issues and challenges faced by
lithographers are discussed in this chapter.
9.1 Linewidth Measurement

A number of methods have been used to measure the dimensions of resist
lines, as well as spaces and holes in resist. Optical methods were used in
the earliest days of the semiconductor industry, but were replaced by 1990 by
scanning electron microscopes as the primary tools for linewidth measurement.
Consequently, these early types of optical methods are not discussed further in this
book. However, for linewidth measurement, optical methods have returned in a new
form, scatterometry, and this technique is discussed. A number of other methods
for measuring linewidths are used in critical, specialized applications, and one of
these, electrical linewidth measurement, is also included for discussion.
9.1.1 Linewidth measurement using scanning electron microscopes

The most common tool for measuring linewidths is the scanning electron
microscope (SEM). Low-voltage SEMs are capable of measuring resist features
in line. In the scanning electron microscope, electron beams are scanned across
patterns on wafers. The voltage of the electron beams ranges from a few hundred
volts to tens of thousands of volts. For measuring resist features, a typical
range is 300–1000 volts. The incident beam is scattered, both elastically and
inelastically, producing secondary and backscattered electrons.1,2 By commonly
accepted definition, secondary electrons are those with energy less than 50 eV,
while the backscattered electrons are those with energies closer to that of the
incident beam. The secondary electrons created by inelastic scattering or the
elastically backscattered electrons are detected synchronously with the scan of
the incident beam (Fig. 9.1). Because the number and direction of the scattered
electrons depend upon the material composition and topography of the features
352 Chapter 9
Figure 9.1 Cross-sectional schematic view of a scanning electron microscope.
over which the incident beam is scanned, the intensity of the detected signal varies
so that an image can be created.
As the incident beam is scanned across a line, the detected signal varies.
Algorithms are required to relate the edges of the line to points on the curve of
intensity plotted as a function of position, and these algorithms do not always
provide complete accuracy. An idealized signal at the edge of a feature is shown
in Fig. 9.2. A mathematical algorithm is required to identify a point on the signal
profile to represent the edge of the line. A number of edge-detection methods are
used.3 The simplest algorithm uses a threshold value for identifying this point:
threshold level = (1 − P) × minimum + (P) × maximum, (9.1)
where P is a value between 0 and 1, typically in the neighborhood of 0.5.

Other methods for establishing line-edge position include use of maximum slopes,
inflection points, linear approximations, minima, or maxima.
Secondary and backscattered electron emissions are proportional to slopes of
features, typically varying as 1/ cos(θ) (Fig. 9.3).4 Steep slopes appear “bright” in
scanning electron microscopes. Consequently, the signal depends upon the slope of
the feature, something that changes easily with stepper defocus and other process
variations for resist features, and variations in etch processes change the slopes
of etched features. By measuring linewidths and slopes from cross sections and
comparing these results to in-line SEM measurements, a careful study found that
measurements of 180–250-nm lines vary by as much as 10 nm per degree change
in line-edge slope (Fig. 9.4).5
Metrology 353
Figure 9.2 The electron signal corresponding to one edge of a feature being measured
by a scanning electron microscope. Several attributes of the feature are potentially used to
infer the location of the edge of the feature.
Figure 9.3 (a) Slope of a feature being measured, and (b) the secondary electron
production as a function of this slope.
Figure 9.4 Top-down SEM measurements versus measurements from cross sections of
the same etched polysilicon features.5 Measurement error bars are not shown.
354 Chapter 9
Sample charging, another problem associated with SEM linewidth

measurements, is a particularly significant problem for measuring photoresist.
Consider an electron beam focused on a homogeneous substrate. At low-incident-
beam voltages more electrons are introduced into the sample than are emitted in the
form of secondary and backscattered electrons. As the beam voltage is increased,
this balance changes, and samples acquire a net positive charge during imaging6
(Fig. 9.5). At even higher voltages, the net charge in the sample reverses yet again.
Imaging and measurement is usually most stable at a point where the samples
remain electrically neutral. Point E2 is the more stable of the two energies where
sample charge neutrality is maintained, and scanning electron microscopes are
typically operated close to this voltage. For conductive materials, this voltage
ranges from 2–4 kV, while it is only 0.5–1.0 kV for nonconducting materials
such as photoresist.2 Since imaging is typically superior at higher voltages, SEM
metrology for lithography is at a distinct disadvantage.
The preceding description of charging an object on which an electron beam is
impinging is appropriate for flat and uniform materials. The charging of features
measured in lithography is a complex phenomenon, and the idea of a single
voltage at which there is charge neutrality is inadequate in the context of integrated
circuit metrology. The incident electrons and emitted secondary and backscattered
electrons are not the only sources of electrical charge that need to be considered
in order to understand sample charging. Samples in scanning electron microscopes
are typically grounded, and there is a current between the surface of the sample
and ground. This current is proportional to the voltage difference between the
sample surface and ground, and it depends upon the resistivity of the materials that
comprise the sample. Highly conductive materials do not charge, because there is
Figure 9.5 At incident energies E1 and E2 the sample is electrically neutral while it charges
for other energies. The values of E1 and E2 are material dependent.
Metrology 355
a steady current to ground. This charge balance is written as
Esurface
IB = δ + η IB + ,

(9.2)
R
where IB is the incident beam current, δ is the secondary electron yield, η is the
backscattered electron yield, Esurface is the surface potential, and R is the effective
resistance to ground. Consequently, the surface potential is given by7
Esurface = IB R 1 − δ − η .

(9.3)
The surface potential is seen to be proportional to beam current, once the current-
to-ground is taken into consideration. Conductivity to ground can be complex in
insulating materials, where the excitation of electrons to the conduction band is
a function of beam energy and current. Complicating the situation even more is
the ability of insulators to trap charge. The time it takes to discharge the trapped
charges as a consequence of thermal relaxation is on the order of minutes.
Unfortunately, this simple picture is still incomplete for the types of
measurements that occur in lithography applications and typically involve features
patterned into photoresist. As noted previously, secondary electron emission
depends on the angle between the incident beam and the plane of the surface being
probed. Consequently, the electron-beam energy at which there is charge neutrality
varies between the top and sides of particular features, because the emission rate of
secondary and backscattered electrons from the tops of features differ from the rate
of the sides. The photoresist is nearly always developed to the substrate in exposed
areas, and the substrate usually has a different value for E2 than the photoresist.
Moreover, the surface potential may be more important than overall charge
neutrality. It is the electrical potential at the surface of the features, relative to
the potential at the detector, that determines the flow of secondary electrons from
the object being measured to the detector. Overall charge neutrality is important
for electrons far from the object, but the distribution of electrons within and near
the object will determine the electrical potential at the object’s surface. The issue
of sample charging remains a topic of current research.
Because photoresist is not electrically conducting it is difficult to dissipate
charge once accumulated, and for the reasons discussed above, complete charge
neutrality is rarely achieved. Charging also affects the linewidth measurement.
A negatively charged line, which occurs for higher voltages, deflects the electron
beam and results in a narrower measurement (Fig. 9.6).8 For this reason, charging is
of great significance to linewidth metrology using scanning electron microscopes.
Once secondary electrons are generated, they need to escape from the sample
and hit a detector in order to create a signal. SEM measurements of contact holes
are difficult for this reason—it is difficult for low-energy secondary electrons to
emerge from positively charged holes.9 For this reason, detection of backscattered
electrons is sometimes used for metrology with lithography applications. Because
backscattered electron emission peaks at or near the direction of the incident beam,
356 Chapter 9
Figure 9.6 Scanning-beam electrons are deflected away from the negatively charged
photoresist. As a consequence, the line is measured narrower than it actually is.
detectors are typically placed within the lens.10 The conversion of a secondary or
backscattered electron intensity into a linewidth number is not automatic. It may
be argued that measurement precision is the critical requirement, and that absolute
accuracy is less important. This is true to a certain extent, but facilities with more
than one SEM, or ones that need to transfer processes to or from others, require
standards to match SEMs. Consequently, some level of calibration is usually
required, and this gauge setting is generally material dependent. Algorithms for
calibrations on resist features will differ from those for polysilicon and depend
on the thickness and slopes of the resist features. Consequently, there are very
few linewidth standards available from organizations such as NIST that are used
directly in lithography applications. However, there are standards that can be used
for calibrating the magnification of electron microscopes, which has utility for
maintaining process control, particularly in facilities with multiple measurement
tools.
A current NIST magnification standard reference material, SRM 2800,
is fabricated from chromium on quartz, intended primarily for calibrating
measurements on photomasks, and has features down to 1 µm.11,12 There have
been efforts to develop standards designed specifically for use in SEMs.13,14 A
standard for calibrating SEM magnification, SRM 8820, is available from NIST.
SRM 8820 consists of etched lines of amorphous silicon on an oxide-coated
silicon wafer, and it has pitches down to 200 nm.15 The NIST SRM 2069b
is comprised of graphitized rayon fibers and can be used to assess contrast in
the SEM.16 Since SEMs “measure” different linewidths for features made from
different materials or thickness, these standards are useful only for ensuring
measurements on photomasks or controlling such parameters as the magnification
of the SEM. However, the magnification is verified by measuring the pitch
of grating patterns, which gives measurements independent of materials and
measurement algorithms.17,18
Metrology 357
Although commercially available SEM-based linewidth-measurement systems

may not produce accurate measurements (i.e., the “real” linewidth), they may be
precise and repeatable. The difference between accuracy and precision is illustrated
in Fig. 9.7. Measurement reproducibility is good to have, but it cannot be the only
metric used to judge measurement techniques. Methods of measurement need to
be able to distinguish correctly between features of different linewidth.19
One problem preventing the creation of good linewidth standards for lithography
is carbon deposition during SEM measurement.20 While the electron beam is
scanning the sample, carbon is being deposited. As one might expect, this is a
particularly significant problem for photoresist samples. Repeated measurements
lead to changes in the measured linewidth, even though the pitch remains
unchanged.21 One approach to dealing with the change in measured linewidth
due to carbon deposition on the standard is to predetermine the magnitude of
deposition-induced linewidth change per measurement, and subtract that from the
monitor values.22 Statistical process control (SPC) can then be applied to the
residuals.
While an SEM reproduces the linewidth on a particular standard artifact,
there is some concern that linewidth measurements of other materials, such as
photoresist, are not properly calibrated. To this end, atomic force microscopes are
sometimes used to measure photoresist linewidths for the purpose of calibration.23
Atomic force microscopes are purely mechanical and will not have the type
of material dependence that scanning electron microscopes have. As with any
measurement system, the proper interpretation of the numbers produced by atomic
force microscopes requires an understanding of how they measure. For example,
because of probe tip size and shape, atomic force microscopes do not provide
reliable measurements of structures with very tight pitches. Nevertheless, the
atomic force microscope is another useful metrology tool.
Calibration usually requires measurements of multiple linewidths. Within a
limited range of dimensions, calibrations can be based on affine relationships. If
r is the “real” linewidth, then the measurement linewidth y is given by
y = ar + b (9.4)
to the first order, where a and b are constants. Measurement of more than one
linewidth is required to determine the two calibration parameters, as well as reduce
Figure 9.7 Shots at a target, illustrating precision and accuracy.

358 Chapter 9
errors from measurement noise. Calibrations over large ranges of dimensions are
typically piecewise linear.
The SEM used for metrology must be properly focused and stigmated in order
to obtain good measurements. In the past, this was accomplished by using a sample
of very small grains, such as sputtered gold or grainy silicon, and adjustments were
made until the image appeared best to the operator. Recent work has shown that
the subjective element associated with this approach can be overcome by taking
a two-dimensional Fourier transform of the image.24 Defocus involves a decrease
in the magnitudes of the higher-frequency components, and astigmatism shows
asymmetries between axes.
The introduction of ArF optical lithographic technology brought along a
metrology problem associated with measuring linewidths in resists. Many of
the materials comprising ArF resists are modified by electron beams, with the
consequence that resist linewidths shrink under exposure to such beams, as occurs
in scanning electron microscopes. Measurement precision requires repeatability
among measurements in terms of the exposure of the resist to e-beams, and
accuracy requires taking the shrinkage into account. The magnitude of the problem
is reduced by minimizing the time that the resist is exposed to the electron beam
and by operating at low-beam voltages.25
Care must be taken to compensate properly for the shrinkage. One method to
characterize the shrinkage is to measure and remeasure the same feature repeatedly.
When this is done, results similar to the curve in Fig. 9.8 are typically produced.
As the resist is exposed initially to the electron beam the changes occur rapidly,
but slow down after longer exposures. Correct compensation for resist shrinkage
requires that this nonlinear behavior be included properly.
In addition to measuring linewidths, SEMs are used for measuring line-
edge roughness (LER) and linewidth roughness (LWR). Although there have
been efforts to develop other techniques,27 currently only SEMs provide the
capability for measuring LER and LWR, particularly when there is interest
in the power spectral density of the roughness. Even when using a scanning
Figure 9.8 Exponential trend in measured critical dimension (CD) for ArF resists after
successive measurements in a scanning electron microscope.26
Metrology 359
electron microscope, there are details that need to be considered in order to get
good measurements of line-edge roughness.28 For example, suppose one wants
to measure the power spectral density for a given resist. Prior to making the
measurement, it is necessary to determine what domain of spatial frequencies is
of interest. Low spatial frequencies are important, because they have big impact
on linewidth control, while high-spatial-frequency roughness can affect electrical
resistance of metal lines and reliability. Suppose that the data in a scanning electron
micrograph are collected at N positions over a length L, where
L = ∆N. (9.5)
In this situation the maximum spatial frequency that can be measured is the Nyquist
frequency (see Fig. 9.9):
1
fmax = . (9.6)
2∆
Equation (9.6) is used to determine the value for ∆, which is related to the
resolution at which the SEM is operated. Similarly, the minimum measurable
spatial frequency is
1
fmin ≤ . (9.7)
L
In order to measure low spatial frequencies one needs to scan over long distances,
which requires a large image field for the SEM. On the other hand, high resolution
is usually achieved at high magnification and small image fields. Thus, there is a
tradeoff in measurement between fmax and fmin .
9.1.2 Scatterometry
One configuration for the measurement of linewidth using scatterometry is
illustrated in Fig. 9.10. A grating is patterned on the wafer. A beam of light is
Figure 9.9 Illustration of the minimum and maximum spatial frequencies that can be
measured.
360 Chapter 9
Figure 9.10 Configuration for scatterometry.
then reflected from the grating over a range of wavelengths, and the reflectance is
measured as a function of wavelength. The reflectance versus wavelength is also
calculated, with various assumed values for the printed pattern’s critical dimension
(CD) and resist profile, and for the thicknesses of the various films, including
the patterned resist. The measured and calculated reflectances are compared for
various assumed values of the linewidths, profiles, and film thicknesses, and a good
match is considered as identification of these parameters. Another configuration
is angle-resolved scatterometry, where the angle of incidence is varied, rather
than the wavelength.29 When wavelength is varied, the method is referred to as
spectroscopic ellipsometry. It is also possible to make the measurements using an
ellipsometer. In this case, measurements and calculations are performed for tan ψ
and cos ∆.30 Each of these techniques has its merits.31
Shown in Fig. 9.11 is an example of a ∼160-nm resist linewidth measured with
scatterometry. The measurement from scatterometry agreed well with the linewidth
determined from a cross section measured with a scanning electron microscope.
Scatterometry provided more information than possible from a top-down SEM.
In addition to the linewidth, resist profile information was obtained. Remarkably,
even the foot of the resist near the resist-substrate interface was captured by the
ellipsometric measurement. The ability to capture the resist profile indicates the
potential of scatterometry to identify out-of-focus exposure conditions.
Scatterometry is a measurement method somewhat complementary to
measurement with scanning electron microscopes. Fairly large areas (at least
50 µm × 50 µm) are required to obtain an adequate signal. An array pattern
is needed to obtain adequate signal-to-noise, but the pitch may be sufficiently
loose for the lines to be effectively isolated from a lithography point of view.
With some implementations of scatterometry it is necessary to prepare libraries of
calculated curves in advance, so considerable setup is needed. Thus, scatterometry
is best suited for use in manufacturing, although it has been used effectively to
characterize exposure tools, since simple bare silicon substrates can be used that
reduce setup complexity. It is not an appropriate method of measurement when
one is attempting to verify OPC of individual transistors. Some attempts have
Metrology 361
Figure 9.11 Example of a scatterometry linewidth measurement.
been made to apply scatterometry to measuring contacts, but the two-dimensional

problem is computationally very challenging.
9.1.3 Electrical linewidth measurement

Linewidths are measured electrically as a supplement to SEM measurements. This
method has the advantage of speed; considerable data are collected in a small
amount of time once wafers have been patterned and etched. Offline stepper
lens setup and characterization often requires that large numbers of linewidths be
measured, and delays that are incurred because wafers must be etched are tolerable.
For example, the determination of best focus and field tilt requires that linewidths
be measured at many points in the field with features of at least two orientations,
and at several focus settings. It is useful to measure linewidths in multiple fields in
order to average out noise from factors not related to the lens and optical column
tilt. It is not practical to measure many thousands of linewidths with a scanning
electron microscope, even an automated one.
Electrical linewidth metrology has been used as a practical method for this type
of setup.32 Linewidths of electrically conducting material, such as polysilicon,
silicide, or metal, can be measured using structures such as those shown in
Fig. 9.12.33 The electrical linewidth W is related to two measured resistances:
Rs
W= L. (9.8)
Rb
R s is the sheet resistance and it is determined as follows: a current I is forced

+
between pads 3 and 4, and a voltage V25 is measured between pads 2 and 5. The
362 Chapter 9
Figure 9.12 The resistor test structure for measuring linewidths electrically.
−
current is reversed, and a voltage V25 is measured. The current I is then forced
+ −
alternately between pads 2 and 3, and voltages V45 and V45 are measured. The sheet
resistance is given by
+ +

π V25 + V25 + V45 + V45
− −
Rs = . (9.9)
ln 2 4I
Rb is determined by forcing current Ib between pads 1 and 3 and measuring the

voltages between pads 5 and 6.
+

V56 + V56
−
Rb = . (9.10)
2Ib
To avoid end effects, typically W L.

Electrically measured linewidths, as determined from Eqs. (9.8)–(9.10), tend
to disagree in absolute value with measurements from other metrology methods,
such as SEMs and atomic force microscopes, and are generally smaller. This
is often thought to be the result of nonconducting material on the sides of the
pattern following etch. From the perspective of lithography, there is also a relevant
etch bias between the resist and final dimensions, and nonuniformities in the
etch may introduce across-wafer variations, which need to be taken into account.
Despite these complications, electrical linewidth measurements are very useful for
characterizing linewidth control across lenses, because the speed of measurement
enables a lot of data to be collected.
The structure in Fig. 9.12 is used for measuring the widths of isolated lines.
Additional structures are added to provide measurements of linewidths of grouped
structures for any pitch that is desired. One can also include subresolution features
on the mask, as appropriate. A method has even been developed for measuring
contact sizes using electrical resistance measurements34 by measuring the effective
electrical linewidth W of a structure with holes (Fig. 9.13), compared to the
electrical linewidth Wre f of an identical reference structure without holes. The
Metrology 363
Figure 9.13 Configuration for measuring contact diameter electrically.
diameter d of the holes is given by

s !  21
Wre f 
 1 + 48 L − L − 1 ,
 
d= √

(9.11)
12π  N W Wre f 
where N is the number of contacts in the structure being measured.

For very small dimensions, one must be careful when interpreting the results
of electrically measured linewidth data. Equations (9.8)–(9.11) are based on the
assumption that the electrical conductivity of the material used is homogeneous.
At very small dimensions this is no longer the case. Surface effects and
inhomogeneous distributions of dopants become significant as dimensions become
smaller than 0.25 µm.36 For this reason, scatterometry, which has the ability to
measure large numbers of linewidths quickly, has supplanted electrical linewidth
measurements for exposure tool characterization. Moreover, scatterometry can
provide information regarding resist slopes in addition to linewidths, which is
useful for measuring defocus.
Electrical metrology can also be used for monitoring SEM stability.35 Even
though electrical linewidth measurements do not provide absolute measurements,
a correlation between electrical and SEM measurements provides a method
for checking the stability of the SEMs through comparison with electrical
measurements.
9.2 Measurement of Overlay

Overlay is usually measured using optical-linewidth-measurement systems.
Consider the structure shown in Fig. 9.14. The linewidths x1 and x2 can be used to
calculate the overlay error in the x direction:
1
∆x = (x2 − x1 ) . (9.12)
2
The features shown in Fig. 9.14 are large enough that optical-linewidth-
measurement systems can be used because of their throughput advantage over
364 Chapter 9
Figure 9.14 A structure for measuring overlay. The inner box is part of the substrate
pattern, and the outer box is created in the overlaying photoresist layer.
SEMs. Sufficient data are collected automatically in order to perform the overlay
modeling discussed in Chapter 6.
Overlay measurement can falsely introduce apparent overlay errors. The most
common of these errors are discussed in this section. This error is called tool-
induced shift (TIS), and results from asymmetries in the optics of the overlay
measurement system. Because the materials of Layer 1 and Layer 2 in Fig. 9.14
are not the same, the measurements of x1 and x2 are not equivalent if there are
asymmetries in the measurement equipment. Types of asymmetries that occur
are tilted or decentered lenses, nonuniform illumination, lens aberrations, and
nonuniform detector response.37 The presence of TIS is easily verified by rotating
wafers from 0 to 180 deg.38,39 In the absence of TIS,
∆x(0) → −∆x(180) , (9.13)
where ∆x(0) is the measurement for the unrotated wafer, and ∆x(180) is the
measurement for the wafer rotated 180 deg. A measure of TIS is therefore
T IS = ∆x(0) + ∆x(180) , (9.14)
which is ideally zero. The TIS value is measured when overlay measurement
programs are first established for particular process layers, and automatic
compensation is made to reduce the TIS error.40 Asymmetries in alignment
measurement can also be induced when features are too close to each other (x1
or x2 is too small), relative to the resolving power of the optics in the measurement
tool.41 The resolution of optical tools using visible light is typically in the range of
0.8–1.0 µm, while systems using ultraviolet light have somewhat better resolution.
The features of overlay measurement structures on the wafer must be consistent
with the resolution of the optics of the overlay measurement tool.
Wafer processing induces asymmetries in overlay measurement marks. Consider
situations where metal is sputtered onto wafers. If the deposition is not collimated,
metal builds up preferentially on one side of the overlay measurement marks near
Metrology 365
the edges of the wafers (Fig. 6.24). Measurements of overlay are shifted relative to
the overlay of the critical features. Errors in overlay measurement caused by wafer
processing are referred to as wafer-induced shift (WIS). For the example illustrated
in Fig. 6.24, the overlay error is in opposite directions on opposite sides of the
wafer and appears to be a wafer scaling error.42 To the extent that asymmetries
in step coverage are repeatable, wafer-induced shifts are corrected by comparing
overlay measurements before and after etch.43
Chemical-mechanical polishing (CMP) causes problems for correct acquisition
of alignment targets (Chapter 6) and also creates difficulties for overlay
measurement. Overlay measurement structures need to be optimized to minimize
this effect. The bar or frame structures shown in Fig. 9.15 typically lead to less
of a problem than the box-in-box structures, though the exact dimensions need
to be determined for individual processes. More recently, overlay measurement
structures have been developed that involve grating patterns. An example is shown
in Fig. 9.16.44 These new patterns are less sensitive to degradation by CMP. Such
grating marks also have the potential for being made small (≤5 µm × 5 µm), since
gratings provide a high ratio of line edge to area, which can be useful for measuring
overlay within product die.45
Another motivation for using small marks is the increase in the number of
masking steps that has occurred over time. For many years only two metal layers
were used to fabricate integrated circuits, while eight or more metal layers are
common today. Many implant layers are required to produce the transistors for
high-performance microprocessors. As a consequence, even scribe line space has
become insufficient for including the targets required to measure overlay for all of
the layers. This has motivated the development of overlay measurement marks that
can be used to measure overlay among many layers while being space efficient.46,47
As discussed in Chapter 6, intrafield registration depends on the illumination
conditions and the feature type. Lines and spaces may have different registration
at the different illumination settings. This causes a problem for metrology if the
critical features are one type, such as contact holes, while other types of features,
such as lines, are used for overlay measurement.48 This type of subtle difference is
significant as overlay requirements approach 50 nm or less.
Overlay measurement errors can occur simply because the linewidths of the
measurement structure differ from those in the circuit. Because optical methods
Figure 9.15 Various structures for measuring overlay.

366 Chapter 9
Figure 9.16 On the left is a traditional frame-in-frame measurement structure, damaged

by chemical-mechanical polishing, because the width of the frame feature is much larger
than the features in the circuit, for which the CMP process is optimized. The new type of
overlay measurement structure44 more closely replicates the features in the circuit.
are used, the feature sizes for these structures have been fairly large, on the order
of 1 µm or larger, even when the features in the devices have been submicron.
These differences in feature sizes between the overlay measurement structures and
features actually in the circuits were of minor consequence prior to the advent
of lithography with low k1 . With low-k1 processes, the placement errors of small
features due to lens aberrations will be different from the placement errors of larger
features (Fig. 9.17). Without a change in the overlay measurement structures, there
will be overlay errors as a consequence.
Figure 9.17 Pattern shift of 120-nm line/360-nm pitch features compared to 1-µm features.
These were calculated errors based upon measured aberrations of an ArF lens.
Problems
9.1 What are advantages and disadvantages of scanning electron microscopes for
measuring critical dimensions, relative to scatterometry tools?
9.2 Why are low-beam voltages (a few hundred eV or less) used when
applying scanning electron microscopes for measuring dimensions of features
composed of photoresist?
Metrology 367
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Metrology 369
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the accuracy of overlay measurements through reduction in tool and wafer
induced shifts,” Proc. SPIE 3050, 123–134 (1997).
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measurement errors,” Proc. SPIE 1926, 450–462 (1993).
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370 Chapter 9
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Chapter 10
Immersion Lithography and the
Limits of Optical Lithography
In Chapter 2, where the parameter numerical aperture was introduced, it was
defined as n sin θ, where n is the index of refraction of the medium between the
lens and the resist on the wafer, and θ is the half angle subtended by the lens. By
geometry, and the fact that light travels in a straight line through homogeneous
media, the largest value that θ can reach is 90 deg, so that sin θ must be less than
1.0. The medium between the lens and the resist is typically air, for which n ≈ 1.
This implies that the numerical aperture cannot exceed 1.0 in air, creating a limit
on resolution for a given wavelength.
It has long been known that resolution in optical microscopy can be enhanced by
immersing microscope objective lenses in a liquid that has an index of refraction
greater than 1.0. This is not something that can be accomplished by using optics
that have been designed for imaging in air, but requires lenses that have been
designed specifically for operation using an immersion fluid with a well-defined
index of refraction. Nevertheless, such optics have been exploited successfully in
optical microscopy for over a century.1
The same physics can be used to advantage in lithography. Since sin θ remains
constrained by geometry to being less than 1.0, the index of refraction of the
medium between the lens and the wafer represents the theoretical upper limit
for the numerical aperture. At a wavelength of 193 nm, ultrapure water has an
index of refraction of 1.437.2 Water is also very transparent at ArF wavelengths,
so it is a suitable fluid for ArF immersion lithography, where water fills the space
between the bottom of the lens and the wafer. The use of water immersion leads to
a significant increase in the numerical aperture over the maximum value possible
when imaging in air, and hence greatly extends the resolution capability of ArF
lithography. With water as an immersion fluid instead of air, the physical limit for
numerical apertures increases from 1.0 to 1.437. In this chapter the basic concepts
of immersion lithography will be discussed. The remainder of the chapter will
then be concerned with what other opportunities there might be to extend optical
lithography.
372 Chapter 10
10.1 Immersion Lithography

While conceptually simple, and despite its long use in microscopy, the application
of immersion imaging to lithography is not straightforward. There are a number
of issues that are unique to lithography. For example, for the reasons described
in Chapter 5, state-of-the-art exposure tools are scanners, so the immersion
imaging must be accomplished while the wafer is moving relative to the lens.
This is one reason that immersion imaging is more complex in application to
lithography than to optical microscopy. The immersion fluid can also exert forces
against the lens during scanning, and deformation of the lens—which will induce
aberrations—must be avoided. Immersion scanners must be designed to ensure that
the immersion fluid remains sufficiently homogeneous during scanning; there can
be no significant compression or heating of the fluid, for example.
A configuration in which the immersion fluid is contained locally between the
projection optics and the wafer has proven most suitable for use in scanners. This is
shown schematically in Fig. 10.1. An alternative design, in which the entire stage
is immersed in the fluid, was considered by suppliers of exposure tools, but high-
speed scanning proved difficult in that configuration.
In addition to providing the potential for increased resolution, immersion
lithography can increase the depth-of-focus at any given resolution, relative to
imaging in air. An expression was given in Chapter 2 for the depth-of-focus for
small to moderate values of NA and for imaging in air. A more general expression
for the depth-of-focus is derived as follows. Consider the situation shown in
Fig. 10.2. Light is imaged by a diffraction-limited lens. In the plane of best focus,
all rays are in phase. For the spherical wavefront shown in Fig. 10.2, the zeroth-
and first-order rays have a phase difference in the z direction of
2π
n∆z (1 − cos θ) , (10.1)
λ
where n is the index of refraction of the medium in which image formation is

occurring. If the edge of the focus window is said to occur when the phase
difference between the zeroth and first-order rays is π/2, and with
NA = n sin θ, (10.2)
Figure 10.1 Illustration of local containment of the immersion fluid (water in this instance).
Immersion Lithography and the Limits of Optical Lithography 373
Figure 10.2 Illustration of the depth-of-focus for general numerical aperture.
then the depth-of-focus is given by
DOF = 2∆z (10.3)

λ
=  r . (10.4)
 NA2 
2n 1 − 1 − 2 
n
For small values of θ, this reduces to
λ λ
 r ≈ 2
(10.5)
 NA  n sin θ
2
2n 1 − 1 − 2 
n
nλ
= . (10.6)
NA2
As can be seen, the exact expression for depth-of-focus reduces to the expression
given in Chapter 2 for small NAs and n = 1.
There are several things to be noted from these expressions. First, the exact
depth-of-focus is actually less than the depth-of-focus given by the expression
that is suitable for low NA. This means that analyses which indicated difficulties
with small depths-of-focus for large-NA lithography were actually optimistic!
While these differences between Eqs. (10.6) and (10.4) are small for low NAs,
the disparity at high NA can be as much as 50%. It can also be seen from Eq.
(10.6) that the depth-of-focus is improved by a factor of n or larger. To the extent
that optical lithography is limited by the depth-of-focus, immersion can provide
improvement.
Silicon wafers will heat during exposure. Modeling has predicted a temperature
rise of ∼16 K for localized regions of the wafer.3 Although only some of this heat
will be transferred to the immersion fluid, the fluid’s index of refraction will be
altered. Careful measurements have shown that the index of refraction of water will
change by about −1 × 10−4 /◦ C for ArF light,2 so only very small increases in the
374 Chapter 10
water’s temperature can be tolerated. Fortunately, the heat appears to be confined to

a volume of water within 200 nm of the wafer surface4 during exposure. Suppose
that we are considering a lens with a numerical aperture of 1.35. In this case,
NA = n sin θ (10.7)
= 1.35. (10.8)
Thus, θ = 70 deg assuming n = 1.437, the value appropriate for water at a

wavelength of 193 nm. The path through which the most oblique angles (see
Fig. 10.3) will be incident will have a path length through the volume of heated
water of
200 nm
= 584 nm. (10.9)
cos θ
Consequently, a 1 ◦ C temperature rise within this volume will create a phase error
of

n (1 ◦ C) −1 × 10−4 /◦ C 584 nm = −0.0839 nm. (10.10)
Since phase errors from other aberrations are typically ∼1 nm,5 the additional phase
errors induced by water heating are not considered critical during the exposure
of a single field. Over the course of exposing an entire wafer, the average water
temperature could rise, so the immersion fluid must be circulated, and temperature
must be controlled actively.
Heating of the immersion fluid due to optical absorption is not the only
temperature concern associated with immersion lithography. Even with good fluid
containment, small amounts of immersion fluid—perhaps just monolayers—will
remain on the wafer surface. Subsequent evaporative cooling will cause the wafer
to contract, affecting overlay (see Problem 10.4). For this reason, considerable
engineering resources have been applied to improving overlay on immersion
exposure tools.
Sensitivity to defects is considerably greater in application to semiconductor
immersion lithography than it would be in microscopy. Not only must there be
nearly no defects in lithographic applications, this must be the case over very large
areas, in contrast to microscopy, where the fields of view are often only microns on
a side, or less. The issue of defects is a critical one for immersion lithography.
Figure 10.3 Light passing through water and converging on a wafer.

The introduction of immersion lithography has led to an increased focus

on wafer-edge defects in particular. This can be understood by looking at
Fig. 10.4. The immersion fluid extends well beyond the area being exposed. As
a consequence, the fluid can pick up particles from the wafer edge or wafer stage.
Because wafers are beveled, particles from the back side of the wafer can even be
picked up from fluid in the small gap between the wafer and the chuck. To address
scanning at the wafer edge, the wafer is recessed into the chuck so that the tops of
the wafer and the stage are at the same level (see Fig. 10.5). Fluid will go into the
small gap between the wafer and the chuck and pick up particles. These particles
can be deposited on the wafer, reducing yield. Keeping wafers clean on the back
side and edges is important for immerson lithography.
The resist is another potential source of defects. Chemicals can be leached from
the resist into the immersion fluid. This is a problem particularly if drops of water
are left behind as the wafer is scanned. Components essential to functionality can
be pulled from the resist, leading to a spot where the resist does not perform
properly. After the water has evaporated, material can be left behind, also leading
to the formation of defects. An example of what can result from a water droplet is
shown in Fig. 10.6. There is greater potential for the water not to be fully contained
Figure 10.4 Top view of immersion-scanning lithography, illustrating how water will be
swept off the side of the wafer and onto the wafer stage.
Figure 10.5 Cross-sectional side view of the wafer on the wafer chuck of an immersion
scanner.
376 Chapter 10
Figure 10.6 Scanning-electron micrograph of a defect resulting from a water drop. The
pattern was supposed to consist purely of lines and spaces.
at higher scanning speeds, and this leads to another set of engineering problems for
achieving high scanner throughput. The potential for material leaching from the
resist also leads to concern over contamination of the bottom lens element.
Two approaches have been taken to address the problem of chemicals leaching
from the photoresist. One is to use a topcoat. As discussed in Section 3.5, topcoats
have long been used as barriers to base diffusion in chemically amplified resists.
For process simplicity, these topcoats are typically water soluble so they can
be readily removed prior to resist development, but this property makes them
unsuitable for use in water-immersion lithography. Two different types of topcoats
have been used in immersion lithography. An early immersion-compatible topcoat
required a solvent to be removed, but this was undesirable because of process
cost. Later topcoats were soluble in developer but not pure water. The most
preferred solution is to have immersion resists that intrinsically leach only very
small amounts of chemicals into water.
Bubbles constitute another potential source of defects in immersion lithography
because they can scatter light.6–9 One typically thinks of particles in terms of
dense objects, but light can be scattered by objects of low index of refraction, such
as bubbles, that are embedded in media of higher optical density.9 Fortunately,
bubble formation and dissipation have been studied extensively, and it has been
found that the gases that comprise air are very soluble in water. Once the water has
been degassed, i.e., the air dissolved in it has mostly been removed, bubbles have
short lifetimes. Bubble lifetime has been predicted theoretically10 and measured in
confirmation of the theory. Results from both are shown in Fig. 10.7. As can be seen
from the data, bubbles have very short lifetimes in degassed water; consequently,
light scattering due to bubbles is expected to be small. However, even if there
are no bubbles, care must be taken to control the amount of air dissolved in
the water, since air can affect the index of refraction at a level significant for
lithography. A difference in the refractive index at λ = 193 nm between air-
saturated and completely degassed water has been measured to be 6.7 × 10−6 .11
Light passing through millimeters of water will have differences in phase on
the order of nanometers, depending upon whether the water is air saturated or
degassed.
Figure 10.7 Bubble lifetime measurement and theoretical prediction.12
It should be noted that water can be used for KrF immersion, at least from an
optical point of view. However, the index of refraction of water is only 1.378 at
KrF wavelengths, so water is less effective at improving KrF than ArF lithography.
Also, it appears that many existing KrF resist platforms do not work well when
the resists are immersed in water. Consequently, there has been little effort to
develop KrF immersion lithography. At λ = 193 nm, water immersion provides a
significant extension of optical lithography, enabling >40% increase in resolution
over imaging in air. How far optical lithography can ultimately be extended is the
subject of the remainder of this chapter.
10.2 The Diffraction Limit

In 1979, Electronics magazine reported that stepper lithography would be a passing
fancy superseded by direct-write electron-beam lithography by the year 1985.13
It was admitted in a follow-up article, written for that same magazine in 1985,
that the demise of optical lithography had been predicted prematurely and that
it would take until 1994 for shipments of optical wafer steppers to be of lower
volume than those of x-ray step-and-repeat systems.14 It was expected that optical
lithography, once it reached its resolution limit of 0.5 µm, would need to be
replaced. Both pronouncements were based upon accepted expert opinion. This
most recent edition of this book was written in the year 2010, with optical
lithography still going strong. Clearly, accepted expert opinion is not a criterion
for validity. Nevertheless, there are some signs that optical lithography is at
last reaching its limit, and there are several programs dedicated to developing
alternative lithography techniques. It is worth reviewing those earlier arguments
that predicted that optical lithography was nearing its end of life and those
arguments that are being presented today to justify billions of dollars of investment
in new lithography techniques.
The argument that optical lithography has limited resolution is based upon
Rayleigh’s scaling laws of resolution and depth-of-focus. From Chapter 2,
378 Chapter 10
resolution is given by
λ
resolution = k1 , (10.11)
NA
where the prefactors of Eqs. (2.4) and (2.7) are replaced by a general factor k1 .
Similarly, the expression for depth-of-focus can be written as
λ
depth-of-focus = ±k2 . (10.12)
NA2
It has long been recognized that Rayleigh’s and equivalent expressions are inexact
predictors of resolution, but do correctly capture the trends associated with
wavelengths and numerical apertures. Other factors, such as the resist process,
are captured by the coefficients k1 and k2 . In 1979, the state-of-the-art lens had
a resolution of 1.25 µm, a ±0.75-µm depth-of-focus, a numerical aperture of 0.28,
and was imaged at the mercury g line (λ = 436 nm). This produced values of 0.80
and 0.13 for k1 and k2 , respectively. With these values for the coefficients in Eqs.
(10.11) and (10.12), the numerical aperture of a g-line lens capable of producing
0.8-µm features would be 0.44, with a ±0.3-µm depth-of-focus. In 1979, long
before the use of chemical-mechanical polishing in device fabrication, this was too
small a depth-of-focus to provide adequate imaging over the heights of then-typical
device topographies and within the ability of steppers to control focus. Thus, it was
declared that optical lithography would not be capable of submicron lithography.
There were several mistakes in this argument that were already becoming
apparent by the mid-1980s.15
1. These early predictions were wrong, because they assumed that the optics
found on state-of-the-art steppers in the late 1970s and early 1980s were nearly
diffraction limited, and extrapolations were based upon that assumption. The
extent to which these assumptions were off the mark has been demonstrated by
the application of today’s superior lens-designing methods and manufacturing
capability. Until recently, these capabilities have been applied only to leading
edge, high-numerical-aperture lenses, but with the introduction of very large
field systems for mix-and-match applications, actual diffraction limits for
smaller numerical apertures can be observed. This enables a direct reassessment
of earlier analyses. For example, Nikon produced a 0.3-NA i-line lens for its
4425i stepper. This lens had a resolution of 0.7 µm (k1 = 0.58) and specified
±2.5-µm depth-of-focus (k2 = 0.62), while thirty years ago, lenses (g line)
with similar numerical apertures had 1.1- to 1.25-µm resolution and ±0.75-µm
depths-of-focus. By extrapolating the future of optical lithography from these
two different sets of capabilities—old and new—one arrives at significantly
different conclusions.
2. It was wrong to assume that the mercury g line would always be used for
optical lithography. For a given feature size, depth-of-focus is increased by
using a smaller wavelength. The progression from the 436-nm (mercury g-line)
wavelength to the 365-nm (i-line) wavelength, and onto 248-nm (KrF) and 193-
nm (ArF) lithography, has enabled feature sizes to shrink while maintaining a
useable depth-of-focus.
3. Photoresists have improved, contributing to effective changes to k1 and k2 .
Lithography today routinely operates at values of k1 = 0.35 and smaller. The
argument of 1979, revised with a k1 value of 0.5, predicts that 0.8-µm resolution
could be achieved with a numerical aperture of 0.27 with a g-line lens. Even
with the previously predicted value for k2 of 0.13, the resulting depth-of-focus
would have been more than adequate.
4. Depth-of-focus requirements have decreased, primarily as a result of the use
of chemical-mechanical polishing. Because it is no longer necessary to image
through the depth of device topography, good images can be obtained on optical
systems with small depths-of-focus. Depths-of-focus of only ±0.1 µm and
smaller are now considered adequate.
In addition to the reasons already identified in the 1980s, more recently developed
resolution-enhancement techniques, such as phase shifting, off-axis illumination,
and the other methods presented in Chapter 8, can further extend optical
lithography beyond the limits that were inferred from scaling using the Rayleigh
criteria. The field of “wavefront engineering,” an umbrella term coined to include
all the techniques that seek to modify the effects of diffraction in order to improve
resolution and depth-of-focus,16 addressed many of the challenges at the 100-nm
level and below, forestalling the long-forecasted “death of optics.”
Regardless of the errors in past predictions, the scaling laws for resolution and
depth-of-focus indicate that arbitrarily small features will not be made optically.
The issue has never been whether there is a limit to optical lithography; the
questions have been of when the end will come, and what the ultimate resolution
will be. It is clear that we need to look beyond the basic Rayleigh criteria.
Wavefront engineering has benefits for specific feature types, dependent on the
optical configuration of stepper and mask. It is important to understand the
applicability of these sophisticated enhancement techniques to obtain an estimate
of optical lithography’s ultimate limits.
It is useful to define more precisely what is meant by “optical lithography.”
For the purposes of this book, optical lithography is defined as any lithographic
technique that
1. Uses photons to induce chemical reactions in a photoresist,
2. Involves a transmission photomask, and
3. Has the potential for image reduction using projection optics.
These definitions help to distinguish optical lithography from other patterning
techniques that do not involve photons, or do use photons but are very different
in character from the techniques described thus far in this book. The last two
requirements separate x-ray and extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography from
optical lithography, even though these two other types of lithography involve
380 Chapter 10
photons. Several reasons were noted above as to why optical lithography has
survived longer than earlier anticipated. It is worth trying to understand whether
there are opportunities remaining for improvement along the same paths used to
extend optical lithography beyond past expectations, and how much extension will
be provided by recently developed techniques.
10.3 Improvements in Optics

As mentioned above, early stepper lenses were far from being diffraction limited,
and much of the progress in optical lithography has been due to improvements
in the optics. This has included increases in numerical apertures and substantial
reductions in the aberrations. Early stepper lenses had high levels of aberrations,
by contemporary standards. The severe astigmatism shown in Fig. 2.27 was an
example from a Zeiss 10-78-37, 5× lens widely used in the mid-1980s. The
wavefront errors from lenses in that era were on the order of 0.1 waves rms.17
This can be contrasted with the <0.006 wave error typical for contemporary
lenses.5 Given the transition from 436-nm to 193-nm light that has occurred, this
is nearly a 40× improvement in absolute wavefront error. It is clear that there
has been substantial improvement in lens quality, and this has been manifested
as better imaging capability. Unfortunately, further improvements in lens quality
do not produce imaging capabilities tending toward infinitely narrow lines, but
will bring imaging performance closer to the diffraction limit. While process-
window detractors, such as lens aberrations, can be reduced, the limitation
imposed by diffraction remains and becomes dominant. The difference between
converging toward zero linewidth and the diffraction-limited linewidth is illustrated
in Fig. 10.8. The solid curve represents 30% improvement between generations
(0.7× scaling), starting with 1.0 µm in the first generation, while the dashed
curve is a 30% improvement, relative to a 40-nm limit (see Problem 10.3). For
early generations, scaling to infinitely small dimensions and the 40-nm limitation
were indistinguishable, but the 40-nm limit becomes significant for linewidths
less than 0.2 µm. Future reductions in lens aberrations bring capability closer
to the asymptote that is the diffraction limit. Another 40× improvement in lens
aberrations will not extend optical lithography to the same degree brought about
by the last 40× improvement.
Figure 10.8 Progress in lithography with 0.7× improvement between generations, relative
to a limit of zero, or a limit of 40 nm.
Lenses have improved considerably during the past two decades. Unfortunately,
the biggest gains have already been made in terms of reductions of aberrations.
While further reductions in aberrations will continue to occur, great strides are no
longer possible. An extension of optical lithography will have to come from other
sources.
10.4 Maximum Numerical Aperture

Among the improvements in lenses over the past three decades has been a
substantial increase in numerical apertures. The lens on the first commercially
available stepper had a numerical aperture of 0.28. Today, the major stepper
suppliers have existing products for lenses with NA = 1.35. Increased numerical
aperture was a significant means by which optical lithography was extended
in the past. How much further numerical apertures can be increased will be
discussed in this section. Following that discussion, some other paths by which
optical lithography has been extended will be considered, and it will be seen why
these approaches to extending lithography are no longer major avenues to higher
resolution.
The numerical aperture is given by n sin θ, where n is the index of refraction
of the medium between the lens and wafer, and θ is the half angle subtended
by the lens. There are practical considerations regarding how large θ can be
made. As the numerical aperture is increased, there are a number of optical
engineering challenges that increase in proportion to tan θ, including the accuracy
of optics mounting, the lens diameter, and control requirements for optical coatings
(Fig. 10.9). Values for θ and tan θ are listed in Table 10.1. From NA = 1.30 to
1.35 the increase in difficulty in fabricating the lens is ∼30%, while going from
NA = 1.35 to NA = 1.40 represents a further ∼60% effort. These increases in NA
would require significant investments for <10% improvement in resolution from
NA = 1.30 to 1.40. Regardless of practicalities, the most that resolution can be
increased due to fundamental physical limits is <7% from the current maximum of
1.35, as long as water is the immersion medium. This is significantly less than the
4.8× increase in the past (from NA = 0.28 to 1.35).
From Eqs. (2.7) and (10.6), one can see that both resolution and depth-of-focus
can be enhanced when the immersion fluid has a large index of refraction. It is
therefore natural to consider whether lithographic capability can be improved by
using an immersion fluid that has a higher index of refraction than water. When
Figure 10.9 Illustration of the factors that increase in difficulty in proportion to tan θ.
382 Chapter 10
Table 10.1 Values for θ (Fig. 10.9)

and tan θ for numerical apertures
that approach the limit of water-
immersion lithography.
Numerical aperture θ (deg) tan θ
1.30 65 2.14
1.35 70 2.75
1.40 77 4.32
considering alternatives there are many technical issues to be addressed. Water is

an extremely convenient material for use as an immersion fluid, as a consequence
of several important properties:
1. The semiconductor industry has considerable experience in producing ultrapure
water inexpensively.
2. Water is nontoxic, which has implications for both worker safety and disposal
costs.
3. Water is compatible with resist and materials commonly used to fabricate
scanners.
4. The surface tension between water and many materials facilitates
containment.18
5. Water is stable under exposure to 193-nm light.
6. Water has sufficiently low viscosity to permit fast scanning.
Any fluid that replaces water will need to have these properties, or additional
engineering work will be required to address any shortcomings.
Candidate high-index immersion fluids have been developed, with indices
of refraction between 1.62 and 1.66,19 which provides potential for 13–16%
higher resolution than water-immersion lithography. However, problems have been
encountered with such materials involving fluid decomposition under exposure to
ArF light, which can include contamination of the bottom lens element.20 The
problem of decomposition can be mitigated to considerable extent by circulating
and repurifying the fluid. Reuse of these fluids is important, since they cost
considerably more than water.
As the index of refraction of the immersion fluid is increased, additional physics
need to be taken into account. Consider the situation depicted in Fig. 10.10. When
the index of refraction of the glass is greater than that of the fluid, the refraction at
the glass-fluid interface assists in generating a high numerical aperture, since light
is refracted away from normal at the glass-fluid interface. There are practical limits
to how large θ1 can be in a lens, as discussed earlier. Increasing n f luid until it is
greater than nglass is a losing proposition, because the increase in NA achieved with
a larger fluid refractive index will be offset by a reduction in θ2 . Hence, there is
value in increasing n f luid only until it equals nglass . Indices of refraction at 193 nm
are given in Table 10.2 for various candidate lens materials. As can be seen from
the table, there is little value in increasing the index of refraction of the fluid above
Figure 10.10 Greater numerical apertures are possible when the immersion fluid has an
index of refraction less than that of the material of the bottom lens element.
Table 10.2 Materials that can be used for immersion lithography,

along with their indices of refraction.
Material Index of refraction at λ = 193 nm
Water 1.44
Fused silica21 1.56
Calcium fluoride21 1.50
Aluminum oxide22 1.92
Lutetium aluminum garnet (LuAG)23 2.14
that of water without also fabricating the bottom lens element with a material other
than fused silica and calcium fluoride.
A materials search identified one material, lutetium aluminum garnet
(Lu3 Al5 O12 ), that has a high refractive index at λ = 193 nm and has sufficiently
low birefringence that lens makers can consider using it for a lens element.
However, progress has been slow in producing crystals with high transparency and
good homogeneity. The problem of transparency did not arise from fundamental
absorption by the crystal, but rather was a consequence of chemical impurities.
With a slow rate of improvement, efforts to produce lens-quality lutetium
aluminum garnet crystals have since been reduced. Another reason for slowing
down crystal development efforts were challenges in developing an immersion
fluid with a high index of refraction which meets all requirements, without which
a high-index crystal is not needed.
Assuming that a high-index lens material and a high-index immersion fluid
can be identified, and that solutions can be found for all associated technical
issues, there is still one more material that needs to be addressed, and that is the
photoresist. As noted in Chapter 4, image contrast is reduced at high angles of
incidence on the resist for P-polarized light (see Fig. 4.3). The only reason that
there is good imaging even at moderate numerical apertures is because of the
refraction at the interface between the resist and air or fluid. For this refraction
to improve image contrast, it is necessary that the index of refraction of the resist
be greater than that of the fluid. For most chemically amplified resists, n ≈ 1.7,
so this condition is satisfied with water as the immersion fluid, as well as most
384 Chapter 10
high-index candidate fluids. However, to achieve better than ∼15% improvement

in resolution, a resist with an index of refraction >1.7 will be needed.
Given all of the challenges associated with immersion lithography using a fluid
with an index of refraction greater than that of water—the fluid itself, a high-index
lens material, and high-index resists—it appears quite possible that high-index
immersion lithography will not be pursued at 193 nm for use in manufacturing.
The potential for higher resolution by going to a wavelength shorter than 193 nm
will be considered next.
10.5 The Shortest Wavelength

While the early predictions of the end to optical lithography were incorrect in
detail, the fact remains that diffraction imposes limits on the potential of optical
lithography. At what feature size does diffraction finally defeat ingenuity and
invention? In order to predict the limits of optical lithography, it first needs to
be decided what minimum wavelength can be used, since shorter wavelengths will
enable better resolution with manageable depth-of-focus, all else remaining equal.
As discussed in Chapter 5, lithography is practiced at wavelengths for which
there are intense sources of near-monochromatic light. Below 193 nm there are a
few options for light sources, but they will all need further development if they
are to qualify as adequate for use in semiconductor manufacturing. F2 excimer
lasers emit 157-nm light. For several years 157-nm lithography was considered a
potential solution, but progress was slow. It was not possible to obtain sufficient
transparency with fused silica for it to be used as a lens material, which meant
that all refractive lens elements needed to be made from crystalline CaF2 . It
proved very difficult to produce large crystals of CaF2 with adequate transparency,
homogeneity, and low birefringence. There were also challenges with resists.
Fluorine chemistry was required to obtain the necessary resist transparency, but
good resist performance remained elusive even with such materials. When it
became clear that water-immersion lithography was viable and could extend optical
lithography even further than (nonimmersion) 157-nm lithography, F2 lithography
was no longer strongly pursued as a lithographic technology option. (See Problem
10.2 for reasons why the return on investment in F2 lithography was considered to
be limited.)
Below 157 nm, Ar∗2 lasers operating at a wavelength of 126 nm have been
demonstrated,24 but reliability and repetition rates need to be improved.25,26
Material damage at 126 nm is a particular problem.27 There is also some possibility
of exploiting the hydrogen Lyman-α line at 121.5 nm.28 However, assuming that
a lithography-capable light source can be developed, there are other issues that
will more likely prevent the extension of optical lithography to a wavelength of
126 nm or 121.5 nm. At the Ar∗2 and Lyman-α wavelengths, transparent materials
are few, and include LiF, CaF2 , and MgF2 .29 With the exception of CaF2 , these
materials are not well developed, and more work is required to demonstrate that
they are suitable for use in high-resolution lenses. It should be noted that all of these
materials are birefringent, which greatly complicates lens design. Although there
is nothing known currently that cannot be overcome with a focused engineering

effort, improvements in CaF2 came slowly when pursued for F2 lithography, an
indication of the magnitude of the engineering challenge.
Photomasks represent a more formidable problem than light sources, one that
is perhaps insurmountable. Optical lithography, as currently practiced, involves
transmission photomasks. A departure from the use of transmission masks would
be a significant change. Materials for transmission masks must meet several
requirements. First, transparency is an obvious prerequisite. This requirement
shortens the list of potential substrate materials considerably. Secondly, thermal
stability is another essential characteristic, in order to maintain adequate
registration during mask making. The problem is particularly acute when electron-
beam writers are used for making the masks. As discussed in Chapter 7, substantial
energy is deposited into the photomask substrates during e-beam exposure with
beam energies between 10 and 50 keV, and this causes the substrate to heat and
deform mechanically.30 Fused silica, the material used currently for photomask
substrates, has a very low coefficient of thermal expansion, in contrast to other
materials that are transparent at 157 nm and shorter wavelengths, such as CaF2
and BaF2 . The coefficient of thermal expansion for fused silica is 0.5 ppm/K,
compared to the substantially higher value of 19 ppm/K for CaF2 . On a fused silica
plate, a 0.1 K temperature change will result in a 5-nm registration error across
100 mm, a magnitude of misregistration that can likely be corrected adequately
(assuming 4× reduction optics) if it occurs in a predictable way. For a reticle
fabricated from CaF2 , the registration error would be almost 100 nm. Even a 90%
effective correction would not be sufficient to meet the overlay requirements of
advanced technologies, and temperature control considerably tighter than 0.1 K is
not practical. Only fused silica appears to have a sufficiently small coefficient of
thermal expansion to be a practical mask material. Because fused silica becomes
too absorbing at wavelengths just a few nanometers shorter than 157 nm, 157
nm is the shortest wavelength that could be a candidate to be the last “optical
lithography,” using the definition of optical lithography set forth earlier.
Of course, this assumes that all elements of a 157-nm lithography process can be
developed. There were a number of programs to develop photomasks, photoresists,
and exposure tools at 157 nm, and considerable progress was made towards
the realization of a working 157-nm optical lithographic technology. However,
nearly all work on 157-nm lithography development was suspended, as 193-nm
immersion lithography appeared to be more attractive.
With respect to immersion lithography, most attention is currently focused
on ArF immersion, because that provides immediate impact, but immersion
lithography has been studied for 157-nm lithography.31,32 For 157-nm lithography,
water is far too absorbing for use as an immersion fluid. Identification of a
sufficiently transparent fluid at 157 nm has been an area of active research.33
Regardless of whether the problems of photomask fabrication and light sources
can be overcome, there are no known transparent materials for wavelengths shorter
than 110 nm. This therefore represents a true limit to optical lithography, as it
has been defined in this chapter. However, in light of the previously discussed
386 Chapter 10
problems with mask thermal expansion, lens materials, and resists, 157 nm will be
considered for the remainder of this chapter as the smallest wavelength at which
optical lithography can theoretically be practiced in the future, while 193 nm is the
shortest wavelength from a practical point of view. The ability to advance optical
lithography by moving to a shorter wavelength is very near an end.
10.6 Improved Photoresists

Resists have improved remarkably over the past three decades. This has been one
of the reasons why it has been possible to practice low-k1 lithography. However,
there appears to be reduced potential for large gains from future improvements
in resists. An example of this is the increase in sidewall angle due to high resist
contrast. As shown in Chapter 2, the tangent of the angle of resist sidewalls is
directly proportional to the resist contrast. Increases in the resist contrast from
low to high values can have a significant impact on the resist profile, but further
increases in contrast provide marginal benefit once the resist contrast reaches
a moderate value (see Fig. 10.11). Current activities in resist chemistry for the
extension of optical lithography are in the development of high-contrast resists
with immersion compatibility. However, this simply provides improved capability
for water-immersion lithography and does not provide significant enhancement to
the lithography beyond that. The major gains from improvements in the resists
have already occurred, with efforts now focused on maintaining that position, but
in the immersion context. Improved resists are still of value, particularly with
respect to reduced line-edge roughness, but significant reductions in k1 , because
of improvements in photoresists, are not expected.
In addition to the resist challenges of contrast, there are additional issues that
need to be considered as resist features shrink well below 50 nm. One issue results
from the blurring that occurs during the post-exposure diffusion step in chemically
amplified resists, while the other is the line-edge roughness of patterns after
develop. During the post-exposure step, photoacids diffuse and cause deprotection
of chemically amplified resists. As long as the distances over which this diffusion
occurs is small compared to the linewidth, this is not a fundamental problem.
Figure 10.11 Resist sidewall angle as a function of resist contrast.

Recent measurements indicate that the diffusion length for this process is on the
order of 10–30 nm. When chemically amplified resists were first used widely,
linewidths were ∼350 nm. For such features, the blurring from photoacid diffusion
was not significant. However, as features have become smaller than 50 nm, the
impact of photoacid diffusion becomes quite relevant.
It is possible to reduce the amount of diffusion during the post-exposure
baking step, but there are consequences. First, this diffusion ameliorates line-edge
roughness (LER) to a certain degree. The larger the diffusion, the more the LER
is smoothed. Reducing the diffusion will necessitate additional measures to keep
LER at an acceptable level. Also, a significant amount of diffusion enables a large
amount of chemical amplification. Thus, reducing diffusion will also reduce resist
sensitivity. This is of particular concern for some of the technologies that will be
discussed in Chapters 12 and 13.
10.7 Flatter Wafers

For many years device topography presented a challenge to lithographers. This
topography led to many of the problems associated with varying resist thickness
(discussed in Chapter 4) and variable reflectivity from the substrate. In addition,
the depths-of-focus needed to be large enough to provide good imaging throughout
the height of the topography. For example, device topography of 0.7 µm (±0.35)
was typical. With tool focus control of ±0.4 µm, the optics needed to have at
least ±(0.35 + 0.4) µm = ±0.75-µm depth-of-focus in order to provide good
imaging. For g-line optics, this implied a maximum NA of approximately 0.4, using
the Rayleigh expression to calculate depth-of-focus. This limited resolution to no
better than 0.6 µm. Matters were improved by the use of shorter wavelengths, but
the large fraction of the depth-of-focus budget from device topography still limited
the use of high-numerical-aperture optics.
The advent of chemical-mechanical polishing reduced the problems associated
with device topography significantly by eliminating most device topography.
The requisite depth-of-focus of the optics was decreased, because it was no
longer necessary to image well throughout the height of the device features. This
enabled the use of higher numerical aperture optics and allowed the extension
of optical lithography further than earlier thought possible, because the depth-of-
focus requirement was reduced by the use of chemical-mechanical polishing.
However, wafers can be flattened only once. The benefit of chemical-mechanical
polishing has nearly been fully realized, and this process cannot provide additional
help for extending optical lithography. As with resist and wavelength, only small
gains are possible for extending optical lithography by the means of reducing wafer
topography, as used in the past. Optical lithography has been extended beyond
earlier expectations, but the means by which this extension occurred provide little
further benefit. However, there are new resolution-enhancement techniques, such
as those discussed in Chapter 8, that have not yet been fully exploited, enabling
a move to lower k1 . The question of how low in k1 it is possible to go is now
considered.
388 Chapter 10
10.8 How Low Can k1 Go?

An inspection of Fig. 2.13 shows that image contrast becomes zero when the half
pitch is 0.25λ/NA or smaller. This is true even when using powerful resolution-
enhancement techniques such as dipole illumination or alternating phase-shifting
masks. Thus, there is a limit on k1 of 0.25 imposed by the laws of physics. It only
need be assumed that the optical imaging is linear and that a single exposure step
is involved for this to be a true limit imposed by the laws of nature. How close to
k1 = 0.25 a manufacturing process can be is a matter of technology.
The value of k1 used in manufacturing has been declining for years. Since k1
must always be larger than 0.25, it is interesting to see how k1 0 = k1 − 0.25 trends
over time. A graph of k1 0 is shown in Fig. 10.12. As can be seen, considerable
progress has been made in reducing k1 over the years, and k1 has descended from
a value of ∼1.0 in the mid-1980s to ∼0.3 today. This decrease in k1 alone accounts
for a reduction in feature sizes of over 3×, which represents three nodes of progress
on the International Technology Roadmap for Semiconductors. However, a similar
reduction in the future is not possible, since k1 cannot become smaller than 0.25.
The most reduction that is physically possible is
0.25
= 0.83, (10.13)
0.30
and this requires taking resolution to the absolute limit allowed by the laws of
physics. A more likely minimum value will be somewhat larger, perhaps k1 = 0.28
or 0.27. Thus, only modest decreases in minimum feature sizes will be possible in
the future through reduction in k1 .
As has been described thus far in this chapter, nearly all of the improvements
that have been introduced in the past to advance lithography—better resists, lenses
with lower aberrations and higher numerical apertures, flatter wafers, and shorter
wavelengths—have been exploited nearly completely. How close to the theoretical
limit optical lithography can be taken is discussed in the next section.
Figure 10.12 The evolution of k1 over time, using DRAM half pitches to ascertain k1 .
10.9 How Far Can Optical Lithography Be Extended?

Based upon the discussion in this chapter thus far, optical lithography at its ultimate
limit consists of the following:
1. A wavelength of 157 nm. While there are likely practical reasons why 157-nm
lithography may not be used in manufacturing, λ = 157 nm does represent the
optical lithography wavelength limit, at least in principle.
2. Photoresists sensitive at 157 nm, but with performance comparable to mature
KrF resists, in terms of the process k1 .
3. Fully implemented two-beam resolution enhancement techniques, such as
dipole.
4. Negligible device topography.
5. An immersion fluid with an index of refraction of 1.65. This assumes that lens
materials, such as lutetium aluminum garnet, can be produced with sufficient
quality, so the higher-index fluids can be exploited.
These are the assumptions for the remainder of this section. Optical lithography
is limited because many parameters cannot be improved indefinitely, but rather
to asymptotic limits. The key examples of these are listed in Table 10.3. The
mathematical limit of sin θ is 1.0. Shorter wavelengths can be used until fused silica
transparency becomes limiting. Wafer flatness can be improved until the wafers are
flat, and then no further improvement is possible. Optical lithography is limited by
the tyranny of the asymptote.
Because resolution in optical lithography is limited by depth-of-focus, the
DOF that is actually required is at the heart of the problem. The limit of optical
lithography is quite different if exposure-tool focus can be controlled within ±25
nm, rather than, say, ±100 nm. Another relevant issue when discussing the ultimate
limit of optical lithography is the extent to which lens aberrations can be reduced.
A lens with 20-nm field curvature will have less capability than one with only 5-nm
field curvature.
Suppose the lens is indeed diffraction limited. Consider:
λ
resolution = k1 . (10.14)
NA
Table 10.3 Key lithography parameters are their asymptotic

limits. θ is defined in Fig. 2.11.
Lithographic parameter Asymptotic limit
Resolution Diffraction limit

sin θ 1.0
Resist performance Tangent of the resist sidewall angle
Wavelength 157 nm
Wafer flatness Perfectly flat
Immersion fluid index of refraction 1.65
390 Chapter 10
Today, ArF processes with k1 < 0.35 are common. For these processes, pitches
<90 nm are imaged with currently available 1.35-NA lenses. If we assume that
similar values of θ can be produced for a 157-nm lens and an immersion fluid with
n = 1.65 is available, along with glass materials to support such a fluid, it would
be possible to produce 27-nm lines and spaces with k1 = 0.27 and a depth-of-focus
[Eq. (10.4)] of approximately ±36 nm. Lithography with such depths-of-focus will
require lenses with very little field curvature and astigmatism, exposure tools with
focus control of 10 nm (or less), negligible device topography, and extremely flat
wafers. Nevertheless, such processes are not out of the question. Even if we restrict
ourselves to conservative values for NA (1.35), k1 (0.28), and wavelength (193
nm), a resolution of 40 nm is achievable. All of these estimations indicate that
the ultimate limit for optical lithography is somewhere between 27 nm and 40 nm.
Beyond this range—the 22-nm node, for example—lithography methods that differ
in form from optical lithography as described thus far in this book will be required.
The degree to which optical lithography can be extended to very low values of
k1 depends upon how successfully all of the methods described in Chapter 8—
optical proximity corrections, off-axis illumination, and phase-shifting masks—
can be implemented. The ability to implement particular techniques depends upon
the application. For example, the imaging of highly repetitive structures, such as
those found in memories, can be enhanced through the use of off-axis illumination,
but the benefit is less for isolated features.
In Chapter 8, several resolution-enhancement techniques were presented:
optical proximity corrections, phase shifting, and off-axis illumination. The
issues associated with each of these techniques are best understood in light
of requirements. The constraints for memories, logic, and application-specific
integrated circuits are all different. For memories, the goal is packing a large
number of bits into a given area of silicon. Memory is used by the bit, and
increasing density provides more bits at lower prices. The memory business is very
dependent upon the manufacturing cost per bit.
The requirements for logic are somewhat different. There is certainly an element
of importance in manufacturing efficiency that can come from packing density,
particularly for microprocessors with significant amounts of on-board cache
memory. However, processor speed has a big effect on the value of the part. This
is shown for a Windows-compatible microprocessor in Fig. 10.13. Retail prices
are seen to be extremely dependent upon processor speed. Clearly, consumers are
willing to pay significantly more money for higher-performance microprocessors,
which motivates manufacturers of microprocessors to maximize performance. Fast
chips require fast transistors, which usually necessitates short gate lengths. The
speed at which the processor can operate reliably is usually limited by the slowest
transistor on the part. Hence, it is undesirable to have any transistors with long
gate lengths. On the other hand, transistors with gates that are too short may break
down electrically or can result in wasted power consumption due to leakage. Thus,
it is undesirable for gates to be either too long or too short. For microprocessors,
linewidth control is critical.
Figure 10.13 AMD Phenom II Deneb processor prices as a function of processor clock
speed. The prices were taken on January 11, 2010, from the Web site∗ of a company that
sells computer hardware.
Linewidth-control requirements for logic gates have been incorporated into the
International Technology Roadmap for Semiconductors and are summarized in
Table 10.4. These requirements are very tight, and even the smallest detractors of
linewidth control will need to be addressed. Consider the issue of optical proximity
corrections. There are limits to how finely these can be applied, particularly in
circumstances where there are large mask-error factors (MEF). The problem can
be illustrated by a hypothetical example. Suppose that a 3-nm iso-dense adjustment
needs to be made. For 4× reticles, this represents a 12-nm adjustment, if MEF = 1
and the beam writer is writing on a 5-nm grid, then there will be a 2-nm residual
error following a 10-nm correction on the mask. With MEF = 1, this results in a
0.5-nm error on the wafer, which might be considered acceptable. However, with
MEF = 4, the error on the wafer will be 2 nm, which is quite significant relative to
linewidth control requirements in the 45-nm node and beyond.
Table 10.4 Gate critical dimension (CD) control requirements from the year 2009
International Technology Roadmap for Semiconductors.
Node (nm) Year Microprocessor gate CD in resist Microprocessor gate CD
(nm) control, lithography
contribution only (3σ, nm)
45 2010 41 2.8
32 2013 28 2.1
23 2016 20 1.6
16 2019 14 1.2
Phase shifting does not eliminate the problem of a finite grid size for adjusting
iso-dense biases, although it does reduce the mask-error factor significantly. The
∗
www.Newegg.com
392 Chapter 10
value of this is illustrated in Figs. 10.14 and 10.15, where the linewidth target of
120 nm is simulated over a range of pitches. Without optical proximity corrections,
the linewidth variations are large (Fig. 10.14). They are reduced significantly by
adjusting the mask CD at several different pitches, as illustrated in Fig. 10.15.
However, even with these optical proximity corrections there is some residual
linewidth variation, even at best focus. This is a consequence of corrections being
made on a grid of only 20 nm on the mask. The mask could be made on a finer
grid, but this would increase the cost.
There are also certain “forbidden” pitches35 where the depth-of-focus is much
worse than it is for others. For some technologies, such variations might be
tolerable, but not for high-performance microprocessors, where exceptionally
Figure 10.14 Simulated linewidth on the wafer versus pitch for a fixed linewidth (100 nm)
on an alternating phase-shifting mask, for several values of defocus, targeting 120 nm on
the wafer. The parameters of the calculation assumed λ = 248 nm, NA = 0.6, and σ = 0.5.34
The resist was UV5-like. An aberration-free lens was assumed.
Figure 10.15 Simulated linewidth for the same conditions as for Fig. 10.14, except that the
dimensions were proximity corrected on a 5-nm grid (20 nm on the mask for a 4× system).
Numerical aperture and partial coherence were selected to optimize the range of the
forbidden pitches.
tight gate linewidth control is required. Changing parameters, such as numerical

aperture and partial coherence, only increases the variation shown in Fig. 10.15,
although the particular range of forbidden pitches may shift. This is not something
that can be corrected through optical proximity corrections—the problem is depth-
of-focus, not CD variation at best focus, over the range of pitches.
While memories may not have the extraordinary challenges for gate linewidth
control that is required for high-performance logic, there are other very significant
lithography challenges. Consider the addition of hammerheads to address the
problem of line shortening (Fig. 8.17). For patterns on large pitches, there is
space to add the hammerheads, but consider the memory-array pattern shown in
Fig. 10.16. When features are densely packed, there is little room to add features
for optical proximity corrections. Fortunately, densely packed memory arrays
are precisely those situations where resolution-enhancement techniques that are
applicable to repetitive patterns have the most benefit.
Makers of memories and high-volume microprocessors can match their designs
and lithography processes. Memories can be laid out with pitches to enable some
degree of optical proximity correction and be set on a pitch that can be well
imaged with predetermined illumination conditions. There is a greater challenge
for foundries, which are expected to produce products designed at other companies.
Enabling the greatest flexibility for designs while also providing leading-edge
lithography capability is a challenge, and some restrictions on layout are required
to achieve the most dense layouts possible.
Many resolution-enhancement techniques, such as off-axis illumination, have
maximum benefit over a narrow range of pitches. Good-quality patterning of
exceptionally fine-line features using these pitch-specific techniques is not easily
obtained for high-performance logic applications with random logic on layouts that
have many pitches, orientations, and configurations. To achieve very tight control
of linewidths on tight pitches it is necessary to pattern only a small number of
pitches. For this reason, methodologies have been developed to transform designs
to layouts that are “lithographically friendly.” These approaches are collectively
Figure 10.16 When memory arrays are densely packed, there is no room to add features
for optical proximity corrections.
394 Chapter 10
referred to as design for manufacturability (DFM). Under the umbrella of DFM,

there are a number of methodologies for improving yield and reducing variability:
1. Identification and elimination of design layouts that have very small process
windows. This may be achieved, for example, by determining optical proximity
corrections throughout a focus-dose process window and not just at best focus
and dose (see Fig. 10.15). This example illustrates that there is no sharp dividing
line between what people call OPC and DFM.
2. Significant restrictions on layouts. Design rules have long been used to restrict
the features that are allowed in designs. For many years these rules were very
simple, usually consisting of statements of minimum allowed feature sizes.
Over time more rules were added, such as requiring that all contact holes be
the same size. More recently, manufacturers of high-performance logic have
oriented all transistor gates in a single direction in order to reduce variability.
Such major changes to the rules required a change in paradigm, where designers
and lithographers worked together to generate the design rules. The greater
complexity of design rules requires extensive development work involving both
designers and lithographers, and implementation is greatly facilitated by good
design tools.
3. Process-aware design rules, including electrical rules. Lithographic variations
will have an impact on electrical characteristics, often beyond the variations
seen in simple line and space patterns. For example, optical proximity effects
will modify the shape of a transistor’s gate that is embedded within a complex
pattern beyond a simple shift in linewidth (Fig. 10.17). In this case the
electrical characteristics of the transistor are determined by breaking the gate
into segments of variable length.36
Design for manufacturability typically requires consideration of more than a
single layer, because layout modifications are often involved. An example of this
is illustrated in Fig. 10.18. In this case the layout modifications are substantial and
involve several device layers.
Figure 10.17 The gate shape is the result of simulation. As a consequence of patterns in
proximity to this gate, the gate length is not uniform across the active region.
Figure 10.18 Modifying the layout of an inverter to become increasingly lithographically

friendly.37
There are many challenges that need to be overcome for optical lithography
to be extended to the limits of water-immersion lithography, and even greater
challenges for extension beyond that. Regardless, 27 nm appears to be a clear
limit for conventional optical lithography. A possible optical approach involving
a paradigm that has potential for patterning down to the 22-nm node is presented
in the next section, and nonoptical technologies will be the subject of this book’s
final two chapters.
10.10 Double Patterning

The limitations of the resolution of optical lithography are constraints on
the minimum pitch that can be printed, not the size of individual features.
Consequently, one means of patterning a very dense pitch is to print every-
other line on one exposure and then print the lines in between on a succeeding
step. Because resist solvent will normally dissolve resist patterns on the wafer,
various double-patterning approaches have been adopted to address this issue.
One such approach is illustrated in Fig. 10.19. In this case the pattern of the first
lithography step is transferred into a hardmask on which the resist of the second
patterning operation can be coated, exposed, and developed. This approach clearly
represents a considerable increase in process complexity and cost, replacing a
single lithography and etch step with two such operations, along with an additional
hardmask deposition and removal.
While Fig. 10.19 captures the basic concept of double patterning, there are
many details about which lithographers need to be concerned that are not fully
captured in the idealized illustration. For example, there is likely to be a difference
in average linewidth between the first and second exposures, and this will increase
the variance of the linewidth distribution. If the standard deviation of the linewidths
from the first patterning (including etch) is σ1 and the linewidth mean is µ1 , while
σ2 and µ2 are the standard deviation and mean of the linewidths from the second
396 Chapter 10
Figure 10.19 Illustration of a double-patterning process that incorporates a hardmask and

two etches.
patterning, respectively, then the overall linewidth variation is38

s
#2
σ21 σ22
"
1
σtotal = + + µ1 − µ2 .

(10.15)
2 2 2
If σ1 = σ2 = σ, this reduces to
s
" #2
1
σtotal = σ2 + µ1 − µ2 .

(10.16)
2
It cannot be assumed automatically that σ1 = σ2 , because the second lithography

step takes place on the topography created by the first patterning step. For example,
the spin coating of bottom antireflection coatings and resists will be affected by
the topography, as described in Chapter 3, so a multilayer resist process might be
considered for the second patterning step.
An overlay error between the first and second pattern will affect the dimensional
control of the spaces (Fig. 10.20). Because the variance for overlay is usually
greater than that for linewidths (from a single patterning), the variance for the
spacewidths will be much greater than that for lines for the example shown in
Fig. 10.20. If the mean overlay error between the first and second exposure is µOL
Figure 10.20 Illustration of a double-patterning process with an overlay error.
with a standard deviation of σOL , the resulting spacewidth variation is given by

s
2
σCD,line
σCD,space = + σ2OL + µ2OL . (10.17)
2
For the situation where lines of resist are the features produced by the individual
patterning operations, this equation clearly shows the increase in the spacewidth
variation caused by overlay.
If the lines are much more critical than the spaces, as is typically true for
gate layer, then patterning lines of resist is an appropriate choice for a double-
patterning process, since the critical gate length is not affected directly by overlay
errors. However, there are circumstances where the spaces might be considered
more critical than the lines. For example, in a damascene metal process, the metal
lines are defined by the space. If the primary concerns are resistance and perhaps
electromigration, then the preceding analysis shows that process control might be
severely limited by overlay. A way to avoid this is to print spaces as the primary
features, as shown in Fig. 10.21. There are some difficulties with this. For very
small features, spaces are more difficult to print using positive resist than lines
of resist, even on loose pitches. Negative tone resist processes can provide a
solution.39
Another way to reduce the impact of overlay on spacewidth control is by the
use of spacers to achieve tight pitches.40 This approach is illustrated in Fig. 10.22.
In this approach a pattern on a loose pitch is created, and this is then coated with
a conformal thin film. The film is then etched anisotropically in a process very
similar to that used for many years to create spacers on gates. As can be seen,
the spacer process eliminates the dependence of critical dimensions on overlay.
398 Chapter 10
Figure 10.21 Double-patterning process with spaces being patterned directly.
Figure 10.22 Double patterning using a spacer process that halves the pitch dimension.
However, the opposite situation can occur. A mis-sized core pattern used in a spacer
process will cause misplacement of the spacer-defined features. Spacer processes
will require additional lithography and etch steps to remove features at the ends of
lines that may not be desired (Fig. 10.23).
Double patterning has been illustrated in Figs. 10.19–10.23 with line and space
patterns. This is appropriate, since the problem that double patterning is attempting
to address is that of creating tight pitches, and such processes have already found
applications for printing the dense grating structures found in flash memories.
However, patterns of real circuits consist of far more than simple lines and spaces,
particularly for logic and memories outside of the cores (Fig. 10.24). It may not be
possible to decompose layouts for double-patterning processes, and circuit layouts
Figure 10.23 Top view of a pattern generated in a spacer process, illustrating an unwanted
spacer that needs to be removed with additional lithography and etch steps in order to
created a unidirectional grating.
Figure 10.24 Metal layout for random logic, unmodified to be amenable to patterning using
spacer double-patterning processes.
will need to be altered if double patterning is going to be used to shrink patterns

from those generated using single exposures.
The double-patterning processes described thus far in this section are complex,
involving multiple film depositions, lithography steps, and etches. There have been
efforts to reduce the number of steps in the process in order to reduce overall cost.
One variation of the process illustrated in Fig. 10.19 is to “harden” or “freeze” the
resist features from the first patterning step so that another layer of photoresist can
be coated directly over the first resist pattern without the resist features already
on the wafer being dissolved by the solvent in the resist of the second patterning
process. Methods for freezing the resist include vacuum ultraviolet (VUV) flood
exposures,41 chemical hardening,42 and design of resists that can be hardened
with a high-temperature bake without flowing.43 Similarly, spacer processes can
be simplified by depositing spacers at sufficiently low temperatures so that they
can be deposited directly onto resist patterns.
Double patterning is a way to overcome the intrinsic physical resolution limits
of single exposures and create patterns on wafers with pitches that are smaller
than could be patterned in a single lithography step. This approach increases
400 Chapter 10
the complexity and cost of lithography, essentially by doubling the number of

processing steps to generate a layer of a circuit, but it does enable a significant
extension for optical lithography. Design layouts need to be modified so they can
be decomposed into two masking steps. For this reason, there is still motivation
to find lithographic technologies with resolution beyond that of ArF immersion-
projection lithography. One such method that is used in laboratory settings is
described in the next section, and techniques under consideration for use in high-
volume manufacturing are the subjects of Chapters 12 and 13.
10.11 Interferometric Lithography

One method that potentially qualifies as an optical-lithography technique is
interferometric lithography. This approach relies on the small-pitch grating that
results when two coherent plane waves intersect. Suppose two plane waves
Aeik(x sin θ−z cos θ) and Aeik(−x sin θ−z cos θ) intersect (Fig. 10.25), where k = 2π/λ and
λ is the wavelength of the light. The resulting light intensity is given by
4A2 cos2 (kx sin θ) . (10.18)
This light-intensity distribution has a pitch of
λ
. (10.19)
2 sin θ
Continuous-wave DUV light at 213 nm can be generated by 5× frequency

multiplying of the 1064-nm light output of a neodymium-YAG laser. For θ =
60 deg, this results in a pitch of 123 nm. Equating the half pitch to the resolution,
this technique offers imaging capability below 70 nm.
One potential advantage of interferometric lithography is the possibility of
extending it in an immersion configuration44 using a fluid with a refractive index
higher than that of water. In such a system, a prism is used to couple the light
(Fig. 10.26). Because the gratings can be created using light of a single polarization
and in one direction, the prism can be fabricated of materials with levels of
Figure 10.25 In interferometric lithography, a grating pattern is created by the interference

of two plane waves.
Figure 10.26 Configuration of an immersion interferometric lithography system.
birefringence that are too high for use in lenses. One such material is aluminum
oxide, with an index of refraction of 1.92 at λ = 193 nm.45
Interferometric lithography is a technique capable of patterning gratings of
very fine pitches, a method of great utility for making high-resolution optical
gratings. It is less straightforward to extend this technique to the patterning of
random logic patterns. Some approaches have been proposed,46,47 but there has not
yet been a commercial attempt to implement them and verify their practicality.
Nevertheless, interferometric lithography has proven to be a useful method for
studying fundamental resist issues, such as how resists behave when immersed
in fluids during exposure. Interferometric lithography is a useful tool for the
laboratory, even if it cannot yet be practically used to pattern integrated circuits.
The extension of optical lithography to its ultimate limits will require that many
problems be solved. These include full implementation of the topics presented in
Chapter 8, along with further refinement of lenses, exposure tools, and masks.
While technical solutions for these problems may be found, their cost becomes
a concern. The cost of lithography is the subject of the next chapter.
Problems
10.1 Show that the approximate depth-of-focus given by
λ
DOF =
NA2
is always larger than the exact DOF given by the expression in Eq. (10.4).
10.2 Show that the linewidth reduction possible by changing the wavelength from
193 nm to 157 nm is 21%, assuming equivalence in all other aspects of the
lithographic processes. Is this sufficient to advance lithography one node?
How does this resolution improvement compare with the benefits of ArF
water-immersion lithography?
10.3 Assuming λ = 193 nm and NA = 1.35, show that 40-nm lines and spaces is
k1 = 0.28. How much smaller do think is possible from such optics?
402 Chapter 10
10.4 Suppose that a single drop of water is left on a 300-mm-diameter (775-

µm-thick) silicon wafer. If the wafer is thermally isolated except for the
evaporation of the water, show that the wafer temperature will decrease by
∼1 ◦ C due to the evaporation. Note that the latent heat of evaporation for
the wafer is 2490 J/g, the specific heat of silicon is 0.7 J/gC, and the density
of silicon is 2330 kg/m3 . Do you think that water evaporation could lead to
overlay problems with immersion lithography?
References
1. C. A. Winslow, Elements of Applied Microscopy, John Wiley & Sons, New
York (1905).
2. J. H. Burnett and S. G. Kaplan, “Measurement of the refractive index and
thermo-optic coefficient of water near 193 nm,” J. Microlith. Microfab.
Microsyst. 3(1), 68–72 (2004).
3. G. Nellis and A. Wei, “Preliminary analysis of laser-pulse-induced pressure
variation for immersion lithography,” J. Microlith. Microfab. Microsyst. 3(1),
84–86 (2004).
4. S. Owa and H. Nagasaka, “Advantage and feasibility of immersion
lithography,” J. Microlith. Microfab. Microsyst. 3(1), 97–103 (2004).
5. S. Owa, K. Shiraishi, S. Nagaoka, T. Fujiwara, and Y. Ishii, “Full field, ArF
immersion projection tool,” Proc.17th Ann. SEMI/IEEE Adv. Semicond. Manuf.
Conf., 63–70 (2006).
6. P. L. Marsten, “Light scattering from bubbles in water,” Proc. Oceans ’89,
1186–1193 (1989).
7. L. Tsang, J. A. Kong, and K. H. Ding, Scattering of Electromagnetic Waves:
Theories and Applications, Wiley, New York (2000).
8. T. Gau, C. -K. Chen, and B. J. Lin, “Image characterization of bubbles in water
for 193-nm immersion lithography–far-field approach,” J. Microlith. Microfab.
Microsyst. 3(1), 61–67 (2004).
9. D. Ngo and G. Videen, “Light scattering from spheres,” Opt. Eng. 36(1),
150–156 (1997).
10. P. S. Epstein and M. S. Plesset, “On the stability of gas bubbles in liquid-gas
solutions,” J. Chem. Phys. 18(11), 1505–1509 (1950).
11. A. H. Harvey, S. G. Kaplan, and J. H. Burnett, “Effect of dissolved air on the
density and refractive index of water,” Int. J. Thermophys. 26(5), 1495–1514
(2005).
12. A. Suzuki, “Immersion lithography update,” Sematech 2nd Immersion Lithog.
Work. (July, 2003).
13. A. C. Tobey, “Wafer stepper steps up yield and resolution in IC lithography,”
Electronics, 109–112 (August 16, 1979).
14. J. Lyman, “Optical lithography refuses to die,” Electronics, 36–42 (October 7,

1985).
15. H. J. Levinson and W. H. Arnold, “Focus: the critical parameter for submicron
lithography,” J. Vac. Sci. Technol., 293–298 (1987).
16. M. D. Levenson, “Wavefront engineering for photolithography,” Physics
Today, 28–36 (July, 1993).
17. Dr. Bernd Geh, Private Communication (1999).
18. A. C. Wei, G. F. Nellis, R. L. Engelstad, C. Chen, M. Switkes, and
M. Rothschild, “Microfluidic simulations for immersion lithography,” J.
Microlith. Microfab. Microsyst. 3(1), 28–34 (2004).
19. M. K. Yang, S. G. Kaplan, R. H. French, and J. H. Burnett, “Index of
refraction of high-index lithographic immersion fluids and its variability,” J.
Micro/Nanolith, MEMS, MOEMS 8(2), 023005 (2009).
20. K. Sakai, T. Iwasaki, S. Mori, A. Yamada, M. Ogusu, K. Yamashita,
T. Nishikawara, S. Hara, and Y. Watanabe, “Feasibility study on immersion
system using high-index materials,” Jpn. J. Appl. Phys 47, 4853–4861 (2008).
21. R. Gupta, J. H. Burnett, U. Griesmann, and M. Walhout, “Absolute refractive
indices and thermal coefficients of fused silican and calcium fluoride near 193
nm,” Appl. Optic. 37(25), 5964–5968 (1998).
22. B. W. Smith, Y. Fan, M. Slocum, and L. Zavyalova, “25 nm immersion
lithography at a 193-nm wavelength,” Proc. SPIE 5754, 141–147 (2004).
23. J. H. Burnett, S. G. Kaplan, E. L. Shirley, D. Horowitz, W. Clauss,
A. Grenville, and C. V. Peski, “High-index optical materials for 193-nm
immersion lithography,” Proc. SPIE 6154, 615418 (2006).
24. K. Kurosawa, Y. Takigawa, W. Sasaki, M. Okuda, E. Fujiwara, K. Yoshida,
and Y. Kato, “High-power operation of an argon excimer laser with a MgF2
and SiC cavity,” IEEE J. Sel. Top. Quant. Electron. 26(1), 71–76 (1991).
25. S. Neeser, M. Schumann, and H. Langhoff, “Improved gain for the Ar∗2
excimer laser at 126 nm,” Appl. Phys. B 63, 103–105 (1996).
26. K. Kurosawa, R. Sonouchi, A. Yokotani, W. Sasaki, M. Kattoh, Y. Takigawa,
and K. Nishimura, “Fabrication, characteristics and performance of diamond
mirrors for vacuum ultraviolet excimer lasers,” Opt. Eng. 34(5), 1405–1409
(1995).
27. M. Katto, M. Okuda, W. Sasaki, K. Kurosawa, and Y. Kato, “Electron beam
pumped argon-excimer laser using an unstable resonator,” IEEE J. Sel. Top.
Quant. Electron. 1(3), 924–930 (1995).
28. Dr. Mordechai Rothschild, Private Communication (2000).
29. Handbook of Optical Constants of Solids, E. D. Palik, Ed., Academic Press,
Boston (1998).
404 Chapter 10
30. B. Shamoun, R. Engelstad, and D. Trost, “Assessment of thermal

loading–induced distortions in optical photomasks due to e-beam multipass
31. M. Switkes and M. Rothschild, “Resolution enhancement of 157-nm
lithography by liquid immersion,” J. Microlith. Microfab. Microsyst. 1,
225–228 (2002).
32. As an historical note, the recognition that ArF water-immersion lithography
should be considered seriously became apparent to many lithographers during
the question and answer session following a presentation in 2002 on 157-nm
immersion lithography during the 3rd International Symposium on 157-nm
Lithography in Antwerp.
33. R. R. Kunz, M. Switkes, R. Sinta, J. E. Curtin, R. H. French, R. C.
Wheland, C.-P. C. Kao, M. P. Mawn, L. Lin, P. Wetmore, V. Krukonis,
and K. Williams, “Transparent fluids for 157-nm immersion lithography,” J.
Microlith. Microfab. Microsyst. 3(1), 73–86 (2004).
34. H. J. Levinson and J. Kye “Optical lithography: how far can it go?” Semicon
Korea 2001 Technical Symposium (2001).
35. R. Socha, M. Dusa, L. Capodieci, J. Finders, F. Chen, D. Flagello, and
K. Cummings, “Forbidden pitches for 130-nm lithography and below,” Proc.
SPIE 4000, 1140–1155 (2000).
36. W. J. Poppe, L. Capodieci, J. Wu, and A. Neureuther, “From poly line to
transistor: building BSIM models for non-rectangular transistors,” Proc. SPIE
6156, 61560P (2006).
37. This figure was provided by Dr. Lars Liebmann.
38. A. J. Hazelton, S. Wakamoto, S. Hirukawa, M. McCallum, N. Magome,
J. Ishikawa, C. Lapeyre, I. Guilmeau, S. Barnola, and S. Gaugiran, “Double
patterning requirements for optical lithography and prospects for optical
extension with double patterning,” Proc. SPIE 6924, 69240R (2008).
39. S. Tarutani, H. Tsubaki, and S. Kanna, “Development of materials and
processes for double patterning toward 32-nm node 193-nm immersion
lithography process,” Proc. SPIE 6923, 69230F (2008).
40. C. Bencher, Y. Chen, H. Dai, W. Montgomery, and L. Huli, “22 nm half-pitch
patterning by CVD spacer self alignment double patterning (SADP),” Proc.
SPIE 6924, 69244E (2008).
41. N. Bekiaris, H. Cervera, J. Dai, R. Kim, A. Acheta, T. Wallow, J. Kye,
H. J. Levinson, T. Nowak, and J. Yu, “A lithographic and process assessment
of photoresist stabilization for double-patterning using 172 nm photoresist
curing,” Proc. SPIE 6923, 692321 (2008).
42. M. Hori, T. Nagai, A. Nakamura, T. Abe, G. Wakamatsu, T. Kakizawa, T.
Anno, M. Sugiura, S. Kusumoto, Y. Yamaguchi, and T. Shimokawa, “Sub-
40nm half-pitch double patterning with resist freezing process,” Proc. SPIE
6923, 69230H (2008).
43. K. R. Chen, W. Huang, W. Li, and P. R. Varanasi, “Resist freezing process for
double exposure lithography,” Proc. SPIE 6923, 69230G (2008).
44. J. A. Hoffnagle, W. D. Hinsberg, M. Sanchez, and F. A. Houle, “Liquid
immersion deep-ultraviolet interferometric lithography,” J. Vac. Sci. Technol.
B 17(6), 3306–3309 (1999).
45. B. W. Smith, Y. Fan, M. Slocum, and L. Zavyalova, “25 nm immersion
lithography at a 193 nm wavelength,” Proc. SPIE 5754, 141–147 (2004).
46. X. Chen and S. R. J. Brueck, “Imaging interferometric lithography–a
wavelength division mulitplex approach to extending optical lithography,” J.
Vac. Sci. Technol. B 16, 3392–3397 (1998).
47. X. Chen and S. R. J. Brueck, “Imaging interferometric lithography for arbitrary
Chapter 11
Lithography Costs
11.1 Cost-of-Ownership
The high price tags of exposure tools have made the cost of lithography a concern
since the advent of projection lithography, and lithography costs may ultimately
limit patterning capability, more so than technical feasibility. While there will
always be a market for electronics where price is secondary to performance, the
large personal computer and portable phone markets have proven to be extremely
elastic. To meet the demands of the consumer, lithography will need to be cost
effective, in addition to providing technical capability. Lithography costs have
several components. These include:
1. Capital equipment costs, throughput, and utilization

2. Consumables, such as photochemicals
3. Masks
4. Rework and yield
5. Metrology
6. Maintenance
7. Labor
8. Facilities.
These factors can be considered in various degrees of sophistication. A detailed
cost-of-ownership model was generated by SEMATECH, and an enhanced version
of this model is commercially available.1 In this chapter, the basic components of
such cost-of-ownership models are introduced and discussed.
Lithography tools are often the most expensive in the wafer fab. Even when
they are not, the fact that lithography is required for patterning many layers in
IC manufacturing processes, while most other tools are used for only a few steps,
means that a large number of lithography tools are needed for each wafer fab,
resulting in high total costs for lithography equipment.
Wafer steppers are the most expensive pieces of equipment in the lithography
tool set. Their prices have increased by an average of 17% per year since they
were introduced in the late 1970s, to the point where the prices for leading-edge
step-and-scan systems now exceed $50M (Figs. 11.1 and 11.2).
408 Chapter 11
Figure 11.1 Stepper prices over time (in U.S. dollars), collected by SEMATECH.2 Note the
logarithmic scale.
Figure 11.2 Stepper prices over time (in U.S. dollars), with costs from the newest tools
added to those included in Fig. 11.1. The data are also plotted on a linear scale. The solid
line is an exponential least-squares fit to the SEMATECH data. The prices for the EUV tools
(EUV lithography is the subject of the next chapter) are from Wüest, Hazelton, and Hughes.3
The cost of lithography can be measured in three ways:

1. The cost per wafer
2. The cost per chip
3. The cost per unit function, such as a bit of memory.
The use for each metric will become more apparent as the components of
lithography costs are reviewed.
11.1.1 Capital costs
Assessment of the impact of the increased cost of today’s steppers, relative
to earlier steppers, must include consideration of the increased throughput and
Lithography Costs 409
capability of newer machines. For example, the first commercially available

stepper, the GCA DSW4800, cost only $300,000, but it was capable of processing
only ten wafers (4 in.) per hour. Modern exposure tools are capable of exposing
140+ wafers (300 mm) per hour. In terms of cost per wafers per hour, the GCA
was considerably more cost effective, but one comes to a different conclusion when
the amount of silicon area produced per hour is considered (see Table 11.1). The
situation over time is plotted in Fig. 11.3. What is interesting about Fig. 11.3 is
how relatively constant lithography costs have been, in terms of dollars per silicon
area exposed per hour, despite an exponential increase in the prices of individual
exposure tools. While there has been some increase in the cost of exposing silicon
area with immersion lithography, these increases are significantly less than the
exponential growth in exposure-tool prices shown in Figs. 11.1 and 11.2.
There are additional benefits from advanced lithography, because higher
resolution enables greater functionality to be packed into every unit area of silicon.
Even though exposure-tool costs have increased significantly over time, the cost
Table 11.1 Comparison of capital costs and capability for the GCA DSW4800 and a
modern step-and-scan system. The bit throughput assumes that the bit size is proportional
to the square of the resolution, which changed from 1.25 µm for the GCA DSW4800 to 40 nm
for modern 193-nm immersion systems. This does not take into account any nonlithographic
innovations that have enabled reductions in bit size.
GCA DSW4800 Modern ArF imersion
step-and-scan
Exposure-tool price $300K $50M

Relative prices 1.0 167
Throughput 10 wafers (4 in.) per hour 140 wafers (300 mm) per hour
Relative capital cost/wafer 1.0 11.9
throughput
Relative capital cost/silicon area 1.0 1.32
throughput
Relative capital cost/bit throughput 1.0 0.001
Figure 11.3 Lithography costs per unit area exposed per hour. The solid line is the average
for the dry tools.
410 Chapter 11
per bit has plummeted. In terms of the value to the consumer of microelectronics,
modern wafer steppers are extremely cost effective. However, for producers of
chips, the very high capital costs require enormous investments. This cost has
certainly contributed significantly to the transformation of the semiconductor
industry from being comprised of a large number of small chip-making companies
to only a few large producers and an assortment of companies that contract others to
do their manufacturing. Since most cost-of-ownership analyses are oriented toward
a time period in which the wafer size is constant, the most common type of cost-of-
ownership analysis performed is the cost per wafer, which is the metric discussed
in this chapter. Extension to area or bit cost analyses can be obtained by scaling the
wafer cost of ownership appropriately.
As noted, the cost of lithography is strongly affected by equipment throughput.
The basic capital cost per wafer exposed is
C ED
cost/wafer = , (11.1)
T pU
where C ED is the capital depreciation per hour, T p is the raw throughput of the
system (in wafers per hour), and U is the fractional equipment utilization. Raw
throughput is the number of wafers per hour that can be aligned and exposed by
a stepper operating in the steady state. If lithography equipment is configured
to have exposure tools interfaced with resist-processing equipment, then C ED
should be the capital depreciation per hour of the total photocluster, and U is the
overall photocluster utilization. T p is the photocluster throughput, which may be
determined by the throughput capability of the resist processing equipment, rather
than by the exposure tool.
Early efforts to improve lithography productivity centered on stepper
throughput. The basic model for the raw throughput of step-and-repeat systems,
in wafers per hour, is
3600
throughput = , (11.2)
tOH + N(texp + tstep )
where N is the number of exposure fields per wafer, texp is the exposure time per
field, tstep is the amount of time required to step between fields, including the
time for vibrations to settle out (“step-and-settle time”) and the time required for
focusing. Alignment time for a stepper using die-by-die alignment would also be
included in tstep . The overhead time per wafer tOH is the time required to remove
a wafer from the chuck, place a new wafer onto the chuck, and align the wafer.
All times in the right-hand side of Eq. (11.2) are measured in seconds, and for this
equation it is assumed that only a single reticle is used per wafer.
The GCA4800 had a 10× lens with a 10-mm × 10-mm field size. With such
a small field, many exposures [N in Eq. (11.2)] were required per wafer. One of
the first steps taken to improve productivity was to decrease the lens reduction
to 5×. Field sizes (on the wafer) were increased to diameters > 20 mm, enabling
14-mm × 14-mm and 15-mm × 15-mm fields. Over time, field diameters increased
to over 31 mm, capable of supporting 22-mm × 22-mm fields. These bigger fields
provided higher throughput and could support large chip sizes. The migration from
10-mm × 10-mm fields to 22-mm × 22-mm fields led to a decrease in N, and
greatly increased stepper throughput. It should be noted that the reduction in N
does not scale exactly to the ratio of exposure-field areas, because partial fields
are often exposed at the edges of wafers, but the transition from 10× to 5× lens
reduction reduced N by approximately a factor of 4. With step-and-scan, even
larger exposure fields have become available, and tools with exposure fields as
large as 26 mm × 33 mm are typical. Nikon and Canon have introduced step-and-
repeat systems that match this field size. These tools will be discussed further in
Section 11.2.
Decreases in N are beneficial, to the extent that they are not offset by increases in
texp and tstep . If the total light energy available to expose a field remained constant,
then texp would need to increase in direct proportion to any increase in field size,
because the fixed amount of light would be spread over a larger area, and Ntexp
would remain fairly constant, assuming that N roughly scales inversely with field
area. Because of edge fields, Ntexp could actually increase without an improvement
in total illumination flux, and the only benefit to larger fields would come from the
reduction in the Ntstep term. Fortunately, another important way in which stepper
productivity has improved has been in terms of light flux. If I is the light intensity,
and S is the resist sensitivity (exposure dose required to achieve the desired resist
dimension on the wafer), then
S
texp = . (11.3)
I
Early wafer steppers provided <100 mW/cm2 of light to the wafer plane,
while intensities for i-line exposure tools that exceed 4000 mW/cm2 are common
today. These increases in light intensity result in proportional reductions in texp .
Photoresist sensitivity has also improved over time, particularly with the advent
of chemically amplified resists. DUV systems, where chemically amplified resists
are used, can have exposure intensities <1000 mW/cm2 while still maintaining
practical productivity.4 Today, fields are often exposed in <0.1 sec. There are
practical limits to how short the exposure time can be, since there will be dose-
control problems associated with exceedingly short exposure times on step-and-
repeat systems, and rapid exposures on step-and-scan systems are limited by the
fastest controllable stage-scanning speed. Scanning speeds are also limited by the
combination of pulse-to-pulse energy stability and excimer-laser-pulse frequency,
as discussed in Chapter 5.
Throughput improvement from large field sizes (smaller N) is somewhat offset
by the need to step or scan longer distances. Increases in field sizes require longer
stepping distances, so decreases in N are somewhat offset by increases in tstep .
However, there have been significant improvements in tstep as a consequence
of improvements in wafer-stage technology. Stages must be capable of high
velocity, acceleration, deceleration, and jerk (third time derivative of position).
412 Chapter 11
Prior to exposure, the stage position must be returned to a stable position, and the
wafer must also be properly focused and leveled. Advanced mechanical modeling
techniques have been used to optimize stage designs, and state-of-the-art control
techniques and electronics are used. It should be noted that tstep in Eq. (11.2) is an
average step-and-settle time, and actual times will differ in the x and y directions,
particularly for nonsquare fields. Typical values for the parameters used in Eq.
(11.2), for contemporary i-line wafer steppers, are given in Table 11.2.
The overhead time tOH includes wafer transport times and the time for global
alignment. There is a clear tradeoff between alignment precision, enhanced by a
large number of alignment sites, and throughput. If multiple reticles are used per
wafer, then the time to exchange reticles can be included in tOH (see Problem 11.2).
Step-and-scan systems have somewhat modified throughput models. The basic
throughput equation, Eq. (11.2), is applicable in modified form. For step-and-scan
systems, exposure times are given by
HF + H
texp = , (11.4)
v
where HF is the height of the scanned field, H is the slit height, and v is the scanning
speed (Fig. 11.4). All sizes and speeds must consistently refer to either the wafer or
reticle. There needs to be a certain amount of scanning startup time, so the stages
are moving at a constant controlled speed when exposure actually occurs, and this
time can be included in tstep . To incorporate resist sensitivity into the model, the
exposure dose S needs to calculated. If I(y) is the intensity at position y in the slit,
then the exposure dose in a scanner is given by
RH
I(y)dy
S = 0
, (11.5)
v
¯
where H is the slit height. In terms of the average intensity I,
¯
IH
S = . (11.6)
v
Table 11.2 Typical throughput param-

eters for i-line steppers, for 300-mm
wafers.
Parameter Value
N 76
tOH (single reticle/wafer) 9 sec
I 4000 mW/cm2
S 200 mJ/cm2
texp 0.05 sec
tstep 0.07 sec
throughput 200 wafers/hour
Figure 11.4 The parameters for Eq. (11.4).
The exposure time, in terms of the resist sensitivity, is given by

S H + H
F
texp = . (11.7)
I¯ H
Comparing this to Eq. (11.3), to achieve the same exposure time for a given
exposure dose, the light intensity must be greater for a scanner, compared to a
step-and-repeat system, by the factor
HF + H
. (11.8)
H
For a typical field height HF = 25 mm and slit heights of 5–10 mm, the exposure
intensity must be greater by a factor of 3.5–6 in order for the scanner to have the
same exposure times as an equivalent step-and-repeat system. However, the light
for a scanning exposure tool is being spread over an area that is smaller than on a
step-and-repeat system with the same field size by the factor
H
. (11.9)
HF
Illuminating a smaller area is not difficult with laser-light sources that produce
collimated light, but this is a challenge for arc-lamp systems that must gather light
emitted in many different directions.
Improvement in throughput with taller fields is not what is predicted by changing
N in Eq. (11.2), because longer scans are needed. For example, suppose the number
of fields is cut in half by a 2× increase in scanning height:
N
N→ , (11.10)
2
HF → 2HF . (11.11)
414 Chapter 11
The time to process a wafer for a field height HF is
HF + H
tOH + N(tstep + texp ) = tOH + N tstep + , (11.12)
v
HF H
= tOH + Ntstep + N +N . (11.13)
v v
Upon doubling the scan length, this process time changes to
N 0 HF N H
→tOH + tstep + N + . (11.14)
2 v 2 v
0
The step time is modified as tstep → tstep , indicating slightly longer stepping times
with the longer fields. While two terms are cut in half (or nearly half) by the
reduction in exposure fields, there is one term, N(HF /v), that remains proportional
to N. Consequently, the benefit of fewer fields is less than proportional to the
reduction in the number of fields.
Equipment downtime and setup time detract from the equipment output, and
these are included in the utilization factor in Eq. (11.1). A standard set of
states has been defined to facilitate the analysis of semiconductor manufacturing
equipment productivity (Fig. 11.5).5 Productivity is enhanced when the amount
of time that the equipment is in the productive state is maximized. The most
obvious loss of productivity occurs when tools are in a nonfunctional state.
This is equipment downtime. Typical downtime for lithography tools is 5–10%.
Unscheduled downtime occurs when equipment breaks unexpectedly and requires
repair. Scheduled downtime occurs for lamp changes, excimer-laser-window
replacements, the cleaning of resist-processing equipment, and similar types of
equipment maintenance that are necessary and can be planned. Engineering time
is the time the equipment is used for process and equipment engineering. To
the extent that process engineering is an objective of the wafer fab, this can be
considered useful time. It is not valuable time when process engineering is using
the tool to analyze a tool-related problem.
Standby time is often a significant detractor from productivity. It includes the
time that no operators are available, the time waiting for the results of production
tests, and the time during which there is no product available. When test wafers
are needed to set up individual lots, standby time can be high. It should be noted
that optimum fab operation will necessarily result in some standby time when there
is no product available. This can be understood as follows. Because the times are
variable when wafers are being processed outside of lithography, the work available
for lithography will also vary. Consider a lithography sector with only a single
photocluster. From queuing theory, the number of lots waiting for processing Nq is
related to the process time t and average rate R at which lots enter the lithography
Figure 11.5 Equipment states.
sector by the following equation:6

D E
R2 t2
Nq = , (11.15)
2 (1 − hti R)
where h· · ·i denotes the time average of the quantity in the brackets. From the same
theory, the fraction of time F0 when there are no wafers in process or queue is
given by
F0 = 1 − hti R. (11.16)
Maintaining 100% equipment utilization is equivalent to having F0 = 0.

Comparing Eqs. (11.15) and (11.16), one sees that an attempt to maintain 100%
equipment utilization results in the number of lots awaiting processing Nq to
tend toward infinity, assuming an infinite source of input. If we assume constant
processing time, then
D E
t2 = hti2 , (11.17)
and Eqs. (11.15) and (11.16) can be solved. The result is plotted in
Fig. 11.6. Similar but more complex equations apply for situations with multiple
photoclusters, but the basic conclusion remains the same: the queues in front of
the lithography operations grow very large unless some time is planned when no
wafers are available. With multiple photoclusters, the size of the queue is reduced
for a given fraction of time with zero queue. To maximize productivity, this time
with no wafers needs to be kept as small as possible, but the optimum value
is nonzero. This conclusion is unappealing to managers who want to avoid any
416 Chapter 11
Figure 11.6 The number of lots increases as the percentage of time with no queue goes
to zero for a single photocluster.
idle time for their expensive lithography equipment, yet also want to maintain
good cycle times, which require small queues. There have been a number of fab
managers who have tried to avoid what has been shown mathematically to be
inescapable, to their eventual regret and failure.
The utilization factor U in Eq. (11.1) is the sum of the fraction of productive
time and engineering times in the equipment-state diagram of Fig. 11.5. Part of the
uptime is consumed because of the practical necessity of having a finite standby
time to avoid large queues, but unfortunately, this is usually only a small part of the
lost productive time. Another contributor is inadequate production organization,
and it is clear that some companies are more effective at managing this than others.
This is a management issue, not directly one of the science of lithography, and will
not be discussed further in this book.
To place lithography capital costs in perspective, consider a photocell consisting
of a step-and-scan system costing $50M, interfaced to resist processing equipment
that costs $9M. If the equipment is depreciated over five years, then the straight
depreciation cost is $1347 per hour. If the raw throughput is 140 wafers per hour
and the utilization is 80%, then the capital contribution to the cost per wafer is $12.
All other costs can be considered in comparison to this number. In this analysis,
the cost of capital, which fluctuates with interest rates, was not included.
11.1.2 Consumables
Photochemicals are needed on a per-wafer basis. The most expensive chemical is
photoresist, with typical costs shown in Table 11.3. Resist coaters use 1–2 cc per
wafer (300 mm), so resist costs per wafer, in manufacturing, can run between $0.10
and $2.00 per wafer, assuming the lower volume/wafer resist use. Developer costs
can add another $0.20 to $0.50 per wafer. If antireflection coatings are used, their
costs must also be included. If these antireflection coatings are not essential parts of
the device integration and are there solely to improve the lithography, their coating
Table 11.3 Typical resist costs.
Type of resist Typical cost per liter
g or i line $100–$300
248 nm $250–$500
193 nm $300–$2000
or deposition, etching, and stripping costs must also be included in determining

lithography cost of ownership.
In addition to photochemicals, there are other consumable components and
materials, such as filters, mercury-arc lamps, and excimer-laser gases. Lamp
systems have significantly lower cost of ownership than laser systems, since the
latter require periodic replacement of expensive laser cavities and laser optical
components. The frequencies at which laser components are typically replaced are
given in Table 11.4. Replacement frequencies depend upon the usage of the lasers,
i.e., how many pulses have been fired. To put the number of pulses in Table 11.4 in
perspective, a continuously operating 6-kHz laser fires 189 billion pulses per year.
DUV exposure tools will typically be exposing wafers only ∼30% of the time, even
in volume manufacturing, but this still represents nearly 57 billion pulses annually.
The total cost of consumables for a KrF excimer laser system has been estimated
to be ∼$300,000 per year, compared to only ∼$60,000 per year for a lamp-based
system,7 while consumable costs for ArF lasers are higher than for KrF lasers.
Lamp-based systems clearly have lower consumables costs.
Disposal costs also contribute to the cost of ownership, since mercury-arc lamps,
fluorine filters (for excimer lasers), and used photochemicals all require disposal
consistent with appropriate regards for worker safety and the human environment.
However, these costs are usually negligible in comparison to other costs, and are
often ignored when computing lithography cost of ownership.
11.1.3 Mask costs

Photomasks have become a significant contributor to lithography costs. This was
not fully appreciated until one company, AMD, performed a study of internal mask
usage, and it was found that an average reticle was used to expose only 1800–2400
wafers.10,11 From a follow-up survey of SEMATECH member companies it was
found that this level of mask usage was not atypical, although there is a wide range
of reticle usage that varies from company to company. For makers of application-
specific integrated circuits (ASIC), the mask usage can be low; 500 wafers per
Table 11.4 Representative ArF excimer-laser-component

replacement frequency.8,9
Component Replacement frequency (# pulses)
Gas 2 billion
Laser cavity 40 billion
Line-narrowing module 60 billion
418 Chapter 11
reticle is considered typical for ASIC companies. For manufacturers of DRAMs

or mainstream microprocessors, usage can easily be greater than 5000 wafers per
reticle. The contribution of photomasks to the cost of ownership is a function of
each company’s business.
Binary reticles fabricated on 6-in. substrates cost $1K–$200K these days,
depending on requirements. Reticles that are not specified to have tight
requirements for registration and dimensional control can be made on depreciated
equipment, and the costs for such reticles are dominated by substrate costs. Reticles
that have tighter specifications for registration and linewidth control will need to
be made using the latest mask-making and inspection equipment and consequently
will cost more. At a usage rate of 1800 wafers per reticle, the mask contribution to
the cost of lithography ranges from $0.55–$111.11 per wafer exposure, assuming
that mask costs run from $1K–$200K. Comparing these costs to the estimates of
capital costs given in Section 11.1, it can be seen that the cost of masks can easily
exceed the cost of capital equipment. Moreover, photomask costs appear to be
increasing faster than equipment costs, making it even more important to consider
mask costs when pondering lithography cost of ownership. This is particularly true
for manufacturers of application-specific integrated circuits. For a reticle usage rate
of only 500 wafers per reticle, these costs skyrocket to between $2–$400 per wafer
exposure, depending upon mask costs within the range of $1K–$200K. Note that
these costs refer to single passes through the lithography operation. Because 20 or
more masking steps are required to completely fabricate an integrated circuit, these
mask costs contribute significantly to total manufacturing costs. With alternating
phase-shifting masks or CPL, the mask costs can be double that for binary masks,
or more.
These differences in the impact of mask costs on overall lithography costs
per wafer indicate a divergence developing in the semiconductor industry. For
manufacturers of DRAMs and mainstream microprocessors, mask costs are less
significant than for makers of applications-specific integrated circuits. These
different classes of manufacturers may pursue different solutions in the future,
should mask costs continue to escalate.
The consequences of rising mask prices must be taken in the context of overall
costs. It was estimated that the total development cost of a 90-nm technology
applications-specific integrated circuit was approximately $30M.12 Of this cost,
only $2.4M was for the masks. For 90-nm technology, the expenses for masks, as
a percentage of the total development cost, was on par with California’s sales tax.
The adoption of new generations of lithographic technologies are worthwhile
when transistor counts per chip increase significantly, because the greater expenses
associated with new lithographic technologies is justified when it helps to avoid
large die sizes. This matters only with integrated devices with large transistor
counts. Device design costs will scale with transistor counts, becoming more
expensive with increasing numbers of transistors. Although mask costs will be
greater for future technologies (22-nm node and beyond), so will design costs. For
high-volume products and devices of very great complexity, the increased mask
costs can be justified. However, specialty products produced in low quantity and
for which market requirements dictate a low selling price will not be made in the
most advanced technologies, because of reticle costs. As discussed in Chapter 13,
considerations are also being given to maskless lithographic technologies for
products made in low volumes.
11.1.4 Rework
Lithography is unique among semiconductor manufacturing processes in that it can

be easily reworked. If patterns in resist are found to be sized or placed incorrectly,
the resist can be stripped and the wafer reworked. While reworking is more cost
effective than scrapping wafers, at least in the short term, rework still represents a
significant cost, since lithography operations need to be performed multiple times
to properly pattern the reworked wafers. If f is the fraction of wafers that need to
be reworked, lithography costs are increased directly by a factor of (1 + f ) relative
to costs in the absence of rework.
There are also indirect costs associated with rework. Levels of rework above a
few percent indicate that there is poor process control. With high levels of rework it
is difficult to organize production, because one cannot be certain when wafers will
complete lithography operations. These indirect costs of rework often exceed the
direct ones. To ensure that wafers with parameters within specifications are sent to
postlithography processing, it is necessary to carefully measure a large fraction of
the wafers. Consequently, a lithography operation with poor process control will
need to have more metrology equipment. This metrology cost is discussed in more
detail in the next section.
11.1.5 Metrology
For low-capability processes, it is necessary to measure wafers (linewidths,

overlay, defects) in order to ensure that wafers are processed within specifications.
A certain level of measurement is needed even for well-controlled processes, so
it is difficult to state precisely which metrology tools have been purchased to
meet minimum requirements, and which tools were added to address low process
capability. Regardless, metrology costs do need to be factored into the overall cost
of ownership, but some of those costs, necessitated by poor process control, are not
easily quantified.
Measurement requires sophisticated tools, each costing millions of dollars.
These measurement costs need to be included in any estimate of lithography costs.
Facilities costs, discussed in Section 11.1.8, are usually low for these tools, but
capital costs can be considerable. Since measurements are not made on every
patterned wafer, the expression for metrology capital costs is similar to Eq. (11.1),
but must be reduced by the fraction of wafers that are actually measured. Suppose
that a fraction f M of all wafers is measured for overlay, linewidths, and defects.
Assuming approximately the same equipment utilization U for all metrology tools,
420 Chapter 11
the capital cost per wafer for metrology is
f M X C ED,i
, (11.18)
U i T P,i
where the sum is over the different types of metrology tools. If we assume the
parameters of Table 11.5 and f = 0.02 (2% of the wafers are measured), U = 0.8,
and straight five-year depreciation, then the metrology cost per wafer is $1.36,
which is greater than 10% of the capital cost from the photocluster. While this
is a smaller cost than the photocluster capital cost or the mask cost, it is not
insignificant.
11.1.6 Maintenance costs

Maintenance costs were partially captured in the utilization factor of Eq. (11.1).
The biggest expense of downtime is the increased capital cost per wafer exposed.
Additional maintenance costs include:
1. Parts costs. For certain subsystems, such as excimer lasers, these costs can be
large. A big cost of parts is the cost of capital. An inventory of expensive parts
is necessary in order to minimize downtime, but these parts have value. Hence,
money is invested in spare parts.
2. Service contracts. Lithography tools, particularly wafer steppers and metrology
equipment, are extremely complicated, often requiring very specialized
expertise to repair them when they are broken. It often proves useful to contract
this maintenance to the suppliers of the equipment, who may have maintenance
personnel with adequate training.
3. Maintenance performed by one’s own maintenance technicians requires that
these people be trained and paid. The estimated depreciation for a modern
lithography photocluster was previously estimated to be $1347 per hour. People
who can repair broken equipment quickly are essential. Of course, it is even
more important that the lithography equipment be intrinsically reliable, to avoid
large expenses from equipment downtime.
11.1.7 Labor costs

Labor costs are a relatively small fraction of overall lithography costs. A typical
operator can operate two photoclusters. Including employee overhead, this cost is
$20 per hour (or less) per photocluster. At a net throughput of 112 wafers per hour
Table 11.5 Parameters for estimating metrology costs.
Metrology tool type Capital cost (CED ) Throughput (TP , wafers/hour)
Linewidth measurement $3.5M 10

Overlay measurement $2M 80
Defect detection $8M 4
per photocluster (140 wafers per hour, 80% utilization), labor represents $0.18
per wafer. This is ∼1.5% of capital equipment costs. Direct labor costs are easily
offset by small differences in tool utilization, so a highly skilled workforce is a
competitive advantage. Improving productivity by only one or two percent can
completely compensate for direct labor costs.
11.1.8 Facilities costs

Facilities costs include the cost of cleanroom space, electricity, compressed air
or nitrogen, deionized wafer, chilled water, and exhaust. Modern step-and-scan
systems designed to expose 300-mm wafers have sizable footprints, as do the tools
for resist processing that are interfaced to the exposure systems. Floor space for a
complete photocluster can approach 60 m2 , including space for equipment access.
A large modern wafer fab with 30,000 m2 of cleanroom space can cost $0.5B in
building costs alone. The cost of floor space of the photocluster is then
60
$0.5B × = $1M. (11.19)
30,000
For an 80% utilized photocluster with raw throughput capability of 140 wafers per
hour, the cost per wafer of this floor space is $0.20, assuming five years straight
depreciation for the building. This is small compared to equipment capital costs
and mask costs, but not insignificant.
11.2 Mix-and-Match Strategies

One way to mitigate the high cost of lithography is to use leading-edge (and
expensive) machines only for the most critical layers, while using cheaper tools for
the less-critical layers. This has been a common practice for many years. Exposure
systems intended for use on layers with relatively low resolution requirements are
usually optimized for throughput and price, rather than resolution and overlay.
Representative noncritical-layer exposure tools are listed in Table 11.6. These
systems achieve high throughput by having large field sizes, providing the potential
to expose wafers in a smaller number of steps. In addition, they are all step-and-
repeat systems. Although these are not leading-edge exposure tools, they still have
excellent imaging capabilities. Lenses with such large fields and good imaging
capability are the result of significant advances in lens technology in recent years,
such as aspheric lens elements.
Another way to reduce capital cost is to use steppers for several generations of
technology. As high-resolution steppers get older, they will no longer be capable of
imaging the smallest geometries. Continuing to use these steppers, but not on the
most critical layers, is an extremely cost-effective approach, since these steppers
have already been purchased and are often fully depreciated.
There are many applications where the highest resolution steppers cannot be
used for some masking layers. The numerical apertures required to image critical
features <100 nm have limited depths-of-focus at larger feature sizes and are not
422 Chapter 11
Table 11.6 Noncritical layer steppers.
Nikon Nikon Canon

NSR-SF155 NSR-SF200 FPA-5550iZ
Reduction 4:1 4:1 4:1

Maximum NA 0.62 0.63 0.57
Wavelength (nm) 365 248 365
Resolution 0.28 µm 0.15 µm 0.35 µm
Field size 26 × 33 mm 26 × 33 mm 26 × 33 mm
optimum for printing low-resolution or noncritical layers. Exposure tools capable

of patterning such small features are usually DUV systems, and there are few DUV
resists of sufficiently high viscosity for coating thick layers. Lower-numerical-
aperture i-line steppers are useful for printing many implant masks or pad masks,
where the photoresist can be thick. In these instances, high-resolution steppers may
actually perform poorly because of their limited depths-of-focus. In general, lower-
NA lenses are cheaper to design and build than higher-NA lenses, particularly when
linewidth uniformity and distortion requirements are somewhat relaxed. These
different stepper requirements, together with the potential for high throughput,
can be exploited to reduce the overall cost of the lithography. It is common
today to use different types of steppers to address the dissimilar requirements of
different masking layers, while minimizing overall lithography costs. This practice
is referred to as mix-and-match lithography.
When the field area expands by a factor of four, the light intensity will drop by
about the same amount without changes in illuminator design and improved light
sources. For example, the Nikon 4425i, a tool that has a 44-mm × 44-mm field size,
was reported to have one third to one half the light intensity in the wafer plane as the
corresponding 22-mm × 22-mm-field i-line stepper. Nevertheless, total stepping
time was reduced, due to the decreased number of steps and reduced settling times,
even though the stepping distance between fields was twice as long. Since overlay
requirements are also relaxed for noncritical-layer exposure tools, settling time can
be shortened, contributing further to high tool throughput.
While often worth the effort, implementing mix-and-match lithography is
nontrivial. It may involve the use of steppers from more than one company, or
steppers that use dissimilar operator interfaces. This requires additional training
for operators, engineers, and maintenance technicians, and a separate spare parts
inventory will need to be maintained. Making full use of very large fields provided
by steppers may require nonconcentric fields, if one type of exposure tool has a
smaller field than the other (Fig. 11.7). While the overlay requirements for the
layers patterned by noncritical layer steppers are not the tightest, for a given
technology, design rules for implant layers usually assume overlay capability
within a factor of at least two of the most critical requirements. Achieving
good overlay is complicated by the nonconcentric geometry shown in Fig. 11.7,
particularly when one of the lenses in use has a nonrandom distortion component.13
Even with concentric fields, there are overlay issues that occur only in mix-and-
Figure 11.7 Nonconcentric fields when the exposure tools used for patterning critical and
noncritical layers have different field sizes.
match situations. This is discussed in Chapter 6. In spite of these problems, mix-

and-match lithography is usually worth the effort, since differences in capital costs
between critical and noncritical layer machines can exceed $30M. Such savings in
capital costs can pay for a great deal of training, spare parts, and engineering time
to address the technical issues.
For a number of years, high-resolution step-and-repeat systems did have smaller
fields than the tools used for noncritical layers, often leading to the type of situation
illustrated in Fig. 11.7 when mix-and-match lithography was attempted. Today,
modern high-performance systems are step-and-scan tools with large fields, which
simplifies mix-and-match lithography. However, there may be a return in the future
to smaller field sizes for the highest resolution tools in order to contain lens costs.
If so, there will also be a return to the situation depicted in Fig. 11.7.
The cost of optical lithography equipment has escalated over the past
two decades. Fortunately, as this technology has matured, there have been
commensurate increases in productivity to offset the higher tool costs. As the
diffraction limit is reached, it will be necessary for lithography to move to
nonoptical technologies. Alternatives to optical lithography will need to be
introduced with very high levels of productivity in order to have the same costs as
their optical predecessors. Some of the possible successors to optical lithography
are discussed in the next two chapters.
Problems
11.1 The total cost of consumables for an excimer-laser system has been estimated
to be ∼$300,000 per year and ∼$60,000 per year for a lamp-based system. For
an exposure system with a raw throughput capability of 140 wafers per hour
and utilization of 80%, what is the contribution of light-source consumables
to the per-wafer cost of ownership for excimer-laser light sources? And for
lamp sources?
424 Chapter 11
11.2 Derive an extension of Eq. (11.2) for a stepper appropriate for exposing two
reticles per wafer. Assume that the wafer remains on the exposure chuck
while the reticles are exchanged.
References
1. W. Trybula and D. Dance, “Cost of mask fabrication,” Proc. SPIE 3048,
211–215 (1997).
2. M. Mason, Sematech Next Generation Lithography Workshop (1998).
3. A. Wüest, A. J. Hazelton, and G. Hughes, “Estimation of cost comparison
of lithography technologies at the 22-nm half-pitch node,” Proc. SPIE 7271,
72710Y (2009).
4. N. Deguchi and S. Uzawa, “150-nm generation lithography equipment,” Proc.
SPIE 3679, 464–472 (1999).
5. SEMI E10–96 Standard, “Guideline for definition and measurement of equip-
ment reliability, availability, and maintainability (RAM),” Semiconductor
Equipment and Materials International, San Jose, CA.
6. A. O. Allen, Probability, Statistics, and Queuing Theory: With Computer
Science Applications, Academic Press, Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, Boston
(1990).
7. R. DeJule, “More productivity at subcritical layers,” Semicond. Int. 50,
(April,1998).
8. H. Tsushima, M. Yoshino, T. Ohta, T. Kumazaki, H. Watanabe, S. Matsumoto,
H. Nakarai, H. Umeda, Y. Kawasuji, T. Suzuki, S. Tanaka, A. Kurosu, T.
Matsunaga, J. Fujimoto, and H. Mizoguchi, “Reliability report of high power
injection lock laser light source for double exposure and double patterning ArF
immersion lithography,” Proc. SPIE 7274, 72743L (2009).
9. K. O’Brien, W. J. Dunstan, R. Jacques, and D. Brown, “Lithography line
productivity impact using Cymer GLXTM technology,” Proc. SPIE 7274,
72743N (2009).
10. K. Early and W. H. Arnold, “Cost of ownership for soft x-ray lithography,”
OSA Topical Meeting on EUV Lithography, Monterey, CA (May, 1993).
11. K. Early and W. H. Arnold, “Cost of ownership for 1× proximity x-ray
12. D. Mansur, “Components of IC design cost relative to the market opportunity,”
Adv. Reticle Symp., San Jose (2003).
13. M. E. Preil, T. Manchester, and A. Minviell, “Minimization of total overlay
errors when matching nonconcentric exposure fields,” Proc. SPIE 2197,
753–769 (1994).
Chapter 12
Extreme Ultraviolet Lithography
Since the resolution capability of lithography can be extended by using short-
wavelength light, at least in principle, a number of concepts involving light
with wavelengths much shorter than 193 nm have been proposed. Considerable
effort has been applied to the development of one of these approaches, referred
to as extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography. In this chapter, the basic concepts
underlying EUV technology are discussed.
12.1 Background and Multilayer Reflectors

As the wavelength of light decreases significantly below 193 nm, all known
materials become too absorbing to be used for fabricating effectual refractive
optical elements (see Fig. 12.1). Moreover, at such short wavelengths the
reflectivity of all homogenous materials becomes very small, at least at the
near-normal angles of incidence relevant to high-resolution imaging optics (see
Fig. 12.2). However, in the 1980s layered coatings were developed to provide
practical reflectivities at wavelengths <15 nm.1,2 This development led to proposals
for lenses with all-reflecting optics that could be used for projection lithography.3,4
Reflection occurs at interfaces between materials that have different indices of
refraction. The larger the difference between the refractive indices of the materials,
the greater the reflectivity. At wavelengths <50 nm, all materials have indices
of refraction ≈1. Thus, it is difficult to create high reflectance from a single
interface, except at grazing angles of incidence. At EUV wavelengths, it has
proven possible to make mirrors with moderate reflectivity at near-normal angles
of incidence, in the range of 60–70%, by the use of coatings comprised of multiple
layers. Multilayer reflectors are made by depositing alternating layers of high-Z
(Z is atomic number) and low-Z materials, giving a small but effective difference
between refractive indices at each interface. The net effect of small reflectivity at
each interface can lead to moderately high reflectivity overall when the stack has
a sufficient number of layers (Fig. 12.3), provided the layer stacking satisfies, at
least approximately, the Bragg condition:2
mλ
d= r , m = 1, 2, . . . , (12.1)
2δ̄ − δ̄2
2 cos θ 1−
cos2 θ
426 Chapter 12
Figure 12.1 Attenuation length for selected materials at short wavelengths.5,6 The
attenuation length is the distance at which the intensity of light propagating through a
material falls to 1/e of its initial value.
Figure 12.2 Reflectivity of selected materials at short wavelengths for normal incidence.5,6
Extreme Ultraviolet Lithography 427
where
δA dA + δ B d B
δ̄ = . (12.2)
dA + d B
The index of refraction of each layer is given by n = 1 − δ + iβ, while dA , dB , and

θ are defined in Fig. 12.3, and d = dA + dB .
Although all materials are highly absorbing at EUV wavelengths, some are less
absorbing than others. The materials chosen to comprise the multilayer stack must
be relatively weak absorbers of EUV light, since the light must be able to penetrate
to the lower layers of the film stack in order achieve high total reflectivity. Several
stacks have been identified as possible reflectors in the EUV, and these are listed in
Table 12.1. Because of beryllium’s toxicity, there is a reluctance to use that metal
for EUV lithography, and nearly all effort in EUV lithography today is focused on
Mo/Si reflectors. For Mo/Si multilayers designed for near-normal reflectance, the
molybdenum layers are ∼3 nm thick, while the silicon layers are ∼4 nm thick.7
Because reflectance is angle dependent [Eq. (12.1)], graded depositions are needed
on optics that have light incident at varying angles over the mirror surfaces in order
to maintain constant reflectance at the operating wavelength.
Reflectance versus wavelength for a Mo/Si multilayer stack is shown in
Fig. 12.4. As can be seen in this figure, reflectance peaks around a given
Figure 12.3 Illustration of the way in which high total reflectivity is achieved from reflections
from mulitiple interfaces.
Table 12.1 EUV multilayer reflectors.8–11
Multilayer film stack Peak wavelength of near-normal incidence Reflectance achieved
Mo/Si 13.4 68.2%

Mo/B4 C/Si 13.5 70.0%
Mo2 C/Si 13.0 61.8%
Mo/Be 11.3 70.2%
MoRu/Be 11.3 69.3%
428 Chapter 12
Figure 12.4 Reflectance versus wavelength for a multilayer reflector. The measurements
were made at the Advanced Light Source (synchrotron) at Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory
on a substrate that was made into an EUV mask at Advanced Micro Devices.
wavelength, in this case ∼13.4 nm. From Eq. (12.1), it is apparent that only a very
small change in the thickness of layer films will cause a shift in peak wavelength
(see Problem 12.3). Even if every mirror in the EUV system has very high peak
reflectance, the overall system transmission can be low if these peak reflectances
do not occur at nearly the same wavelength. A similar statement is true regarding
the need to match the reflectance properites of the masks to those of the projection-
optics mirrors.12 When specifying the “operating” wavelength, it is important to
pay attention to detail. As can be seen in Fig. 12.4, the curve of reflectance versus
wavelength is asymmetric. It is standard to specify the operating wavelength as
the center of the full-width half-maximum range (Fig. 12.5).13 Because of the
asymmetry, this median wavelength typically differs from the peak wavelength.
As discussed in Chapter 5, optical lithography has been practiced where
there are light sources that satisfy certain key requirements, particularly narrow
bandwidth and high intensity. For each optical lithography technology the optics
and masks have been engineered around the wavelength where such a source exists.
For EUV lithography there are few options for masks and optics. EUV lithography
must necessarily be practiced at wavelengths where there are multilayer reflectors
with high reflectance. For EUV lithography it is the light source that needs to
be engineered around the wavelength chosen on the basis of multilayer reflector
capability, rather than the other way around. Because EUV lithography is practiced
at wavelengths where high-intensity light sources were not established first,
productivity due to low light intensity at the wafer is a concern with EUV
lithographic technology, and considerable attention must be paid to maximizing
multilayer reflectance and source-output power. More will be said in Section 12.4
about EUV light sources.
For EUV lithography, it appears that the semiconductor industry has settled
on an operating wavelength of 13.5 nm. This choice was dictated in part by
the selection of MoSi multilayers, which limited the range for the operating
wavelength. The operating wavelength was further pinned down by matching
this wavelength to the peak outputs of candidate light sources at the time the
wavelength was selected.14
High mirror reflectance is important for EUV exposure-tool productivity.

Consider a system with six mirrors in the projection optics, two near-normal
reflection mirrors in the illuminator, and a reflection mask. The EUV light reflects
nine times in such a system. A system in which each multilayer has 70% reflectance
results in nearly 30% more light at the wafer plane than in a system where
each multilayer reflector has 68% reflectance. Thus, even a small difference
in reflectance is important for system productivity. Measured reflectances from
multilayer stacks have typically been a few percent lower than the theoretical
maximum. This is due in large measure to the nonideal density and homogeneity of
the individual layers, as well as interface roughness and diffusion between layers.2
Efforts to improve multilayer reflectance are focused on these factors.
One of the problems associated with multilayer films is their instability at
elevated temperatures due to material intermixing, which reduces the reflectivity
of the multilayer film stack. This can be mitigated to some extent by engineering
the interfaces. In Mo/Si multilayers, the molybdenum and silicon films begin
to intermix at ∼150 ◦ C, while Mo2 C/Si films remain stable at temperatures
approaching 600 ◦ C, with only a slightly lower peak reflectance (66.8%) than
high-quality Mo/Si multilayers (68.6%).15 With a B4 C layer inserted between the
molybdenum and silicon films a reflectance of 70% was achieved at a wavelength
of 13.5 nm.16,17 Even if the peak reflectance is maintained during heating, there
may be a shift of the wavelength at which peak reflectance occurs, as was observed
in Mo/C/Si multilayers.18 Films that are expected to experience high temperatures
can be annealed prior to use, thereby shifting the wavelength at which peak
reflectance occurs to the desired value. Instability at elevated temperatures limits
the processes used to deposit and etch the absorbers on EUV masks. Without
interface-engineered multilayers, only low-temperature processes can be used for
fabricating EUV masks, including cleaning operations.
The invention of multilayer reflectors made EUV lithography conceptually
possible. In the remainder of this chapter, the key elements of EUV lithographic
Figure 12.5 Curve showing the definition of median wavelength (λm ) and how it can differ
from the peak wavelength (λ p ).13
430 Chapter 12
technology—masks, exposure tools, and resists—will be described in more detail,

beginning with a general overview of EUV lithography systems.
12.2 EUV Lithography System Overview

Conceptually, an EUV exposure tool is very similar to the optical scanners
described in Chapter 5. Key elements are: a source of light, collector and
illuminator optics, projection optics, precision wafer and reticle stages, an
alignment system, and mechanical handling systems for wafers and reticles. The
basic configuration for EUV lithography is shown in Fig. 12.6. Light from an
EUV source is collected by condenser mirrors. The condenser may also contain
a spectral filter to remove unwanted long-wavelength light and heat. The light
beam from the condenser optics illuminates a reflective mask that has areas that are
either of high or low reflectance, according to the pattern to be printed, much as a
conventional mask for optical lithography has areas of high and low transmission.
The resulting optical pattern is imaged by a lens comprised of several mirrors.
Low-NA (≤0.1) EUV lenses usually have two or four mirrors, while higher-NA
systems will have six mirrors or more. The image is focused onto a wafer. Because
EUV systems are all-reflective, the light incident on the reticle must necessarily be
off axis, that is, at a nonnormal angle of incidence. For current six-mirror systems
with NA ≤ 0.35, the angle of incidence is ∼6 deg, while the angle is expected
to be greater for larger-numerical-aperture imaging. There are implications of this
nontelecentric imaging that will be discussed later.
While EUV exposure tools are similar in concept to optical scanners, for
manufacturers and users of exposure tools, EUV presents numerous challenges.
A central requirement is that exposures at EUV wavelengths must take place in a
Figure 12.6 Schematic of an EUV exposure system.19 Actual lenses may contain a
different number of mirrors.
vacuum, since EUV light will not propagate in air. (The transmission of 13.5-nm
light through 0.1 mm of air at atmospheric pressure is only ∼7%.) Moreover, the
vacuum must be very good, because photon-induced carbon deposition on mirror
and mask surfaces or surface oxidation can result from the presence of very low
levels of hydrocarbons in the system.20,21 For example, if every mirror in a six-
mirror lens system becomes coated with 1-nm-thick carbon layers, the transmission
of the lens will be degraded by over 7% (see Problem 12.4). This imposes the
requirement that all components within the vacuum chamber be constructed of
ultrahigh vacuum-compatible materials. It also means that capability must be
designed into exposure tools to prevent optics from becoming contaminated by
the inevitable outgassing from resists. One idea for preventing the optics from
becoming contaminated is to use the flow of an inert gas at a low partial pressure,
between the optics and wafer (Fig. 12.7).22,23 Contaminants will be carried along
by the flow of inert gas, greatly reducing optics contamination. Some small amount
of EUV light will be absorbed by the gas, estimated to be <3% for an optimized
flow, because good protection is possible even with a low partial pressure of argon.
The requirement for good vacuum affects other parts of EUV scanners. While it
is possible to construct air bearings for the stages that can be used in a vacuum,24–26
magnetic bearings have obvious advantages for EUV applications.27–29 Vacuum
load locks are also required for moving wafers and reticles in and out of scanners
efficiently, increasing system mechanical complexity, with possible consequences
for reduced reliability and increased cost.
Another interesting consequence of exposing wafers in a vacuum is the need
to change the method for chucking wafers and masks. In optical scanners,
vacuum clamping is used nearly universally to hold wafers and reticles onto
their chucks. The force for vacuum clamping is actually provided by atmospheric
pressure, so some other approach for holding wafers and masks is needed in EUV
Figure 12.7 Illustration of a gas curtain. Outgassing material is swept along with the gas
flow, thereby reducing contamination of the optics.
432 Chapter 12
exposure tools. Electrostatic chucks have been used extensively in other types
of semiconductor equipment where the processes occur in a vacuum, and this
appears to be the approach taken for EUV systems as well. Electrostatic chucks
are considered further in the next section.
As discussed in Chapter 5, very small levels of optical absorption can cause
lenses to heat, leading to exposure-dependent variations in focus and overlay. The
multilayer coatings on the mirrors that comprise EUV lenses are ∼70% reflective,
at best, and most of the light energy that is not reflected is absorbed. This can lead to
substantial heating of lens elements, and very good active compensation is needed
to maintain good focus and overlay control. Masks will also absorb an appreciable
amount of light energy, which could lead to expansion and contraction of masks
with attendent overlay errors.30 For this reason, EUV masks are fabricated from
ultralow expansion materials, with coefficients of thermal expansion measured in
parts-per-billion.13
In the excimer lasers used for lithographic applications, the DUV light is
produced by the plasmas of very corrosive gases. Such plasmas do not harm any
optics because the plasmas are contained, with the light being emitted from a
sealed chamber through transparent windows, typically comprised of CaF2 . Such
windows do degrade over time and need to be replaced periodically, but they are
inexpensive relative to optical components.
The situation is completely different for EUV. Because there are no sufficiently
transparent materials at EUV wavelengths, there can be no windows to segregate
gases and plasmas from the rest of the optical system. The same line-of-sight paths
by which EUV photons travel from the point at which they are generated to the
mirrors of the collection optics can also be pathways for contamination and debris.
Since such contamination can potentially reduce the reflectivity of such mirrors
substantially, the illumination systems of exposure tools must be designed with
appropriate mitigation schemes.
Contamination can affect EUV light sensors that depend on the absorption of
light to produce some type of electrical signal. This is because the photoelectrical
properties of all solids are very sensitive to surface conditions. As described
in Chapter 5, steppers use light sensors in real time to control exposure dose.
Contamination of EUV light sensors will reduce the accuracy to which exposure
doses can be controlled in EUV exposure tools.
Recently, manufacturers of lithographic equipment, ASML and Nikon, have
built 0.25-NA full-field exposure tools.31,32 Using such tools, confidence that EUV
lithography will be viable for use in high-volume manufacturing was increased by
the fabrication of electrically functional SRAMs and other complex circuits,33,34
because all parts of EUV technology needed to work in order to produce these
devices. The remainder of this chapter will cover particular key elements of EUV
lithographic technology in more detail.
12.3 EUV Masks

As discussed previously, there are no high-transmission materials at EUV
wavelengths, due to the limitation imposed by atomic absorption. For EUV
lithography, not only must all optical elements in the lens be reflecting, so must
be the mask. A typical configuration for an EUV mask is shown in Fig. 12.8.
Masks are fabricated by first depositing multilayers on a flat substrate. Absorbing
materials are then deposited and patterned on the multilayer, completing the
fabrication of the EUV mask. A buffer layer is often deposited on the multilayer
prior to deposition of the absorber to facilitate etching and repair without damaging
the multilayer. Since all materials are absorbing at EUV wavelengths, many
materials can be used for the mask absorber, including standard chromium.35 Early
results were obtained with TiN (Fig. 12.8), while materials such as TaN have been
used more recently because they have higher absorption than TiN, thereby enabling
the use of thinner absorbers.36,37 As will be discussed, there are advantages to
having thin absorbers. In addition to absorption, criteria for choosing an EUV mask
absorber include deposition, inspectability, etch, and ease of cleaning.
The nontelecentricity of EUV exposure systems has certain implications for
EUV masks. Even though the angle of incidence of the illumination on the mask
is small (∼6 deg), it does result in differences in the imaging of features that
are parallel to the plane of incidence relative to those that are perpendicular.38,39
This is because features perpendicular to the plane of incidence partially shadow
the incident light (Fig. 12.9). For sub-50-nm features, horizontal–vertical print
biases of 3–6 nm were seen in simulations, the magnitude depending upon the
absorber composition and thickness.40 Image placement shifts of 4–6 nm were
also calculated. Clearly, some form of OPC is required for EUV lithography, in
spite of the intrinsic resolution of the technology. It is possible to minimize the
consequences of off-axis illumination by using the thinnest absorbers possible.
Figure 12.8 Micrographs of an early EUV mask fabricated at Advanced Micro Devices.
The TiN absorber sits on a SiO2 buffer layer that has been coated directly onto a MoSi
multilayer. The left micrograph is a tilt SEM, while the right picture is a TEM, showing the
multilayer reflector.
434 Chapter 12
Figure 12.9 Lines that run perpendicular to the plane of incidence of the nonnormally
incident light are shadowed. For NA ≤ 0.35, φ = 6 deg and will be greater for larger NA.
While all materials absorb EUV light, some are more absorbing than others,
and this influences the choice of materials for EUV masks. TaN41 and TaBN42
are examples of materials with good absorption, along with other desirable
characteristics, such as ease of cleaning.
Because EUV masks are ∼30% absorbing even in the reflecting areas, these
masks will heat up during exposure. Such heating and subsequent cooling will
lead to overlay errors due to thermal expansion and contraction of the mask, so
EUV masks should be fabricated on substrates with extremely low coefficients
of thermal expansion (<30 ppb/K). Glass materials with such low coefficients
of thermal expansion are available and have been characterized for use as EUV
mask substrates.43,44 Examples of such glass materials are ULE R
from Corning,

R
Inc. and Zerodur from Schott. These and other EUV mask requirements are
detailed in SEMI Standards P37 (specification for extreme ultraviolet lithography
mask substrates), P38 (specification for absorbing film stacks and multilayers on
extreme ultraviolet lithography mask blanks), and P40 (specification for mounting
requirements and alignment reference locations for extreme ultraviolet lithography
masks).
The use of reflective masks also imposes requirements on mask flatness. As can
be seen in Fig. 12.10, mask nonflatness will result in image-placement errors. For
consistency with the overlay requirements of the 32-nm node, EUV masks must
be flat to within 36 nm (peak to valley) (see Problem 12.6).45,46 Flatness of this
magnitude must be maintained while the masks are in use, which means that EUV
mask chucks must also be very flat, and great care must be taken to avoid particles
on the back side of the masks that can lead to front-side mask nonflatness after
chucking (see Fig. 12.11).47
The use of electrostatic chucks in EUV exposure systems imposes requirements
on the backsides of EUV masks. In a basic bipolar Coulomb electrostatic chuck,
electrodes within the chuck are charged. When the backside of a substrate is
electrically conducting, charges can move freely and lead to electrostatic attraction
between the chuck and the substrate (Fig. 12.12). Thus, there is a requirement in
SEMI Standard P38 that the backsides of EUV masks be electrically conducting.
There is very limited capability for repairing a multilayer-film stack.49
Consequently, blanks need to be made essentially defect free. This is a significant
Figure 12.10 Mask nonflatness leads to image-placement errors. The lateral displacement
h × tan θ is reduced on the wafer by the reduction of the projection optics.
Figure 12.11 Mask deformation due to a particle between the mask substrate and the
chuck.
Figure 12.12 Basic configuration of a bipolar Coulomb electrostatic chuck.48
challenge for EUV lithography. With wafer feature sizes of 32 nm, and 4×
reduction lenses, mask defects need to be much less than 4 × 32 nm = 128 nm.
There is also the potential for phase defects illustrated in Fig. 12.13. Steps can
result from particles or scratches on the substrate surface on which the multilayer
film is deposited, and these steps can form phase defects. The extent to which
such substrate defects propagate through the multilayer is dependent upon the
deposition method, and there are initial data indicating that substrate defects can
be smoothed over with ion-beam deposition techniques.50 Phase defects can be
created by extremely small particles, which may be smaller than can be detected
with optical (visible or DUV) light. Indeed, defects have been detected using
actinic inspection tools that could not be found with conventional visible-light
defect inspection tools.51 Consequently, it may be necessary to inspect masks with
tools that use EUV light to provide sensitivity to phase defects. This will further
436 Chapter 12
Figure 12.13 Illustration of an EUV mask defect.
add to the cost and complexity of implementing EUV lithography.51,52 The mask
is one of the biggest challenges for EUV lithography, even with the advantage of
reduction lenses.
The absence of highly transparent materials at EUV wavelengths implies that
conventional pellicles cannot be used. The transparency requirement for EUV
lithography is high because light needs to pass twice through a pellicle in the
reflection geometries currently implemented. This lack of a pellicle is another
problem that needs to be addressed in the deployment of EUV lithography.
12.4 Sources and Illuminators

Light sources for EUV lithography also represent an area of active research and
development. Synchrotrons are commonly used as sources of EUV light,53,54
particularly for R&D and metrology. While such sources have proven to be very
useful for laboratory applications, it appears that synchrotrons cannot produce
a sufficient amount of light energy within a narrow bandwidth for high-volume
manufacturing while still being cost effective.55 Consequently, more compact
sources have been developed, categorized as either discharge-produced-plasma
(DPP) sources or laser-produced-plasma (LPP) sources. Laser-produced-plasma
sources are conceptually quite simple: very-high-intensity pulsed-laser light is
focused onto a material, which creates a plasma containing very highly charged
ions (Fig. 12.14). When electrons recombine with the ions, high-energy photons
are emitted.56
Xenon was the target material (“fuel”) most commonly used in the light sources
of early EUV systems, because it produces reasonably strong EUV emissions and,
being chemically inert in its electrically neutral state, does not directly generate
debris that contaminates and degrades the EUV optics. However, EUV light is
produced primarily by the highly charged Xe+10 ionic state, so EUV light sources
need to generate substantial numbers of very highly charged ions. When such ions
hit a solid surface considerable sputtering can occur.57 EUV exposure tools that use
Xe-based light sources still need a scheme to mitigate damage done by these highly
Figure 12.14 Schematic of a laser-produced plasma (LPP) EUV light source. The collector
optics, which may be more complex than illustrated in this figure, focus the light onto the
intermediate focus of the condenser optics.
charged xenon ions to the condenser optics. Given a need to address condenser
optics damage even with the use of a noble gas, fuel materials that provide higher
EUV light output than Xe have come into use. Lithium was considered,58,59 but the
dominant fuel in use today is tin, primarily due to its potential for high conversion
efficiency to EUV light at the wavelengths where Mo/Si multilayers provide good
reflectivity.60
LPP EUV sources were among the first to be considered, and such a source,
using Nd-YAG lasers, was used on the first full-field EUV exposure tool.61 Early
cost estimates for LPP sources indicated that they would be too expensive for
practical use, and discharge sources were subsequently pursued.62–65 A conceptual
drawing of one such discharge source is shown in Fig. 12.15, and a picture of
the source in operation in shown in Fig. 12.16 (see Color Plates). Discharge
sources involve plasmas generated between electrodes, which can be a significant
engineering constraint that limits the ability to cool the electrodes and collect EUV
light.
As DPP sources came into use on exposure tools,32 lithographers became very
conscious of the low intensities that were being achieved, and LPP sources were
reconsidered. Sources have since been developed using CO2 lasers that appear to
have lower cost of ownership than had been projected earlier for LPP sources that
Figure 12.15 Illustration of an EUV discharge source. (Reproduced courtesy of Cymer,

Inc.)
438 Chapter 12
Figure 12.16 An EUV discharge source in operation. (Reproduced courtesy of Cymer,

Inc.) (See Color Plates.)
employed Nd-YAG lasers. A picture of an LPP source that uses CO2 lasers is shown
in Fig. 12.17.
There is a thermal challenge for EUV light sources. In addition to EUV light,
EUV sources generate even more light at longer wavelengths, including infrared
radiation, i.e., heat. The intrinsically compact arrangement of components that
produce the plasmas in discharge sources makes it difficult to remove heat. One
clever idea is to fabricate the electrodes from the same liquid tin used to fuel the
plasma.66 This liquid tin can continously be resupplied, addressing the problem
of electrode erosion in the harsh plasma environment. However, even with such
ingenuity, the output of discharge sources has remained too low for use in high-
volume manufacturing. The ultimate power output of discharge sources may be
inherently limited, in part by the difficulty of dissipating the heat that is generated.
Figure 12.17 An LPP source shipped by Cymer, Inc., to a manufacturer of exposure

systems for integration into a full-field exposure tool. (Figure courtesy of David Brandt of
Cymer, Inc.)
Source efficiency is another important consideration. Over 200 W of collected

in-band EUV power will be required to achieve cost-effective throughput. For LPP
xenon-based EUV light sources, efficiencies less than 1% are typically reported
for converting laser light to EUV light.67 With laser conversion efficiencies of 10%
(electricity to light), 200 kW of electrical power will be required to sustain light
sources producing 200 W of collected in-band power. Such electrical consumption
will be very expensive, motivating investigations of more efficient light sources,
such as those where tin is used.
The type of optics used to collect EUV light depends upon the source type.
As seen in Fig. 12.14, the collector mirror for a LPP source involves near-normal
angles of incidence and reflection. On the other hand, grazing-mirror collection
optics are needed with DPP sources (Figs. 12.15 and 12.16).
Unlike lasers, which produce very intense light within a narrow bandwidth,
DPP and LPP EUV sources generate considerable amounts of light at wavelengths
outside of the narrow band that is of interest for EUV lithography. It can be
seen in Fig. 12.18 that Mo/Si multilayers reflect considerable amounts of light
at deep ultraviolet wavelengths, and such light often is capable of exposing EUV
resists. As mentioned in Chapter 5, when mercury-arc lamps are used to produce
light for i-line exposure systems, it is necessary to filter out nonactinic light.
This is readily accomplished using mature optical-filter technology that has been
developed over centuries. Because mercury-arc lamps produce a considerable
amount of i-line emission, exposure-tool throughput is not compromised greatly
even when such filters reduce the amount of light at the desired wavelength. On
the other hand, EUV lithography is a maturing technology, and EUV photons are
precious. Filtering out unwanted light is a double challenge for EUV illumination
systems; new technology needs to be used, and filters must reduce the amount
Figure 12.18 Calculated reflectivity of normally incident light from a 40-pair Mo/Si
multilayer film.68
440 Chapter 12
of actinic light by the smallest amount possible. As discussed in Chapter 5, light

from excimer lasers needs to be narrowed for lithographic applications, due to
chromatic aberrations in refractive lenses or, to a lesser extent, in catadioptric
lenses. The motivation for filtering EUV light is quite different. EUV lenses are
all reflective, so the problem of chromatic aberrations is reduced considerably.
Moreover, reflections from manifold multilayer mirrors narrow the bandwidth of
the actinic light (see Problem 12.8). The primary reasons for filtering the light from
EUV sources is to remove long-wavelength light—DUV light that can degrade
imaging and infrared light that can cause lens heating.
As mentioned previously, one must avoid contaminating or eroding the optical
elements that are used to collect the EUV light generated by the source. Active
steps must be taken, since such elements are within line of sight of the plasma,
which produces the EUV photons. All of these DPP and LPP sources that use
materials other than noble gases currently generate debris that coat the optics and
reduce mirror reflectivity.69 Various methods for protecting the collection optics
have been proposed, an example of which is shown in Fig. 12.19.70 In this system,
low pressure (a few torr) of inert gas slows down particles from the plasma, as
well as provides directional changes so the particles collide with the foils and get
trapped. Argon and krypton are relatively weak absorbers of light at a wavelength
of 13.5 nm.
Figure 12.19 Example of a system for trapping debris from the plasma used to produce
EUV light.78
Figure 12.20 A 4× EUV lens design with NA = 0.25.83

12.5 EUV Optics

Lenses for EUV lithography are fully reflecting, i.e., all of the optical elements are
mirrors. These mirrors are typically fabricated by polishing glass substrates to the
desired shape (Fig. 12.20). The polished substrates are then coated with multilayer
films that provide reflectivity at EUV wavelengths. Because these multilayer
coatings only reflect ∼70% of the light, a considerable amount of radiation is
absorbed by the mirrors in the lenses. To minimize thermal deformation of mirror
elements during exposure, the mirrors are typically fabricated from glass materials
with low coefficients of thermal expansion such as ULE R
from Corning, Inc. and
R
Zerodur from Schott.
Fabrication of lenses for EUV lithography is extremely challenging. To realize
benefits from the shorter wavelength, the wavefront error must remain constant as
a fraction of the wavelength. Thus, the transition from 193-nm lithography to EUV
lithography requires an improvement in absolute wavefront error of (193/13.5)× or
over 14×. The net result is a requirement for mirror-figure errors (the amount
by which surfaces depart from their design values) of <0.25-nm rms in order to
achieve high-resolution EUV optics. As if this were not challenging enough, EUV
optics must also be smooth at spatial frequencies that are not a concern for optical
lithography. Mid-spatial-frequency roughness (Table 12.2) leads to scattered light,
which reduces image contrast, while high-spatial-frequency roughness reduces
mirror reflectivity.71–74 Fortunately, EUV imaging systems can be built with far
fewer lens elements than are required for DUV lenses. A typical DUV-stepper lens
has 20 elements or more, while 0.25-NA EUV lenses are comprised of only six
mirrors. Thus, considerably more effort can be put into the fabrication of each
EUV lens element, relative to DUV lens elements, without increasing overall lens
cost beyond consideration.
Even with great care in polishing and with only a few elements in the lenses,
flare in EUV systems is usually much higher than encountered in conventional
optical lithography. An initial set of optics for a full-field exposure tool had
approximately 40% long-range flare, and improved optics still had 17% flare.77,78
The next generation of full-field exposure tools had 7–10% flare.32,79 This is in
contrast to state-of-the-art KrF and ArF lenses, where long-range flare <1% is
routine. While EUV lithography is expected to be somewhat more tolerant of flare
than optical lithography, because of the larger k1 (and therefore larger image log
Table 12.2 Requirements and recent results for EUV mirrors.
Spatial frequency Requirements75 Current results76

range (nm, rms) (nm, rms)
Figure ∞–1 mm−1 0.08 ∼0.04
Mid-spatial-frequency 1 mm−1 –1 µm−1 0.14 ∼0.08

roughness
High-spatial-frequency 1 µm−1 –50 µm−1 0.10 ∼0.07
roughness
442 Chapter 12
slope), modeling studies show significant reductions in process windows for EUV
lithography with levels of flare of 10% or larger (see Problem 12.6).80
The reason for the greater level of flare in EUV lenses is the short wavelength
involved and the use of mirrors. Consider a surface which produces an rms level
of phase variation rmsphase in light reflected from the surface. The total integrated
scattered (TIS) light from such a surface is given by81
rms 2
phase
T IS = 4π2 . (12.3)
λ
For a given level of surface roughness, a mirror will produce greater phase error
than a refracting surface, as the light passes twice past surface roughness from a
reflector but only once with a refracting surface. Because of the very short EUV
wavelength, compared to DUV light, the amount of scatter is much greater for
EUV optical systems for a given level of surface roughness. [Note the denominator
of Eq. (12.3).]
Further complicating the polishing of mirror surfaces is the need to use aspheric
mirrors in order to minimize the number of mirrors in the lens. With less than 70%
reflectance per mirror, each pair of mirrors added reduces light intensity at the
wafer by over half. Fabrication of high-quality aspheric mirrors is relatively new
technology, although it has matured considerably.
To obtain the smoothest optical surfaces possible, particular care must be taken
in the polishing process. In addition, the multilayer deposition process can be tuned
to have the effect of smoothing roughness in the underlying substrate.82 Because of
the very stringent requirements for mirror-surface figure, the multilayer films must
be low stress so that they do not deform the carefully polished glass substrates.
Increasing the numerical aperture of all-reflective optics involves a number of
challenges. For example, consider the lens design shown in Fig. 12.20. Increasing
the numerical aperture necessitates an increase in maximum angles for rays of
light, but an increase in the size of certain lens elements will cause light rays to
get blocked, a problem known as self-vignetting. To solve this problem, larger off-
axis angles are required, and this makes it more difficult to maintain mechanical
stability. Also, it becomes more difficult to compensate for aberrations with larger
angles of incidence and reflection on the mirrors, necessitating the addition of
mirrors to maintain low levels of aberrations. As a general rule, the lenses for
EUV lithography systems have an even number of mirrors. This is necessary to
separate the reticle and wafer stages physically to opposite sides of the lens. This
is a practical consideration because of the large size of the stages, particularly for
systems that involve multiple wafer stages. Consequently, the minimum increment
in the number of mirrors in a lens is two. Since mirror reflectance is <70%, adding
a single pair of additional mirrors will reduce lens transmission of light by over
half. In order to maximize exposure-tool throughput, additional mirrors should be
added only when absolutely necessary.
One interesting consequence of the use of all-reflective optics is the shape
of the slit in scanning-exposure tools. In KrF and ArF reduction scanners with
dioptric lenses, the slit is rectangular. In these situations the imaging is done
through the center of the lens, where aberrations are usually smallest. The slit
remains rectangular in shape when optical scanners have catadioptric lenses, but
the slit height is necessarily reduced in height due to the central obscuration found
in catadioptric lenses (Fig. 12.21). As mentioned in Section 5.9, aberrations can
often be minimized in a slit that is curved. By imaging in such a curved slit,
fewer optical elements are required to correct for aberrations. Since minimizing
the number of reflections to maximize throughput is an important consideration for
EUV lithography, EUV scanners typically have curved slits.84 Shown in Fig. 12.22
is a mask that was fabricated so it could be exposed in a static as well as a scanning
mode. Consequently, sections of the mask were arranged to follow the slit, and the
curvature is evident in Fig. 12.22.
As described in Section 12.3, off-axis illumination causes different horizontal
and vertical print biases. The ring-field configuration increases the complexity
of this problem, because the direction of the light incident on the mask changes
across the slit. While the angle of incidence remains constant, it acquires an
azimuthal component, as illustrated in Fig. 12.23. Consequently, the light may not
be strictly perpendicular or parallel to horizontal or vertical features on the mask.
To compensate for differences in the printing of horizontal and vertical features,
OPC needs to vary across the slit to achieve full accuracy.
12.6 EUV Resists

The demands for EUV resists differ from the requirements of photoresists used at
longer wavelengths in a few ways. Because EUV lithography is intended to be used
to produce features and pitches beyond the capability of ArF lithography, EUV
resists must be capable of very high resolution and have low line-edge roughness.
There is also an enhanced need for sensitivity because of low output of EUV
light sources. For DUV resists, sensitivity has been obtained through chemical
amplification. The greater extent to which photoacids can diffuse and produce
deprotection, the fewer photons required to expose the resist. However, substantial
diffusion will effectively blur the image, reducing resolution. To maintain an image
Figure 12.21 Examples of slits for different types of lenses: (a) refractive lens, such as is
typically found in nonimmersion optical scanners; (b) catadioptric lens, such as is found in
immersion optical scanners or very high-NA nonimmersion scanners; and (c) ring field, as
is usually used in EUV exposure systems.
444 Chapter 12
Figure 12.22 An EUV mask with features arranged to follow a curved slit to enable static
as well as scanning exposures.
Figure 12.23 The illumination is incident on the mask with an azimuthal angle ψ across
the slit.
after post-exposure bake, the diffusion length should be less than ∼20% of the
pitch. Using this estimate as a guide, for 22-nm half-pitch technology, the diffusion
length will need to be less than 9 nm and must be even smaller for later nodes.
The problem of shot noise discussed in Chapter 3 is particularly acute for EUV
lithography,85,86 since there is an order of magnitude fewer photons per mJ of
EUV light than for DUV light. Moreover, because EUV lithography is intended for
use at smaller features than those created using ArF lithography, the requirements
for LER will be more stringent for EUV lithography. The problem of shot noise
in EUV lithography is illustrated in Fig. 12.24, which is a graph of LER versus
exposure dose for a number of tested EUV resists, along with a curve derived from
a simple model of shot noise that predicts the minimum LER that can be achieved
Figure 12.24 Line-edge roughness versus exposure dose for various EUV resists. The
diamonds are measured results for individual resists,87 and corrected for mask absorber
and multilayer-roughness contributions to LER,88 while the solid curve was produced by a
model of LER resulting purely from shot noise. (Figure courtesy of B. LaFontaine.)
for a given exposure dose. From the data and model it appears that adequate LER
cannot be obtained with extremely sensitive resists.
The model used to produce the solid curve in Fig. 12.24 relating LER and resist
sensitivity is derived as follows. Suppose a uniform light beam is normally incident
on the surface of a resist film. The average number N of EUV photons that crosses
a surface section of size d × d into a resist film below the surface is given by
N = 0.68Ed2 , (12.4)
where E is the exposure dose measured in mJ/cm2 and d is measured in nanometers

(see Problem 12.7). Because of quantum fluctuations, the number of photons will
vary around the average, leading to variations in dose. The numbers of photons
vary according to Poisson statistics,89 expressed as
σN 1
= √ , (12.5)
N N
where σN is the standard deviation of the number of photons in a beam with

an average number of photons N. This is a fundamental quantum phenomenon
and is usually not considered for lithographic processes, because the value of
N is sufficiently large at the doses typically encountered in lithography that
quantum fluctuations are negligible. However, the situation in EUV lithography
446 Chapter 12
is substantially different. First, because the energy per EUV photon is much higher
than that for photons with wavelengths of 248 or 193 nm, there are far fewer EUV
photons for the same doses as measured in mJ/cm2 . Second, EUV light sources
are much weaker than the excimer lasers used for DUV lithography, so doses for
EUV lithography tend to be lower than those in longer-wavelength lithography,
even when measured in mJ/cm2 .
The deviation in the placement of a line-edge ∆x due to the variation in dose ∆E
is given by the expression (see Section 2.3):
∆E
! !
1
∆x = , (12.6)
ILS E
where ILS is the image log slope. Since photon absorption is also a statistical event,
there is another source of variation that must be taken into account. If we assume
that half of the incident photons are absorbed by the resist as a binomial process of
probability 0.5, the total absorbed dose variation becomes
√
∆E 12 + 0.52
= √ (12.7)
E N
1.12
= √ . (12.8)
N
From Eqs. (12.4), (12.6), and (12.8),

! !
1 1.36
∆x = √ . (12.9)
ILS d E
Setting LER(3σ) = 3∆x leads to the following relationship between line-edge

roughness and dose E:
! !
1 4.08
LER = √ . (12.10)
ILS d E
Both the image log slope and d will scale with the critical dimensions being
patterned, i.e., LER can be expected to be greater for smaller features, at least
without better optics. The length d establishes the minimum distance over which
LER is evaluated, and this distance over which we are concerned will get smaller as
critical dimensions shrink. Estimating that the normalized image log slope (NILS)
is given by
NILS = CD × ILS = 2.5, (12.11)

and
CD
d= . (12.12)
3
Putting together Eqs. (12.10)–(12.12) gives,
4.9
LER = √ . (12.13)
E
In this expression the LER is measured in nanometers, and the dose E is in

units of mJ/cm2 . From this simple model we see that shot-noise-limited LER
will vary with the inverse of the square root of the dose because of fundamental
photon statistics. According to the International Technology Roadmap for
Semiconductors, LER will need to be less than 2 nm for half pitches below 40 nm.
From Fig. 12.24 it can be inferred that EUV light sources over time will need to
support resists that require doses of 10 mJ/cm2 and higher as dimensions continue
to shrink. To some extent, Eq. (12.13) is optimistic. As EUV lithography is pushed
to lower values of k1 , the normalized image log slope will decrease and the LER
will increase.
None of the measured values for LER shown in Fig. 12.24 are less than 2 nm,
even for the highest doses. This suggests that there are sources of LER other than
shot noise, and these will also need to be identified and addressed to achieve
the needed low levels of LER.90 One such source that has been identified is
mask roughness. Resist materials are likely also contributing to LER. Regardless,
solving the problem of the shot-noise contribution to LER will require higher-
power sources.
Another consequence of the high absorptivity of all materials at EUV
wavelengths is the need for ultrathin resists (<100 nm). This is also necessary
because of resist-collapse issues that accompany large resist aspect ratios.
Fortunately, it has been shown that processes suitable for manufacturing are
possible with ultrathin resist.91 Moreover, resists very similar to conventional
DUV materials are used for EUV lithography. Development of EUV resists is
facilitated by the fact that most absorption at EUV wavelengths is dominated by
atomic absorption, and the particulars of the molecular bonding have only a very
small effect on optical absorption. Consequently, EUV resists can be developed
without the types of restrictions on allowed chemical bonds encountered in the
development of KrF and ArF resists.
Another key difference between DUV and EUV resists is the mechanism of the
radiation-induced chemistry. For DUV chemically amplified resists, photoacids are
generated as a direct consequence of photon absorption, either by the photoacid
generator or polymers, which can absorb the photons and transfer energy to
neighboring photoacid generators for ensuing decomposition,92 in contrast to
EUV resists, where the initial step is the generation of photoelectrons. It is these
448 Chapter 12
photoelectrons that appear to be responsible for subsequent radiation-induced

chemical reactions.93–96 This difference in radation chemistry is significant.
A photoelectron will propagate from its point of origin and subsequently scatter,
which can result in the generation of additional energetic electrons. Many of these
secondary electrons also have the potential to induce chemical reactions. As a
consequence, the quantum yield for EUV resists can actually exceed 1.0,97 where
number of photoacids generated

quantum yield = . (12.14)
number of photons absorbed
The photoelectrons will travel some distance before being scattered. As a result,
there is blur of the original optical image in the resist, even prior to post-exposure
bake. Although the mean free path in organic materials for electrons with energy
∼100 eV is <1 nm,98 there can be multiple scattering events, leading to ranges for
photoacid generation potentially much larger than 1 nm from the point of initial
photon absorption.99 Determining actual photoelectron ranges in EUV resists is
still an area of active research,100,101 and the answer will have implications for
the ultimate resolution capability of EUV lithography. Although existing data
are incomplete, an upper boundary for photoelectron-limited resolution can be
made from exposure made using EUV interferometric lithography. (Inteferometric
lithography is discussed in the next chapter.) While differing optically from
conventional projection lithography, interferometric lithography is subject to the
same resolution limits caused by photoelectrons. Using calixerene-type negative
resists, which are not subject to photoacid blur, patterns with half pitches below 15
nm have been obtained.102
Many polymers tend to cross-link when exposed to radiation. As a consequence,
resists can simultaneously exhibit positive resist behavior (usually at low to
moderate doses) and negative resist behavior (at higher doses).103 This is another
resist issue associated with EUV lithography of which practitioners need to be
mindful.
EUV lithography is a promising technology, but one where development is still
in progress to enable high-volume manufacturing of integrated circuits. Only a
survey of EUV technology has been provided here. For further reading on the
basic engineering science of EUV radiation, the interested reader is referred to the
excellent book by Dr. David Atwood.104 In addition, there are a number of survey
papers, as well as entire books dedicated to the subject of EUV lithography.105,106
Problems
12.1 Show that the Rayleigh resolution of an EUV (λ = 13.5 nm) lithography
system with an NA = 0.25 is 33 nm, and that the Rayleigh depth-of-focus is
216 nm. Show that the resolution and depth-of-focus are 20.5 nm and 84 nm,
respectively, for an EUV lens with 0.4 NA.
12.2 Show that Eq. (12.1) reduces to the conventional Bragg condition
mλ
d= ,
2 cos θ
when the indices of refraction of the materials in a multilayer film
stack → 1.0.
12.3 Using the above formula for the conventional Bragg condition, show that
each pair in a multilayer reflector should be 6.8 nm thick to produce peak
reflectivity at a wavelength of 13.5 nm when the incident light is 6 deg from
normal. (Assume that m = 1.) Show that a change in the film-pair thickness
of 1 Å changes the peak wavelength by 0.2 nm.
12.4 The attenuation length of carbon for light of wavelength 13.5 nm is 155 nm.
Show that the transmission of light through a six-mirror lens where each
mirror is coated with 1 nm of carbon is 92.6% of an identical lens for which
the mirrors have no carbon coating. (Remember that the light will travel twice
through the carbon coating on each mirror.)
12.5 The ITRS contains a requirement of 36-nm peak-to-valley mask flatness for
the 32-nm node. Show that this level of nonflatness contributes an overlay
error of ∼1 nm for systems which illuminate the mask at a mean angle of 6
deg and have projection optics with a reduction ratio of 4:1.
12.6 In Eq. (2.32) the change in linewidth ∆L when the dose E(x) is changed
proportionally E(x) → (1 + ∆)E(x) is given by
∆L = 2∆ (ILS )−1 ,
where ILS is the image log slope. Show that the same relationship holds for
an added dose E(x) → E(x) + ∆, independent of position.
12.7 Derive Eq. (12.4), keeping in mind that the energy of a single EUV photon is
1.47 × 10−14 mJ.107
12.8 Suppose the reflected light produced by a multilayer mirror as a function of
wavelength (Fig. 12.4) is approximated by a Gaussian
−(λ−λ0 )2
R(λ) = R0 e a(∆λ)2 ,
where a = 1/(4 ln 2) and ∆λ is the full-width at half-maximum

√ of the light.
Show that the full-width at half-maximum is ∆λ/ N after N reflections.
12.9 Show that a scanner with a curved slit must scan a distance
 r 
W 2 
d = R 1 − 1 − 2 


4R
450 Chapter 12
longer than a scanner with a rectangular slit of the same height h, where R is
the curved slit’s radius of curvature and W is the width of the exposure field.
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79. K. Murakami, T. Oshino, H. Kondo, M. Shiraishi, H. Chiba, H. Komatsuda,
K. Nomura, and J. Nishikawa, “Development progress of optics for EUVL at
Nikon,” Proc. SPIE 7271, 72711Z (2009).
80. M. Lowisch, U. Dinger, U. Mickam, and T. Heil, “EUV imaging—an aerial
image study,” Proc. SPIE 5374, 53–63 (2004).
81. E. M. Gullikson, S. L. Baker, J. E. Bjorkholm, J. Bokor, K. A. Goldberg,
J. E. Goldsmith, C. Montcalm, P. P. Naulleau, E. A. Spiller, D. G. Stearns,
J. S. Taylor, and J. H. Underwood, “EUV scattering and flare of 10X

projection cameras,” Proc. SPIE 3676, 717–723 (1999).
82. E. Spiller, S. L. Baker, P. B. Mirkarimi, V. Sperry, E. M. Gullikson, and
D. G. Stearns, “High-performance Mo-Si multilayer coatings for extreme-
ultraviolet lithography by ion-beam deposition,” Appl. Optic. 42(19),
4049–4058 (2003).
83. R. M. Hudyma, “An overview of optical systems for 30 nm resolution
lithography at EUV wavelengths,” Proc. SPIE 4832, 137–148 (2002).
84. D. M. Williamson, “Evolution of ring field systems in microlithography,”
Proc. SPIE 3482, 369–376 (1998).
85. G. M. Gallatin, F. A. Houle, and J. L. Cobb, “Statistical limitations of printing
50 and 80 nm contact holes by EUV lithography,” J. Vac. Sci. Technol. B
21(6), 3172–3176 (2003).
86. R. L. Brainard, P. Trefonas, J. H. Lammers, C. A. Cutler, J. F. Mackevich,
A. Trefonas, and S. W. Robertson, “Shot noise, LER and quantum efficiency
of EUV photoresists,” Proc. SPIE 5374, 74–85 (2004).
87. The resist data were provided by Dr. Tom Wallow and Dr. Patrick Naulleau.
88. Dr. Patrick Naulleau has estimated that 1.43 nm of LER results from the
mask absorber LER, and this has been factored out of the data by assuming
that the measured LER is the root sum of squares of the mask LER and the
LER due to all other factors. It is the LER due to nonmask sources that is
plotted. See P. P. Naulleau, D. Niakoula, and G. Zhang “System-level line-
edge roughness limits in extreme ultraviolet lithography,” J. Vac. Sci. Technol.
B 26(4), 1289–1293 (2008).
89. F. Reif, Fundamentals of Statistical and Thermal Physics, McGraw-Hill,
New York (1965).
90. C. N. Anderson, “Don’t always blame the photons: relationships
between deprotection blur, LER, and shot noise in EUV photoresists,”
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (2009). Retrieved from: http://www.
escholarship.org/uc/item/5fj2s0jn.
91. K. B. Nguyen, C. Lyons, J. Schefske, C. Pike, K. Phan, P. King, H. Levinson,
S. Bell, and U. Okoroanyanwu, “Characterization of the manufacturability of
ultrathin resist,” J. Vac. Sci. Technol. B 17(6), 3039–3042 (1999).
92. J. F. Cameron, N. Chan, K. Moore, and G. Pohlers, “Comparison of acid
generating efficiencies in 248 and 193 nm photoresists,” Proc. SPIE 4345,
106–118 (2001).
93. R. L. Brainard, C. Henderson, J. Cobb, V. Rao, J. F. Mackevich, U.
Okoroanyanwu, S. Gunn, J. Chambers, and S. Connolly, “Comparison of
the lithographic properties of positive resists upon exposure to deep- and
extreme-ultraviolet radiation,” J. Vac. Sci. Technol. B 17(6), 3384–3389
(1999).
458 Chapter 12
94. R. L. Brainard, G. G. Barclay, E. H. Anderson, and L. E. Ocola, “Resists for

next-generation lithography,” Microelectron. Eng. 61–62, 707–715 (2002).
95. T. Kozawa, Y. Yoshida, M. Uesaka, and S. Tagawa, “Study of radiation
induced reactions in chemically amplified resists for electron beam and x-
ray lithography,” Jpn. J. Appl. Phys. 31, L1574–L1576 (1992).
96. R. Brainard, E. Hassanein, J. Li, P. Pathak, B. Thiel, F. Cerrina, R. Moore,
M. Rodriguez, B. Yakshinskiy, E. Loginova, T. Madey, R. Matyi, M. Malloy,
A. Rudack, P. Naulleau, A. Wüest, and K. Dean, “Photons, electrons, and
acid yields in EUV photoresists: a progress report,” Proc. SPIE 6932, 693215
(2008).
97. R. L. Brainard, P. Trefonas, J. H. Lammers, C. A. Cutler, J. F. Mackevich,
A. Trefonas, and S. W. Robertson, “Shot noise, LER and quantum efficiency
of EUV photoresists,” Proc. SPIE 5374, 74–85 (2004).
98. S. Tanuma, C. J. Powell, and D. R. Penn, “Calculations of electron inelastic
mean free paths V: data for 14 organic compounds over the 50-2000 eV
range,” Surf. Interface Anal. 21, 165–176 (1994).
99. T. Kozawa, S. Tagawa, H. B. Cao, H. Deng, and M. J. Leeson, “Acid
distribution in chemically amplified extreme ultraviolet resist,” J. Vac. Sci.
Technol. B 25(6), 2481–2485 (2007).
100. T. Kozawa, A. Saeki, and S. Tagawa, “Modeling and simulation of chemically
amplified electron beam, x-ray, and EUV resist processes,” J. Vac. Sci.
Technol. B 22(6), 3489–3492 (2004).
101. T. Kozawa, and S. Tagawa, “Point spread function for the calculation of
acid distribution in chemically amplified resists used for electron-beam
lithography,” Jpn. J. Appl. Phys. 46, L1200–1202 (2007).
102. H. H. Solak, Y. Ekinci, P. Kaser, and S. Park, “Photon-beam lithography
reaches 12.5 nm half-pitch resolution,” J. Vac. Sci. Technol. B 25(1), 91–95
(2007).
103. K. E. Gonsalves, M. Thiyagarajan, J. H. Choi, P. Zimmerman, F. Cerrina,
P. Nealey, V. Golovkina, J. Wallace, and N. Batina, “High performance resist
for EUV lithography,” Microelectron. Eng. 77, 27–35 (2005).
104. D. Attwood, Soft X-rays and Extreme Ultraviolet Radiation, Principles and
Applications, Oxford University Press, New York (2000).
105. Extreme Ultraviolet Lithography, B. Wu and A. Kumar, Eds., McGraw Hill,
New York (2009).
106. EUV Lithography, V. Bakshi, Ed., SPIE Press, Bellingham, Washington
(2009).
107. A convenient energy converter can be found at http://heasarc.gsfc.nasa.gov/
cgi-bin/Tools/energyconv/energyConv.pl.
Chapter 13
Alternative Lithography
Techniques
In addition to EUV lithography, a number of other alternatives to optical
lithography have been or are being pursued. These alternative techniques have
sometimes been called next-generation lithographies, and are frequently referred
to by the acronym NGL. A number of alternatives to optical lithography have
been conceived, but none has yet been developed to the point that it is ready
for implementation in manufacturing. Several of these alternative lithographic
techniques—proximity x ray, electron-beam direct write, electron projection, ion-
projection lithography, nanoimprint lithography, and directed self-assembly—are
discussed in this chapter. Each of these approaches has technical challenges that
must be overcome before they will be usable in semiconductor manufacturing.
In this chapter, the basic concepts underlying several of these technologies are
discussed, and the challenges that need to be addressed are highlighted.
13.1 Proximity X-ray Lithography

Optical lithography is limited by diffraction, which is most significant when
objects are comparable in size to the wavelength of light. This fact of physics has
driven decreases in the wavelength of light used in optical lithography. Similarly,
the lithographic use of wavelengths in the x-ray portion of the electromagnetic
spectrum was motivated by the idea that diffraction effects could be effectively
neutralized by using photons with extremely short wavelengths. However, at x-
ray wavelengths there are no known materials for making image-forming lenses
or mirrors. Consequently, x-ray lithography involves the use of proximity printing,
where the mask is brought to within a few microns of the wafer and the x rays are
passed directly through the mask and onto the wafer (Fig. 13.1). This is in contrast
to optical lithography, which has the potential for projection of the image by a lens.
Since there are no materials that are highly transparent, x-ray masks are made
on very thin membranes (thickness <2 µm) comprised of low-atomic-number
materials, on which the circuit patterns are placed in the form of high-atomic-
number material (Fig. 13.1). A large percentage of the x rays pass through the
low-atomic-number material, but the x rays are absorbed or scattered by the
high-atomic-number materials, thus generating pattern contrast. Silicon carbide
460 Chapter 13
Figure 13.1 X-ray proximity lithography with a collimated light source.
is a typical membrane material, and silicon nitride films were used early in the
development of x-ray lithography.
Silicon carbide is a good material to use for the membrane because it has a high
Young’s modulus (450 GPa), a characteristic that minimizes mechanical distortion,
and it is not damaged by long exposure to x rays.1 Gold2 and tungsten3 have been
used as absorbers, but the best success has been found with compounds of Ta, such
as TaN,4 TaSiNx ,5 and Ta4 B,6 because they are compatible with various etch and
cleaning processes.7
The use of thin membranes for masks introduces a set of challenges. Such
films deform because of stresses, and there has been extensive work to understand
and control them.8,9 Mask deformation is particularly problematic for x-ray
lithography, because there is no reduction of the image between the mask and
wafer. This 1:1 pattern transfer necessitates very tight tolerances for the masks,
relative to 4:1 or 5:1 reduction printing. On the other hand, with x rays there
are no lens distortions or feature size–dependent pattern-placement errors, so a
greater part of the overlay budget can be allocated to the mask in x-ray lithography.
However, thin-film masks are susceptible to vibrations when stepped or scanned,
and this needs to be addressed in any x-ray exposure system.10 Diamond was
pursued as an x-ray-mask-membrane material because its extremely high Young’s
modulus (900 GPa) reduces mask mechanical distortion.11
X-ray masks are typically made from silicon wafers. The membrane-mask area
is fabricated in the center of the wafer. The mask fabrication process is outlined in
Fig. 13.2. Because the membrane area is fragile, and silicon wafers are too thin to
provide stability, frames or rings have been adopted for x-ray masks. The fragile
silicon wafer is bonded to the ring to provide mechanical strength. An example
of such a frame, the ARPA-NIST standard, 12 is shown in Fig. 13.3. The frame is
made of Pyrex to facilitate bonding between the frame and the silicon on which the
mask is fabricated.
Until the recent interest in EUV lithography, there has been greater investment
in x-ray lithography than any other potential successor to optical technology. There
have been programs at several universities, such as MIT and the University of
Wisconsin, and at companies such as IBM, AT&T, and NTT. X-ray technology
has also received support from the United States and Japanese governments. X-ray
step-and-repeat and step-and-scan systems were made available commercially.13,14
Alternative Lithography Techniques 461
Figure 13.2 The x-ray mask fabrication process.12
Figure 13.3 The ARPA/NIST x-ray-mask standard mounting fixture.12 All dimensions are
given in mm.
462 Chapter 13
For many years, x-ray sources were a problem for lithographic applications.
Point sources of x rays, such as those used in medicine or dentistry, have long been
available. However, such sources are far from ideal for use in lithography. This is
illustrated in Fig. 13.4, which shows that there are pattern-placement effects that
do not occur with a collimated source. Since L r, the displacement d is given to
good approximation:
g
d=r . (13.1)
L
What this shows is that the pattern shift is a function of position on the mask and
depends upon the gap. For a point source, the x-ray masks need to be fabricated
with adjustment for this magnification, and a stringent requirement for gap control
is imposed in order to maintain good overlay.
Because of this deficiency of point x-ray sources, synchrotron radiation was
often adopted for use in x-ray lithography. Synchrotron radiation is produced by
moving electrons at speeds approaching the speed of light (relativistic) along a
circular arc. When this is done, synchrotron radiation is emitted in a narrow range
of angles in the forward direction, along a tangent to the arc and in the same plane.
By the use of extremely powerful magnets, relativistic electrons are bent in an arc,
causing them to emit synchrotron radiation down a beamline connected to an x-ray
exposure tool (Fig. 13.5). This directionality, intrinsic to synchrotron radiation, is
useful for x-ray lithography because mirrors and lenses cannot be used to gather
Figure 13.4 Geometry with a point source.

Figure 13.5 Electron storage ring in a lithography facility.
photons efficiently at x-ray wavelengths and direct them toward the exposure tool.
Intensity is proportional to the current of electrons. The combination of collimation
and intensity make synchrotrons good sources of light for x-ray lithography.
Synchrotron light sources are more complex and expensive than arc lamps or
excimer lasers, but are not unreasonable sources of x rays for use in lithography.
Because they have no moving parts, synchrotrons are very reliable.15 A single
storage ring can supply x-rays for several steppers, spreading the light-source cost
across multiple exposure systems.
Because x-ray light sources also produce photons at long wavelengths, a filter
is needed. Beryllium is transparent for wavelengths shorter than 15 Å. Beryllium
windows also enable an ultrahigh vacuum to be maintained on the source side of
the window, while allowing some level of atmosphere in the exposure tools. This
transmission cutoff for beryllium sets a limit for the longest wavelengths used for
x-ray lithography. Another limit on the range of wavelengths for x-ray lithography
is set by the membrane materials used for the x-ray mask. The silicon-K absorption
edge occurs at a wavelength of 6.7 Å, setting this as a lower bound on the usable
wavelengths when the mask membrane is silicon carbide. There has been recent
work on diamond membranes, which would enable the use of shorter wavelengths
for x-ray lithography, but this technology is yet unproven. Consequently, x-ray
lithography involves the use of photons with wavelengths between 6.7 Å and 15 Å.
A compact x-ray source has been developed that produces collimated x rays,
overcoming a number of problems associated with earlier point sources.16 The x
rays are produced initially by hitting a copper foil with high-power light from a
464 Chapter 13
Nd-YAG laser (1064-nm wavelength). The resulting short-wavelength spectrum is

shown in Fig. 13.6. The light is then collected by arrays of fine glass polycapillary
fibers, an example of which is shown in Fig. 13.7. These enable much of the light
to be collected, and the capillaries also collimate the x rays. This light source has
the collimation advantages of synchrotrons but is still a compact source.
Even with wavelengths between 6.7–15 Å, diffraction is significant for feature
sizes in the range of interest, <100 nm. Gaps between the mask and wafer typical of
x-ray lithography produce configurations in which Fresnel diffraction occurs. For
optical lithography, the minimum printable linewidth is related to the numerical
aperture of the lens, the wavelength λ of the light, and the resist process, through
Figure 13.6 Spectrum from compact x-ray light source. The x rays are produced by hitting
a copper foil with high-intensity light from a Nd:YAG laser.17
Figure 13.7 Example of a polycapillary fiber used to collimate x rays.18

the parameter k1 :
λ
minimum linewidth = k1 . (13.2)
NA
For x-ray lithography there is a similar expression:19

r
λg
minimum linewidth = , (13.3)
α
where g is the gap between the x-ray mask and the wafer and α is a parameter
that captures the contributions from the resist process. Typically, α ranges between
0.5 and 1.5. In order to achieve resolution <100 nm, gaps less than 10 µm are
required. Maintaining such tight gaps is not beyond current capability, but it is a
nontrivial task. In optical lithography, there is a focus-control requirement in order
to maintain good linewidth control. There is a similar requirement for gap control
in x-ray lithography.20 With a 15-µm nominal gap, linewidth variations of 3 nm
per micron of gap change were measured for 150-nm features.21 This problem of
linewidth variation caused by changes in the gap increases as the targeted feature
size gets smaller.
Many DUV resists, such as UVIIHS,22 work quite well as x-ray masks. Doses
range from 100–300 mJ/cm2 with this particular chemically amplified resist. This
simplified the x-ray lithography development effort, since much work could be
done using commercially available resist materials.
Of all the challenges to x-ray lithography, the greatest involves the mask.
Because there is no potential for image reduction, defects, linewidth variation,
and misregistration are transferred from the mask to the wafer unmitigated by
the reduction found in optical steppers. There is also no potential for a pellicle
that will keep particulate defects out of the depth-of-field. On the other hand,
because there are no optics, there are no lens contributions to linewidth variation
and misregistration, so 1× x-ray masks need to have linewidth variations and
misregistration only about one third that of 4× reticles. However, since leading-
edge mask-making capability is needed just to meet the requirements of 4× reticles,
this tightening of requirements by a factor of three has made 1× x-ray masks
virtually impossible to make. As a consequence, most x-ray programs have been
scaled back considerably or terminated altogether.
13.2 Electron-Beam Direct-Write Lithography

Electron-beam methods, such as those discussed in Chapter 7 for patterning
photomasks, are used to create patterns on wafers directly. Electrons, being
particles with mass, have extremely short wavelengths at the energies typically
used for electron-beam direct-write lithography (5–100 keV), and require features
of atomic dimensions to be diffracted.23 Electron lithography therefore has
potential for very high resolution, producing features 10 nm and smaller.24 Electron
466 Chapter 13
beams also image with extremely large depths-of-focus, providing relief from one
the most challenging problems of optical lithography.
Conceptually, electron-beam direct-write lithography is particularly appealing
for manufacturing products made in extremely low volume. In Chapter 11, the
impact of mask prices on cost of ownership was discussed. With complete mask
sets for products often exceeding $2M and increasing with time, masks contribute
significantly to the cost of products produced in low volume (<1000 wafers/reticle
set). For these types of products, electron-beam direct-write lithography looks
attractive because there are no mask costs. However, direct-write lithography is
currently not very efficient for high-volume manufacturing. The high efficiency
of optical lithography, discussed in Chapter 1, is obtained because many features
on the mask are transferred to the wafer in parallel. On the other hand, direct-
write lithography fundamentally involves serial processes, making it slow. This
low speed is tolerable for mask making, where only a few chips are patterned on
reticles, but writing time does become problematic when trying to pattern many
chips per wafer and on more than just a few wafers.
A brief analysis serves to illuminate the magnitude of the problem. Consider
a 22-nm technology patterned with a raster scanning tool. If the pattern is divided
into pixels and we want to be able to adjust the position of the edge of every feature,
then 11 × 11-nm pixels are needed, of which there are 8.26 × 1011 such pixels in
one square centimeter. Writing at a rate of one-billion pixels per second, it would
take nearly a week to completely pattern a single 300-mm-diameter wafer.
Increasing direct-write throughput significantly also represents a challenge in
data-transfer technology. In order to achieve 1-nm edge placement for 22-nm
technology, a 5-bit per-pixel data representation is required to achieve the required
level of gray scaling.25 The total design information density therefore exceeds
a terabit (1012 ) per cm2 . Comparable data volumes would be required if vector
scanning was used, assuming similar flexibility in pattern placement. To pattern
one 300-mm wafer per minute, it is necessary to transfer information at a rate of
approximately
π × (150 mm)2 5 bits

2
× = 48.7 Tb/sec. (13.4)
(11 nm) 60 sec
Such data rates require well-engineered data-storage systems from which

information can be rapidly retrieved. Lossless data compression is also needed,
since even the fastest electronics and optical-transmission systems cannot handle
the data rate estimated in Eq. (13.4). Data compression techniques have been
specifically developed for application to direct-write lithography.26 To satisfy data-
rate-transfer requirements, data decompression will need to be performed using
specialized high-speed electronics rather than software. As can be seen from these
estimates, writing complex circuits at advanced nodes on large-diameter wafers
using a single electron beam is a complex and slow process.
In addition to writing directly on the wafer with a single beam, other approaches
have been considered to improve throughput, including:
1. Multiple-beam direct write

2. Cell projection
3. Projection with use of a scattering mask.
Each of these types of electron-beam lithography involves some level of
parallelism in the data transfer, and each will be considered in this chapter,
following a more detailed discussion of single-beam systems.
Before proceeding to discuss each of these forms of electron-beam lithography
at greater length, there are a few general properties that need to be considered
when patterning wafers using electron beams. First, it should be recalled that
electrons are scattered by solids (Fig. 7.11), leading to broadening of the
beam as the electrons pass through resist. Such forward scattering limits the
resolution capability of electron-beam lithography. Suppose that such broadening
is quantified by a standard deviation σ f of a Gaussian that approximates the
broadening of the beam. Monte Carlo simulations of this broadening, in terms of
electron energy E (for E < 50 keV) and resist thickness t (for t > 0.25 µm), have
been fit to the following expression:27
!1.75
9.64t
σf = , (13.5)
E
where σ f and t are both measured in units of microns and E is in units of keV. Due
to forward scattering alone, high resolution requires thin resist and high-energy
electrons (see Problem 13.4).
Such issues of resolution degradation and proximity effects were discussed
in the context of mask fabrication in Chapter 7. There are, however, differences
when writing directly onto wafers. First, because masks are typically used for
reduction lithography, the feature sizes of interest on the mask are usually bigger
than those on the wafer, even when subresolution features are included. This eases
the requirements for mask making, relative to direct writing on wafers.
Another problem associated with directly writing on wafers is energy
deposition. The scattering of electrons in the resist is reduced when using
high-energy electrons, something desirable for high-resolution electron-beam
lithography. However, most high-energy electrons pass through the resist film and
deposit their energy in the underlying substrate. For mask making, this is not
particularly problematic, for several reasons.28 First, electrons more energetic than
50 keV are rarely used for mask making because the resolution requirements for
mask making are less stringent than for writing directly on wafers, a consequence
of reduction lithography. For some of the concepts for direct writing on wafers,
electrons with energy greater than 50 keV may be required (Section 13.2.4), and
more energy is thus deposited into wafer substrates than typically occurs in mask
making. More importantly, reticles are usually made from fused silica, which has a
low coefficient of thermal expansion (∼0.5 ppm/◦ C), nearly an order of magnitude
smaller than for silicon. Typical photomasks also have much greater thermal
capacity than wafers. The combination of a lower coefficient of thermal expansion
468 Chapter 13
and a greater thermal capacity offsets fused silica’s lower thermal conductivity
relative to silicon. Even with electron energies as low as 5 keV, wafer thermal
distortion is large enough to affect overlay at a level of significance for 22-nm
technology and beyond,29 unless great care is taken for mitigation.
Another important consideration relevant to the problem of thermal distortion is
throughput. Write times of several hours are considered acceptable for photomasks,
since far fewer masks need to be fabricated than wafers. For patterning wafers, such
throughputs are acceptable for a few applications in research or prototyping, but a
serious application of electron lithography to manufacturing requires throughputs
of several wafers per hour. This implies that the rate of energy deposition for wafer
patterning should be more than two orders of magnitude greater than for mask
making. The heat generated by such a greater rate of energy deposition cannot
be conducted away readily, leading to greater temperature changes. For all of
these reasons, silicon wafers will mechanically distort more than photomasks as
a consequence of energy deposition, and the effect on registration is more. For
patterning wafers with electron beams, overlay is a significant issue.
Resist sensitivity is a factor that directly influences throughput. As noted in the
previous chapter, lithographic processes involving very sensitive resists will also
be subject to high line-edge roughness and dimensional variation. For example,
suppose we are patterning 22 × 22 nm contacts, and wish to achieve <5% 3σ dose
variation as a consequence of shot noise. This necessitates resists with sensitivity
of 120 µC/cm2 or greater (see Problem 13.5). With each new generation, linear
dimensions scale as ∼0.7×, and areas scale as ∼0.5×. This means that every new
generation of e-beam technology will require ∼2× increase in dose (as measured in
µC/cm2 ). However, the beam will also be ∼2× smaller in area in order to achieve
the needed resolution, so this higher dose can be achieved by focusing a fixed
current into a smaller spot size. Thus, in order to maintain throughput node to
node, currents and scanning rates of the electron beam must necessarily increase
∼2×. It is for this reason that enthusiasm for direct-write electron-beam lithography
has waxed and waned over time. While electron-beam systems have at times met
the throughput requirements for manufacturing, the ability to meet such needs
for subsequent nodes has involved engineering challenges not always overcome
in time to meet throughput and lithographic requirements.
Highly energetic electrons deposit a net negative charge to the substrate (see
Fig. 9.5). If the substrate builds up a negative charge, the electron beam is
eventually deflected electrostatically. In this situation, the electrical conductivity
of silicon is an advantage, and pattern-placement errors due to such hypothesized
deflections have been smaller than measurement capability (20 nm) at the time the
experiments were performed.30 However, for the very tight overlay requirements
of the 22-nm node and beyond, electrically conducting layers under the resist may
be required. On the other hand, electron-beam lithography systems are operated
in vacuum, so the interferometers used for controlling wafer-stage position are not
subject to air-induced noise. This enables the use of somewhat simpler wafer stages
than for very advanced optical-exposure tools.
13.2.1 Single-beam direct-write systems

Direct-write electron-beam writers very similar to the mask-making systems
described in Chapter 7 have been developed and built for fast-turn applications
and research and development. These systems are typically vector-scan and/or
shaped-beam systems when throughput is the priority, while they are Gaussian-
beam systems when the highest resolution is desired. One of the first commercially
available systems for writing directly on wafers was the AEBLE 150 from Perkin-
Elmer’s Electron Beam Technology Division.31,32 Since then, several electron-
beam direct-write systems have been produced. Some examples of direct-write
systems currently commercially available are listed in Table 13.1.
In addition to shaped-beam systems, there are Gaussian-beam tools that provide
higher resolution at the expense of throughput. Examples of such systems are
Vistec’s EBPG5000plus, JEOL 9300FS, and the Raith150-TWO, which have been
used to create features ≤10 nm. Such beam writers are useful where the number of
features that must be patterned is very small.
In addition to commercially produced electron-beam systems, there was a
long-term electron-beam direct-write program at IBM that produced a succession
of tools, EL-1 through EL-4,33,34 based upon shaped beams.35 This technology
evolved into the EL-5, which was used to make 1× x-ray masks.36
Another application of direct-write e-beam lithography is in technology
research, where wafer throughput does not need to be very high. For example,
a Leica SB 320-50 SW shaped beam tool (the Leica e-beam operations are now
part of Vistec) was used to fabricate SRAM cells with 65-nm design rules at a time
when 90-nm technology had not yet reached manufacturing.37 E-beam patterning
was used on the critical active, gate, contact, and metal layers. Throughput was
very low, 18–24 h for a single 200-mm wafer, but this was nevertheless useful for
early development of advanced technologies, where few wafers were needed. A
negative resist, Sumitomo NEB-33, was used for clear-field active and gate layers,
while a positive resist, Fujifilm FEP-171, was used for contact and metal layers.
The use of a negative resist for clear-field layers minimized writing time.
As discussed previously, in order to expose resist with sufficient doses to avoid
shot noise–induced line-edge roughness, the highest possible beam currents are
advantageous. The electron density can therefore be high within the electron-
optical column, and also where the electron beam is ultimately focused on the
wafer. When an electron beam is confined to a small volume, individual electrons
experience the electric fields of other electrons, resulting in beam broadening.
Table 13.1 Commercially available direct-

write electron-beam systems.
Supplier System type Model
Vistec Shaped beam SB3050

Vistec Gaussian beam EBPG5000plus
JEOL Gaussian beam 9300FS
Raith GmbH Gaussian beam Raith150-TWO
470 Chapter 13
This leads to a fundamental tradeoff between resolution and large-current electron

beams capable of supporting high throughput.38 While the resulting average field
can be compensated, there is stochastic scattering—the random electron-electron
interactions that will tend to broaden the beam.39 Beam blur is a consequence of
angular divergences within the electron beam from its nominal direction within
the electron column. For an electron beam of diameter 2rb traversing a column of
length L, the beam-angular divergence has been estimated as40
k m 1/3 I 2/3 L
∆α = , (13.6)
4πε0 4 V 4/3 rb4/3
where m is the mass of the electron, I is the beam current, V is the beam voltage,
ε0 is the permittivity of free space, and k is a constant ∼1.5–2. The amount of beam
blur depends upon the electron optical design, but Eq. (13.6) shows that the blur
increases with current, regardless of the design. Single columns produce beams
with blur that is too great to support the resolution requirements of the 22-nm node
and beyond when the beam current reaches 10 µA. Hence, there is a fundamental
tradeoff between resolution and throughput. Attempts to neutralize the beam with
ions do not eliminate the stochastic beam blurring, which results from random
interactions among particles.
The time t required to expose an area A covered with a resist of sensitivity S ,
using a beam of current I, is given by
AS
t= . (13.7)
I
This shows the direct relationship between beam current and throughput.
Limitations on shot noise–induced LER prevent the resist sensitivity S from being
reduced significantly to improve throughput.
Another factor limiting throughput is the ability to scan the beam controllably
at high speeds. Components for scanning the electron beam and blanking it on and
off involve electrostatic or electromagnetic elements, and the intrinsic resistances,
capacitances, and inductances of such components ultimately limit the speed at
which deflections can occur.41
Single-beam electron lithography is proven technology and provides useful
capability when patterning small areas is adequate. However, there are several
obstacles to achieving the throughputs required for producing integrated circuits
cost effectively with a single beam, including the need for high exposures to avoid
shot noise–induced LER, beam blur, and limitations on electronics speed. In order
to achieve writing times of less than one hour per wafer, some degree of parallel
imaging is required.
13.2.2 Multiple-electron-beam direct-write systems

To circumvent the limitations of a single electron beam, approaches have been
proposed that involve multiple-electron optical columns42 or multiple beams.43
Multi-electron-beam lithography is a challenging technology to implement,

requiring extremely good reliability and innovations to produce adequate
calibrations among all of the beams and columns. Nevertheless, the high costs of
masks and the need for more flexible manufacturing have led to efforts to develop
muliple-beam systems.
Several approaches have been proposed by Vistec,44 IMS45,46 and MAPPER.47
All of these approaches involve micromachining to produce multiple electron
beams in reasonably sized systems. However, there are also some differences
among the approaches taken by each company, and these are described in this
section.
The IMS and Vistec systems both involve multiple 50-keV electron beams
projected through single electron columns. This method is illustrated in Fig. 13.8.
An aperture array is used to generate separated electron beams. To avoid excessive
heating of the aperture array plate, the energy of the electrons impinging on the
plate (5 keV for the IMS system) is usually significantly less than the final 50
keV of the electrons that are focused onto the wafers. The use of multiple beams
provides increased separation of the electrons as they traverse the electron-optical
column, relative to single-beam systems, except at the crossover points. This
reduces—but does not eliminate—the stochastic beam blur. Relative to a single-
electron-beam system, this allows for a substantial increase of total current before
stochastic beam blur becomes limiting for the resolutions of the 22-nm node and
below.
The MAPPER system involves the use of both separate beams and electron
lenses to avoid the limitation of stochastic blurring of high current densities within
a single column. The multiple beams are generated by use of a set of apertures
to form multiple beams from a single uniform and collimated electron beam
(Fig. 13.9). The apertures are arranged as shown schematically in Fig. 13.10. A
deflector array is used to blank beams on and off and scan the beams, thereby
Figure 13.8 Schematic of a multi-electron-beam system using a single-column electron

lens.
472 Chapter 13
Figure 13.9 Schematic of the MAPPER multi-electron-beam lithography system.
Figure 13.10 Schematic of the MAPPER aperture that generates separate electron
beams.
providing patterning capability. The apertures in the rows are offset by 2 µm,
and full-wafer coverage is accomplished by scanning each beam across 2 µm.
To minimize wafer heating, 5-keV electrons are used in the MAPPER system, in
contrast to the tens of kilovolt beams typically used for electron-beam lithography.
However, from Eq. (13.5), such low energies lead to imaging blurring due to
forward scattering. This can be limiting for 22-nm lithography and beyond, unless
very thin resist layers are used (see Problem 13.4).
In order to achieve throughputs of 10 wafers per hour or more, MAPPER
systems with tens of thousands of beams have been proposed. This large number
of beams also enables redundancy to compensate for a few beams that might not
be functioning properly. With many beams, the total beam current necessary for
throughput of ≥10 wafers per hour can be achieved with low current per beam,
thereby avoiding unacceptable resolution lost due to stochastic beam blurring.
The multi-electron-beam systems from IMS, Vistec, and MAPPER are based on
concepts that circumvent some of the inherent current limitations of single-beam-
electron lithography systems. However, increased currents will heat the wafers, and
the resulting thermal expansion will cause overlay errors without compensation.
The temperature increase ∆T of an area A of a silicon wafer exposed for time t

with an e-beam is given by:
Pt
∆T = , (13.8)
hAρc
where h is the wafer thickness, ρ and c are the density and specific heat of silicon,
respectively, and P is the net flow of power into the section of the wafer under
consideration during the time of exposure. There is a flow of energy into the wafer
by the electron beams, while energy is conducted away in the form of heat, and P
is the difference between the rates of the two.
A detailed analysis of thermal wafer distortion is complex, but two extreme
cases can be considered, between which the overlay problem due to wafer heating
by the electron beams is bounded. The following analysis is adapted from Ref. 29.
If we can imagine that the volume hA of silicon is thermally isolated, then P equals
the power input from the electron beam. With a throughput target of 10 wafers per
hour, and a 120 µC/cm2 resist sensitivity, from Eq. (13.7) a beam current of at least
0.24 mA is required. Equation (13.8) can be used to calculate the temperature rise
resulting from heating by the electron beam, with examples given in Table 13.2.
The case opposite of thermal isolation is that where heat is conducted away
readily. An infinitely thick wafer serves as a model for this case, since there are
no thermal boundaries in that instance. The heated area can be considered to be
a wafer of effective thickness heff equal to the thermal diffusion length, which is
given by29
s
πkt
heff = , (13.9)
ρc
where k is the thermal conductivity of silicon. The exposure time t is calculated

using Eq. (13.7) and equals 4.16 sec when the resist sensitivity is 120 µC/cm2 , the
Table 13.2 Wafer heating and resulting uncompensated registration errors for two cases
of electron-beam direct write.
Parameter 5-kV beam voltage 50-kV beam voltage
Total power on wafer at 50% pattern density (W) 0.6 6.0

Temperature rise (◦ C) assuming no heat 2.4 24
conduction
Maximum position error (nm) at the edge of a ±96 ±960
±16-mm-long field assuming no heat
conduction
Temperature rise (◦ C) assuming an infinitely 0.058 0.58
thick wafer (ideal heat conduction)
Maximum position error (nm) at the edge of a ±2.3 23
32-mm-long field (ideal heat conduction)
474 Chapter 13
field size is 26 × 32 mm, and the total beam current is 0.24 mA. This leads to an
effective thickness of 32 mm. Even in this ideal case, overlay errors greater than
2 nm can result from electron beam–induced heating, even with beam energies
as low as 5 keV. This is a significant fraction of the overlay requirements for
the 22-nm node and beyond. The problem is substantially more challenging with
high-energy beams. In principle, these registration errors can be corrected to some
degree by detailed modeling of the wafer heating, and deflecting the electron beams
to compensate.
13.2.3 Cell-projection lithography

Another way to circumvent the thoughput problem that is a consequence of writing
pixel-by-pixel is to use some type of mask. Electron optics very similar to those
used for single-beam direct systems can be used by keeping the field size small
(a few microns on a side) for systems that follow this approach. One such system
with a 5-µm × 5-µm field size that was commercially available, the HL-800D from
Hitachi,48,49 was used to make protoype high-bit-count DRAMs50 before adequate
optical lithography capability became available. With a resolution of 100 nm, such
systems with a 5-µm × 5-µm field size on the wafer represented an increase in the
“parallelism” of electron-beam lithography by a factor of 2500 over single-beam
direct-write systems. More recently, Advantest has been producing systems with
cell-projection capability.51
For cell-projection e-beam lithography, the second aperture (Fig. 7.1) is a mask
of the pattern to be printed. These are typically stencil masks, where holes are
made in a membrane to allow electrons to be transmitted in some areas while
blocked in others. With electron optics, reduction imaging is possible, avoiding
the 1× problem of masks encountered in x-ray lithography. Cell projection e-
beam systems usually also have conventional single-beam lithography capability
for printing the nonrepetitive parts of the pattern.
Such an approach is clearly helpful for patterning memories, where much of
the circuit area consists of repeated memory cells. As design rules have moved
to smaller geometries, it is now possible to fit logic cells in a field that is only a
few microns on a side, so that logic circuits can be patterned using cell-projection
lithography, at least through the first few metal layers. Interconnects among logic
cells will naturally remain random, and less advantage can be applied to metal
layers that connect the logic cells. Nevertheless, cell-projection lithography has
potential for improving the throughput of electron-beam lithography, at least to the
point where the throughput becomes limited by the wafer heating discussed in the
prior section. There are opportunities for improving throughput by choosing design
rules that are optimized for cell-projection lithography.52
13.2.4 Scattering-mask electron-projection lithography

Optics have been designed for extending electron-projection lithography beyond
small field sizes (5 × 5 µm).53–56 However, there are two significant problems
with using large-area stencil masks to exploit such optics.57 First, stencil masks
are very fragile,58 and it has proven difficult to fabricate such masks with large
areas. Another potential limitation of projection-electron lithography is mask
heating. To achieve adequate throughput, high currents are needed. For masks that
create opaque regions by simply blocking and absorbing the electrons, the masks
become hot. To overcome this problem, a very clever scheme has been proposed,59
where nearly all electrons are allowed to pass through the mask. Instead of
absorbing electrons in those portions of the mask that are supposed to correspond
to unexposed areas on the wafer, the electrons are scattered by high-atomic-number
materials, such as tungsten, tantalum, or other materials used for x-ray masks.
At a focal plane within the electron optics is a physical aperture, through which
unscattered electrons pass. However, only a very small fraction of the scattered
electrons pass through the aperture (Fig. 13.11). Those portions of the mask
corresponding to regions of the design that are supposed to be exposed on the wafer
must allow electrons to penetrate with little scattering. As an alternative to stencil
masks, the scattering materials are placed on a thin membrane of low-atomic-
number material, such as silicon nitride or diamond-like carbon.60 Fabricating
masks on a continuous membrane, rather than by use of stencils, also increases
mask manufacturability and durability. This combination of a scattering mask, in
conjunction with a focal plane aperture in the electron optics, has been given the
name SCALPEL, the acronym for SCattering with Angular Limitation-Projection
Electron-beam Lithography. The SCALPEL approach has demonstrated patterning
capability. Shown in Fig. 13.12 are 80-nm contacts created using SCALPEL.61
Membrane and stencil masks are inherently thin and fragile. Most obviously,
there is the potential for damage to such masks. Another problem associated with
large-field membrane masks is distortion, a problem that was discussed in the
section on x-ray lithography. An innovative solution is to break the design into
1 × 12-mm sections on the masks, separated by tall struts. SCALPEL masks are
usually made from silicon wafers, so the strut heights equal the thickness of a
standard silicon wafer (0.75 mm for SEMI-standard 200-mm-diameter wafers).
Figure 13.11 Schematic of an electron-scattering projection system.

476 Chapter 13
Figure 13.12 80-nm contacts produced by SCALPEL.
With 4× lens reduction, the SCALPEL field size on the wafer is 0.25 mm × 3.0 mm,
so the thin membrane area between the struts on the mask is 1.0 mm × 12.0 mm.
To create a complete chip pattern on the wafer, the individual 0.25-mm × 3.0-mm
fields that comprise the total field need to be stitched together.
This stitching is not a trivial challenge for the SCALPEL technology, since
the left half of features, written in one field, need to line up with the right
half, with a tolerance that is a small fraction of the linewidth. What complicates
this stitching is the heating of the mask and wafer that occurs during exposure.
While very little energy is deposited into the SCALPEL mask, the membranes,
by being so thin, have very little thermal mass, and they heat appreciably during
exposures even though little total energy is deposited. Simulations show that the
temperature increase, which occurs nonuniformly across the mask, exceeds 7 ◦ C,
causing deformations of ∼20 nm.62 Similarly, most of the energy of the 100-keV
electrons used in the SCALPEL technology is deposited into the silicon wafer,
causing temperature rises calculated to be several ◦ C.63 This problem of wafer
heating has already been discussed in this chapter. In principle, adjustments can be
performed with the electron-beam optics, rather than through mechanical motion,
enabling very rapid corrections. Compensation for thermal distortions needs to be
accomplished through software, which is known to be the least-reliable component
of semiconductor manufacturing equipment.
As with the other next-generation lithography technologies discussed thus far,
such as x-ray and EUV lithography, SCALPEL masks cannot be protected by
pellicles from particulate contamination. It is apparent that mask-defect mitigation
will be a general problem for postoptical lithography.
Throughput is another challenge for SCALPEL. Because of the very high
currents involved in a large-field approach to e-beam lithography, the problem of
stochastic scattering is particularly severe. The amount of blur that can be tolerated
decreases as feature sizes shrink. As a consequence, the beam current must be
reduced in order to image smaller features with a given electron-optical system.

This leads to a familiar connection between throughput and resolution: throughput
decreases in order to print smaller features. It is possible to design electron optics
that minimize electron-electron interactions, but experience in this area is limited,
and the extent to which electron-optical design can address the issue of beam blur
remains to be seen.
In addition to the SCALPEL program originating from Bell Labs, there was
another program, PREVAIL, at IBM.53 PREVAIL included the essential elements
of SCALPEL, a scattering mask and focal plane aperture, but incorporated
IBM’s electron-optical technology. PREVAIL stands for PRojection Exposure
with Variable Axis Immersion Lenses. Nikon engaged with IBM to produce
exposure tools based on the PREVAIL concepts,64 but this program was eventually
suspended.
13.3 Ion-Projection Lithography

Ions can also be projected through stencil masks.65 Because ions scatter very little
in solids, they can potentially result in very high resolution. However, because
they are much more massive than electrons (the lightest ion, H+ , is approximately
2000× more massive than an electron), ions cannot be deflected at the same speed
as electrons. This is a consequence of basic physics:
F~ = m~a. (13.10)
A much larger force F~ is required to accelerate an ion than to accelerate an electron.

Consequently, the deflection schemes that have been proposed for SCALPEL
cannot be easily adopted for ion-beam exposures. For this reason, large-field
(12.5 mm×12.5 mm) ion-projection-lithography (IPL) systems have been pursued.
A schematic of an IPL system is shown in Fig. 13.13.66 Ions with a small spread
in energy are produced by a recently developed ion source.67,68 Electrostatic lenses
are then used to produce a uniform beam of ions that covers the area of the mask.
Beam energies are typically ≥ 250 keV. Another set of electrostatic lenses then
reduces the size of the overall pattern 4× and focuses the ions onto the wafer
surface.
Ion-projection lithography requires stencil masks;69 there is no potential for a
membrane-mask option, unlike with electron-projection lithography. One of the
problems with stencil masks is the donut problem. Consider the mask shape shown
in Fig. 13.14. This cannot be made with a single stencil mask, as the center portion
will be unsupported and will fall out. Creation of the geometry shown in Fig. 13.14
requires the use of at least two masks. While not fundamentally limiting, the need
for double exposures will reduce throughput on some layers.
Because ion masks must block ions in order to generate masked patterns, there
is considerable energy deposited into the masks. With ion beams, there is also
the potential for sputtering of the masks. Research has shown that deposition of a
478 Chapter 13
Figure 13.13 Schematic of an IPL system.66
Figure 13.14 Geometry that illustrates the donut problem. The dark areas represent the
opaque part of the mask, while the white area is open.
carbon film provides high emissivity and resistance against ion damage to enable
radiative cooling of the ion-projection masks.70
13.4 Imprint Lithography

A nonprojection lithographic technology, imprint lithography, has been
introduced.71 Imprint lithography is essentially a micromolding process, shown
schematically in Fig. 13.15. First, a template of the pattern is created. This consists
of recessed areas on a piece of a hard substance that will eventually correspond
to portions of the wafer where material will remain after etch. In one form of this
technology, step-and-flash imprint lithography (SFIL),72 the template is formed
from glass. It is formed from nickel or silicon in another form that was called
nanoimprint lithography (NIL).73 Over time, nanoimprint has become the term
applied to all imprint lithography directed at the formation of features with sizes
significantly smaller than 1 µm.
To create patterns on the wafer, a small puddle of liquid is dispensed on the
wafer, and the template is pressed against the liquid to “imprint” the pattern. After
imprinting, the pattern is then fixed on the wafer. With SFIL, the resist material
is solidified by exposure with ultraviolet light, while heat and pressure are used
with the NIL version of imprint lithography. The template is then released, and the
substrate can then be etched.
With this technology, extremely high-resolution lithography has been achieved.
Not only have 20-nm features been produced, but small fabrication errors in the
template of just a few nanometers in size have been replicated (Fig. 13.16). This
technology clearly has high-resolution capability.
Imprint lithography has some definite advantages and disadvantages.75 Because
there is no high-resolution lens required, imprint patterning tools are considerably
cheaper than high-performance step-and-scan exposure tools. Offsetting this
advantage is significantly less throughput than typical of optical step-and-scan
systems, a consequence of the mechanical nature of imprint lithography. Also, due
Figure 13.15 Schematic of imprint lithography.

480 Chapter 13
Figure 13.16 30-nm features produced by imprint lithography.74
to the 1× nature of the template, difficulties similar to those experienced with x-ray
masks might be expected. However, there are some aspects of template fabrication
for imprint lithography that make them easier to produce than x-ray masks. In
particular, it was necessary to fabricate x-ray masks on thin membranes, which
made registration control very difficult. In contast, imprint templates are formed
on rigid glass substrates. Even on glass substrates, the 1× nature of the template
represents a formidible challenge.
Imprint lithography is a contact-patterning method. Projection optical
lithography was developed as a replacement for optical-contact printing because
defect levels were too high with contact printing to support high levels of
integration. Nevertheless, imprint lithography is used in applications which are
defect tolerant, have loose or no requirements for overlay, and low levels of
integration. One example of the application of imprint lithography is the generation
of patterned media for magnetic storage.76,77
13.5 Directed Self-Assembly

Researchers have attempted to create patterns that might be used to fabricate
integrated circuits by leveraging the inherent tendency of specific molecules to
assemble into regular patterns. Self-assembly is based upon the use of polymer
chains comprised of linked immiscible blocks (Fig. 13.17). Because of the mutual
immiscibility of the different blocks, polymer chains deposited on a flat surface will
be driven thermodynamically to a single orientation, creating a regular pattern. By
using blocks that provide relative etch selectivity, this pattern can be transferred to
the substrate. For example, one block may be silicon containing, while the other
is purely hydrocarbon. An oxidizing plasma etch will remove the hydrocarbons
while leaving silicon-containing material. A common combination involving two
hydrocarbon materials is polystyrene and polymethylmethacrylate.78
To be useful for fabricating semiconductor devices, it is necessary to register
the arrays produced by self-assembly with patterns existing on the wafer. For
example, metal lines need to be on top of contacts. One way to do this is to coat
the wafer with a material that attracts one of the block types. This material can
then be patterned with loose-pitch optical (or other type) lithography. The resulting
Figure 13.17 Illustration of polymer chains comprised of immiscible blocks.
self-assembled pattern will resemble that in Fig. 13.18, where pitch splitting is
achieved. The use of an underlayer film to guide the self-assembly79 is referred
to as chemical epitaxy. It is also possible to use physical features, as illustrated
in Fig. 13.19. Without anchoring the pattern, self-assembling materials will form
random patterns, such as seen in the left side of Fig. 13.20. Properly directed, self-
assembled films can form useful patterns.
It is also possible to create arrays of dots or holes by using blocks of different
sizes, as illustrated in Fig. 13.21. The polymers will be oriented perpendicular
to the substrate. Depending on properties of the specific block polymers, square
or hexagonal arrays can be formed. The resulting arrays are useful for creating
patterns for magnetic storage, for example.81
13.6 The Ultimate Future of Lithography

The lithographic technologies described in this chapter are currently the focus of
research and development to see if they can be made useable for the large-scale
fabrication of semiconductor and other devices requiring the formation of specific
and very small patterns. The extraordinary accomplishments by lithographers over
the past several decades has made it very challenging to match the productivity
and capability of optical lithography. Because of the inherent limits to optical
Figure 13.18 Pitch splitting by the use of directed self-assembly and chemical epitaxy.
482 Chapter 13
Figure 13.19 Pitch splitting by the use of directed self-assembly and graphoepitaxy.
Figure 13.20 Materials with capability for self-assembly will form random patterns (left),
while achored features (right) form patterns useful for circuit fabrication.80
Figure 13.21 Creation of contact or hole arrays.

lithography and its high cost at its most capable, there are motivations to try
alternatives. This is particularly true for making products in low volumes, where
mask costs become prohibitive. Whether any of the techniques described in this
chapter ultimately are used in high-volume manufacturing is something that we
can look forward to seeing in the future.
Problems
13.1 Consider an x-ray lithography system with a gap of 20 µm and a distance of
2 m between the point source and mask. If the distance between the center and
edge of the exposure field is 10 mm, what is the pattern shift for geometries at
the edges of exposure fields, compared to the center due to the noncollimated
light source [Eq. (13.1)]?
13.2 For x-ray lithography, λ ≈ 1 nm. What gap between the mask and wafer is
required for a resolution of 50 nm, assuming α = 1? Is control of such a gap
practical?
13.3 Show that the deBroglie wavelength of a 5-keV electron is 1.7 × 10−2 nm and
is 5.0 × 10−3 nm for a 50-keV electron. Comment on the resolution limit of
electron lithography due to the wavelength of electrons.
13.4 The full-width half-maximum (FWHM) of a Gaussian distribution with a
standard deviation of σ is 2.36σ. Suppose that we want to pattern 22-nm
features using 5-keV electron beams, and assume that 22 nm ≈ FWHM of
the beam. Using Eq. (13.5), show that the resist can be no thicker than 36 nm
to achieve this resolution.
13.5 For electron-beam lithography, show that a dose of at least 120 µC/cm2 is
required to maintain <5% 3σ dose variation in 22 × 22-nm contacts.
13.6 Assuming that all other technical difficulties can be overcome, show that the
time required to expose one tenth of the area of a 300-mm wafer covered with
a resist with 120 µC/cm2 sensitivity and using a beam current of 10 µA is 14
min.
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Appendix A
Coherence
Coherence refers to the degree that light waves are correlated. Coherence has
been the subject of entire books on optics, or at least lengthy chapters. A few
essential elements are summarized in this Appendix. There are two types of
coherence—temporal coherence and spatial coherence, both of which are relevant
to lithography.
Temporal coherence refers to the correlation of light in time.1 There are several
situations in lithography where temporal coherence is relevant. Consider the
situation depicted in Fig. A.1. A beam of light is incident on a resist-coated silicon
surface. Consider, for the moment, very transparent resist. The instantaneous
amplitude of the incident wave at ~x is given by A(t). The amplitude of the reflected
light is given by the amplitude of the light after the time it has propagated to the
interface and reflected:
!
2hn
ρA t + , (A.1)
c
where ρ is the reflectivity of the resist-silicon interface, c is the speed of light, and
n is the index of refraction of the resist.
The time-averaged intensity at point ~x is given by:
* !2 +
2h
I(~x) = A(t) + ρ × A t + ,

(A.2)
c
Figure A.1 The geometry of light in a resist film.

492 Appendix A
where h· · ·i indicates time averaging and all quantities are evaluated at the point ~x.

E 2 * !2 +
D 2hn
I(x) = |A(t)| + ρ A t +
2
* !+ * c !+
2hn 2hn (A.3)
+ A(t)ρ ∗ A ∗ t + + A ∗ (t)ρA t +
c c
" !#
2 2hn
= 1 + ρ I0 + 2Re ρΓ , (A.4)
c
where
D E
I0 = |A(t)|2 (A.5)
and
Γ(τ) = hA(t + τ)A ∗ (t)i . (A.6)
Note that I0 = Γ(0). From the Schwartz inequality, it follows that
|Γ (τ)| ≤ I0 . (A.7)
That is, the coherence can only degrade in time. The light intensity in the resist
will depend upon the quantity Γ, that is, upon the coherence properties of the light.
For completely incoherent light, Γ = 0, in which case the total intensity is the
sum of the intensity of the incident and reflected light. For completely incoherent
light, light intensity is independent of the relative phases of the incident and
reflected waves. An example of completely coherent light is a plane wave:
A = A0 ei(kx+ωt) . (A.8)
For a plane wave,
|Γ(τ)| = 1 (A.9)
for all values of τ. In this case, the light intensity at any point in the resist film
depends significantly on the relative phases between incident and reflected waves.
It has been shown that propagating light maintains a high degree of coherence
over a time, referred to as the coherence time, which is inversely proportional to
the bandwidth of the light. For light with a Lorentzian distribution, such as that
produced by a high-pressure mercury-arc lamp, the coherence time is given by1
0.318
τc = , (A.10)
∆ν
Coherence 493
where ∆ν is the full-width half-maximum of the frequency spectral distribution. It

can be shown that the light used in lithography has high temporal coherence (see
Problem A.1).
Another view of coherence—spatial coherence—relates to the interference of
light originating from different points in space. Consider the situation shown in
Fig. A.2. Light from a source passes through different parts of a mask before being
imaged on the wafer. Just as in Eq. (A.4), there will be three terms that give the
light intensity, the intensity from the individual beams, and an interference term.
Excimer lasers are suitable sources of light for lithography because they have
low spatial coherence, a consequence of their intrinsic multimode character.2,3
Light with high spatial coherence will tend to produce the phenomenon of
speckle,1 where there is light interference over short-distance surface roughness
and particles, resulting in light nonuniformity.4,5 Such nonuniformity would
significantly reduce lithography process control and is therefore undesirable.
Fortunately, excimer lasers have low intrinsic spatial coherence, as lasers go, nearly
approximating that of arc lamps.3
Spatial coherence depends upon the details of the illumination optics, as well
as the light source. The spatial coherence of illumination in lithography can be
modulated by the geometry of the illumination and projection optics. Consider the
optical configuration shown in Fig. A.3. The (spatial) coherence of the light is
characterized by the ratio
sin θi
σ= , (A.11)
sin θ0
usually referred to as the partial coherence.

The degree of partial coherence is a measure of how much of the entrance pupil
of the optical system is filled. For perfectly coherent light, σ = 0, while σ = ∞ for
completely incoherent light. The light used in wafer steppers is partially coherent,
with typical value of σ between 0.3 and 0.8. The simplest way to reduce σ is to
insert an aperture in the illuminator to reduce the θc . However, this has the effect
of reducing light intensity as well. Illuminators have been designed that redirect
the light into smaller cones in order to achieve low values of σ, thereby achieving
Figure A.2 Situation in which spatial coherence plays a role.

494 Appendix A
Figure A.3 Illumination geometry.
the desired degree of coherence without sacrificing light intensity, and therefore
throughput and productivity.
Problems
A.1 From the values for spectral width given in Chapter 5, and using Eq. (A.10),
does the light remain highly coherent throughout the depths of resist films
used in semiconductor lithography (0.2–2.0 µm thick)? For resist films used
to fabricate thin-film heads for magnetic recording (10–20 µm thick)? For the
resist films used in micromachining (20–200 µm thick)?
References
1. J. W. Goodman, Statistical Optics, John Wiley and Sons, New York (1985).
2. J. Hecht, The Laser Guidebook, 2nd ed., McGraw Hill, New York (1999).
3. K. Jain, Excimer Laser Lithography, SPIE Press, Bellingham, Washington
(1990).
4. Y. Ozaki, K. Takamoto, and A. Yoshikawa, “Effect of temporal and spatial
coherence of light source on patterning characteristics in KrF excimer laser
5. T. E. Jewell, J. H. Bennewitz, G. C. Escher, and V. Pol, “Effect of laser
characteristics on the performance of a deep UV projection system,” Proc. SPIE
774, 124–132 (1987).
Index
A antireflection coating, 133, 134, 139,

Abbe error, 190, 191 173
aberration, 114, 115, 380 bottom, 135
chromatic, 120, 121 top, 136
aberrations, 159 APEX-E, 72
absorber material, 260, 261, 433 Applied Materials, 276
aqueous developer, 53, 68, 76, 78
acceleration, 191
Ar∗2 wavelength, 384
accuracy, 357
ArF excimer lasers, 154, 160
actinic, 8
ArF optical lithographic technology,
address, 268 358
adhesion promotion, 1, 54 ARPA-NIST standard, 460
adhesive, 178 ASM Lithography (ASML), 149, 151,
advanced mechanical modeling 196, 200, 225
technique, 412 aspect ratio, 78
AEBLE 150, 469 aspheric surface, 178
AIMS, 292 aspherical lens elements, 184
air bearings, 191 astigmatism, 39, 40, 119
air filtration, 75 asymmetric magnification, 231
Airy pattern, 14 asymmetries in overlay targets, 247
alignment, 2, 217 atomic force microscope, 357
mark, 218, 219 attenuated phase-shifting mask, 337,
system, 218 340
target, 218 autocorrelation function, 85
ALTA autofocus system, 149, 184
4700, 277 axicon, 164, 165
azimuthal angle, 444
system, 276
alternating phase-shifting mask, 332, B
334, 340, 418 backscattered electron, 351
aluminum oxide, 383 backscattering, 271, 272
amines, 73, 75 BaF2 , 170
annular illumination, 312, 313 bandwidth, 170
496 Index
BARLi, 135 centration, 178

barometric pressure, 45, 180 characteristic curve, 23, 28
baseline error, 222, 225 chemical
beam energy, 271 amplification, 71, 73, 443
beam-angular divergence, 470 epitaxy, 481
beam-delivery systems, 157 chemical-mechanical polishing, 248,
bearings, 190 365, 379, 387
air, 191 chemically amplified resist, 73, 75, 90
beryllium window, 463 chill plates, 65
bilayer process, 93 chromatic aberration, 120, 121
birefringence, 171, 179, 260 chromeless
blazed diffraction grating, 316 mask lithography, 335
bleaching, 124 phase-shifting lithography, 335,
borosilicate glass, 259 340, 418
Bossung curve, 42 chromium, 260
bottom antireflection coating, 135
wet etchant, 281
Bragg condition, 425
chuck nonflatness, 40
bright field, 221
clocked, 179
bubble lifetime, 377
coherent
bubbles, 376
illumination, 16
butting error, 267
light, 11
C collection optics, 440
CaF2 , 38, 156, 169–172, 178, 183, coma, 116, 118, 245
383 compaction, 172
calcium fluoride, 38, 156, 169–172, competing positive and negative
178, 183, 383 reactions, 54
Canary Reticle, 287 conjugate, 42
Canon, 149, 151, 168, 175, 182, 200, consumables costs, 156, 417
226 contact holes, 53
Canon quadrupole effect for stepper contact printing, 147, 196, 197
technology (CQuest), 312 contamination, 432
capacitance gauges for focusing, 186 contrast, 24, 82
capital enhancement, 94
cost, 408 convection ovens, 65
depreciation, 410 conventional illumination, 311
carbon deposition, 357 Corning, 441
Carl Zeiss, 149, 168 correlation length, 85, 86
catadioptric lens, 158, 175, 177, 183, cosine error, 191, 238
443 CO2 laser, 437
cell-projection cost-of-ownership, 407, 410
lithography, 474 critical-dimension variation, 87
e-beam, 474 Cymer, 161, 438
Index 497
D direct-write electron-beam
dark field, 221 lithography, 468
alignment, 226 directed self-assembly, 480
data discharge-produced plasma, 437
compression, 466 source, 436
format, 264 dispense nozzle, 60
volume, 258 dispersion, 168
decompaction, 172 distortion, 119, 159
deep ultraviolet photoresist, 70 Doppler shift, 188
defects, 374 dose control, 163
dehydration, 55 dose to clear, 23
dense optical proximity correction, double Gaussian, 167
326 double patterning, 395, 397, 399
depth-of-field, 260 downtime, 414
depth-of-focus, 32–35, 37, 41, 43, DSW4800, 149, 151
166, 373, 377 dual-stage exposure tool, 195
individual, 38, 40 dyed resist, 81, 133, 139
usable, 38, 40 dynamic dispense, 60
design cost, 418
design for manufacturability, 343, 394 E
developer, 77 e-beam-sensitive resist, 278
development, 2 E-zero, 23
rate, 76, 81, 140 EBM-7000, 265
diazonaphthoquinone (DNQ), 68 edge bead, 64
resist, 68, 69
removal, 64, 67
die-by-die alignment, 227, 410
edge-placement error, 326
die-to-database inspection, 290
electric field–induced metal
die-to-die inspection, 289
migration, 288
diethylaminotrimethylsilane
electrical linewidth metrology, 361,
(DEATS), 55
363
diffracted beams, 12
diffraction, 9, 12, 19, 111 electron
grating, 10 scattering, 271
limit, 114, 120, 378 storage ring, 463
diffractive optical element, 164, 315 electron-beam
diffusion, 90, 131, 386 assisted chemical etching, 290
coefficient, 132 direct-write lithography, 466
length, 80 exposure system, 262
diffusion-enhanced silylating resist lithography, 467
(DESIRE), 94 writer, 262, 267
diffusivity, 91 electrostatic
Dill parameters, 124 charge, 274
dipole illumination, 311, 313 chuck, 432, 434
498 Index
discharge, 287 focused ion beam, 290

encoder, 189 fogging, 274
energy deposition, 467 forbidden pitches, 392
enhanced global alignment, 221, 227, forward scattering, 271, 272
228 fragmentation, 325
environmentally stable chemically Fresnel diffraction, 464
amplified positive, 75 Fresnel-diffracted light, 196
equipment state, 415, 416 front-opening unified pod, 148
etalons, 159 Fujifilm, 278
Etec Systems, 262 Fujifilm FEP-171, 469
EV Group, 200 full-wafer scanner, 147
excimer lasers, 151, 153 fused silica, 169, 171, 259, 383, 385
ArF, 154, 160
KrF, 154, 158, 160 G
exposure, 2 gap, 465
field, 4 gas refills, 157
latitude, 28, 29, 31, 125 Gaussian
time, 410 beam, 270, 469
extreme ultraviolet system, 263
exposure system, 430 broadening, 271
lens, 430, 432 round beam, 263
light sensor, 432 GCA Corporation, 149
light source, 437 GDSII, 275
lithography, 425, 428 GHOST, 272
mask, 433 Gigaphoton, 161
glass damage, 172
F global alignment, 227
facilities cost, 421 enhanced, 221, 227, 228
FEN271, 280 gridded optical proximity correction,
FEP171, 278, 279 326
Fickian diffusion, 79
field H
curvature, 39, 40, 119 hammerhead, 321, 322
size, 411 hardbake, 2, 67
fifth-order distortion, 240 haze, 287
finite grid size, 391 HeNe laser, 187
flare, 174, 441 hexamethyl-disilazane (HMDS), 55
fly’s eye, 163 hierarchy, 325
focus, 32, 159 high-index immersion fluid, 382
control, 40 high-volume microprocessor, 393
drilling, 46 HL-800D, 474
focus-latitude enhancement exposure Hopkins theory, 25
(FLEX), 46, 340 hot plates, 65
Index 499
humidity, 66 J
Huygen’s principle, 110 JEOL, 265
jerk, 191
I
IDEAL, 315 K
illumination, 7 Kodak’s thin-film resist (KTFR), 51
system, 162 KrF excimer lasers, 154, 158, 160
uniformity, 162 KrF lithography, 71
image L
fading, 193, 195 labor cost, 420
log slope, 26, 28, 30, 31, 44, 89, Lambert’s law, 122
329, 446 lanthanum hexaboride, 263, 267
placement, 258 laser ablation, 290
error, 434 laser-produced plasma, 437
imaging, 7 source, 436
immersion leaching, 376
fluid, 372 Leica, 264, 469
lithography, 371, 372 lens
immiscible blocks, 480 aberration reduction, 389
imprint lithography, 479 distortion, 239
IMS, 471 field curvature, 40
incoherent heating, 170, 171, 180
illumination, 18 pixel, 182
light, 16 reduction, 4
individual depth-of-focus, 38, 40 factor, 167
infrared aberration control system, lens-placement error, 245
180 leveling agents, 69
injection locking, 160 light-intensity distribution, 7, 13, 43
inspection, 2 line-edge
integral-squared pulse width, 156 deviation, 87
interfering plane waves, 12 roughness, 82, 84, 86, 88–90, 358,
interferometric lithography, 400 387, 444, 470
intrafield linearity, 258
error, 231 linewidth, 20, 21
registration, 365 control, 16, 390
inverse lithography, 342 measurement, 351
ion-projection lithography, 477 roughness, 82, 85, 358
IPRO4, 274 lithium, 437
iso-dense bias, 317 lithography cost, 407, 409
isofocal low k1 , 387
dose, 42 lutetium aluminum garnet, 383
points, 42 Lyman-α wavelength, 384
500 Index
M moving
Mack model, 140 average, 193
magnification error, 231 standard deviation, 193
maintenance cost, 420 multi-electron-beam lithography, 471
manufacturing electron-beam multilayer
exposure system, 262, 267 reflector, 425
MAPPER, 471 resist process, 92
mask, 2, 147, 259 multipass
cost, 418 gray, 269
defect inspection, 289 writing strategy, 281
defect printability, 291
N
deformation, 460
nanoimprint lithography, 479
distortion, 261 National Institute of Standards and
nonflatness, 434 Technology, 164
registration error, 257 Nd-YAG laser, 438, 464
roughness, 447 negative resist, 2, 51, 52
usage, 417 next-generation lithography, 459
mask-error factor, 327–329 Nikon, 149, 151, 168, 175, 182, 196,
master oscillator power amplifier, 161 226, 227
master oscillator power oscillator, 162 NIST, 356
matching error, 237 nitrogen, 68, 70
memory, 390 nonconcentric
mercury-arc lamp, 151, 152 field, 422
metrology cost, 420 matching, 247
Michelson interferometer, 187 nonlinear overlay error, 231
Micralign, 199, 200 nonlinearity, 318
Micrascan, 152, 158, 176, 177, 183 nontelecentric imaging, 430
microinjectors, 61 normalized
Micronic Laser Systems, 277 derivative, 28, 31
mirror reflectance, 429 image log slope, 31, 446
mirror-surface figure, 442 novolak resin, 68, 69
mix-and-match lithography, 237, 422 NuFlare, 264
Mo/Si numerical aperture, 15, 16
multilayer, 427 maximum, 381
reflector, 427 Nyquist frequency, 359
model-based optical proximity O
correction, 324 OASIS, 275
modeling, 109 off-axis
modulation transfer function, 17, 319, alignment, 222
327 illumination, 166, 308, 311, 316,
Monte Carlo simulation, 271, 272 339, 340, 379
Index 501
Ohara, 170 phase

on-axis illumination, 308 error, 374
optical shifting, 379
contrast, 17, 19, 113 phase defect, 435
focusing, 186 phase edge, 332
lithography, 379, 395 photomask, 334
limits, 389 phase uniformity, 258
mask requirement, 258 phase-grating alignment, 223
raster scanning system, 276 phase-measuring interferometry, 179
superlattice, 337 phase-shifting mask, 330, 331
vortex, 338 alternating, 332, 334, 340, 418
optical proximity correction, 317, 322 attenuated, 337
dense, 326 outrigger, 337
gridded, 326 rim-shift, 337
model based, 324 photoacid, 74
sparse, 326 generator, 70, 81
optical-beam writer, 268 photoactive compound, 68, 69, 81
optical-pattern generator, 261 photocluster, 76, 410, 421
optics contamination, 431 photoelectron, 447
optimum lens-reduction factor, 168 photomask, 2, 257
optimum NA, 35
blank, 257
outgassing, 431
photorepeater, 147, 148, 259
outrigger phase-shifting mask, 337
photoresist, 7, 51
overpriming, 56
sensitivity, 411
overexposed, 31
pinhole, 62
overlay, 2, 215, 363
formation, 63
error, 119, 365
pitch, 18
measurement, 364
pixel count, 182
models, 229
pixelated mask, 342
oxygen sensitivity, 51
planarize, 27
126-nm light, 384
157-nm light, 384, 389 PLASMASK, 94
157-nm lithography, 183 point x-ray source, 462
point-of-use
P developer dilution, 77
packing density, 390 filtration, 61
partial coherence, 35, 164–166 poisoning, 75
partially coherent light, 18 poly(butene-1-sulfone) (PBS), 278
pattern collapse, 79 poly(hydroxystyrene), 71
pellicles, 282, 285, 436 polycapillary fiber, 464
standoff distance, 282 positive resist, 2, 51
Perkin-Elmer, 199, 200, 469 post-apply bake, 65
502 Index
post-exposure bake, 2, 74, 79, 130, reflective

131 notching, 138
power spectral density, 84, 88, 359 optics, 175
prealignment refraction, 37, 113
accuracy, 218 refractive
system, 218 lens, 168
prebake, 65 optics, 120
precision, 357 registration, 215
pressure sensors for focusing, 186 repetition rate, 154
pressure-induced fluctuations, 188 resist
PREVAIL, 477 coating, 1, 67
priming, 54 consumption, 61
process control, 66 containers, 61
processor speed, 390 contrast, 24, 386
projection optical lithography, 480 cost, 417
PROLITH, 112 developer, 76
proximity over topography, 62
correction, 272 sensitivity, 468, 470
effect, 271 resist-edge slope, 20
printing, 147, 198, 199 resolution, 10, 12, 16, 18, 21, 34, 377,
puddle development, 77 381
pulse stretching, 155 enhancement technique, 41, 307,
pulse-to-pulse repeatability, 158 314, 379
pumps, 61 reticle, 147, 257, 259
Q nonflatness, 260
quadrupole illumination, 166, 312, registration error, 236
313 rework, 419
quantum yield, 448 rim-shift phase-shifting mask, 337
Quasar, 312 ring-field, 443
queue, 415, 416 optics, 176
rotation factor, 230
R
radation chemistry, 448 S
rarefaction, 172 SAMPLE, 112
raster scanning, 263, 264 sample charging, 354
Rayleigh sampling, 242
criterion, 16, 21, 34, 114 scale error, 230
depth-of-focus, 34 scaling laws, 379
resolution, 15 SCALPEL, 475
unit of defocus, 33 scanning, 193
reduction optics, 166 electron microscope, 351, 352, 354
reflectance, 429 scatterometry, 360
Index 503
Schott, 170, 441 step-and-scan, 179, 180, 193

SEBN1637, 280 model, 234
secondary electron, 351 system, 4, 163
self-assembly, 480 step-and-settle time, 410
self-calibration, 222 stepper price, 408
self-vignetting, 442 stepper-track integration, 76
SEMI standard, 21 stitching, 181
reticle format, 259 stochastic
sensitivity of refractive lenses to beam blur, 471
temperature and pressure, 177 scattering, 476
serifs, 320 stress birefringence, 171
shaped beam, 264, 270, 469 striations, 69
Shin-Etsu, 279 stripe boundary, 266
shot noise, 89, 444, 468, 470 strong phase shifting, 335
Sigma7500, 277 subresolution assist feature, 258, 321
Silicon Valley Group, 200 suck-back, 62
skew, 231 Sumitomo NEB-33, 469
slit height, 412 super-high-resolution illumination
softbake, 2, 65, 67 control (SHRINC), 312
solubility, 51 surface
solvent evaporation, 60 potential, 355
source-mask optimization, 341 tension, 56, 78
spacer process, 398 surfactant, 79
spacing of elements, 178 SUSS MicroTec, 200
sparse optical proximity correction, Mask Aligner, 199
326 SVG Lithography, 152, 175, 182, 183
spatial frequency, 17, 84, 85 swelling, 51
speckle, 161 swing curve, 128, 129
spectroscopic ellipsometry, 360 synchrotron, 436, 463
radiation, 462
spherical aberration, 117, 118
spin coating, 57, 59 T
SRM 2069b, 356 tandem stage, 196
SRM 2800, 356 t-BOC, 72, 73
stage precision, 188, 231 Teflon AF, 283
stage-matching error, 239 telecentric lens, 233
standard mechanical interface, 148 temperature-induced fluctuation, 188
standby time, 414 TEMPEST, 112
standing waves, 127 template, 479
static dispense, 60 temporal pulse length, 155
stencil mask, 477 tetramethyl-ammonium hydroxide
step-and-repeat system, 3, 4, 163 (TMAH), 68, 76, 77
Index 504
theoretical contrast, 82 V
thermal distortion, 468 vapor priming, 55, 56, 67
thermal-field emission source, 263 variable-shaped beam, 263
thermionic emitter, 263 vector
thick resist, 37, 64, 67 scanning, 264
thin-film optical effects, 125 system, 264
thin-resist model, 35, 42, 43 vector-shaped beam, 268
third-order distortion, 240 vibration, 192, 410
thorium, 153 virtual addressing, 269
three-beam imaging, 314 viscosity, 57, 62
Vistec, 264, 471
through-the-lens, 221, 223
alignment, 223, 225 W
throughput, 410, 412, 421, 468 wafer
TiN, 135 expansion, 220
tin, 437, 438 heating, 473
tool-induced shift, 364 scaling, 231
top antireflection coating, 136 stage, 149, 187
top-surface imaging, 93, 94 steppers, 3, 4, 147
topcoat, 74, 376 wafer-edge defects, 375
total-integrated energy, 155 wafer-induced shift, 365
tracks, 67 water, 382
translation error, 230 temperature, 374
wavefront error, 116
trapezoid error, 232
wavelength, 15
TRE, 151
working distance, 175
trilayer resist process, 93
Wynne–Dyson design, 176
trimethylsilyldiethylamine
(TMSDEA), 55 X
Tropel, 182 x-ray
Twinscan, 196 lithography, 459
two-beam imaging, 313 mask fabrication, 461
two-pass printing, 265 source, 462
tyranny of the asymptote, 389 xenon, 436, 439
Y
U
yaw, 190
ULE, 441
Ultratech, 151 Z
Stepper, 149, 175 Zeiss, 182
ultrathin resist, 62 ZEP 7000, 279, 280
underexposed, 31 Zernike polynomials, 116
usable depth-of-focus, 38, 40 zero-level alignment strategy, 224
utilization, 410, 414 Zerodur, 238, 441
UVIIHS resist, 75 zoom optics, 165
Harry J. Levinson is a Senior Fellow and manager of
GLOBALFOUNDRIES’s Strategic Lithography Technology
Department, which is responsible for advanced lithographic
processes and equipment. He started his career in bipolar
memory development at AMD, then spent some time at
Sierra Semiconductor and IBM, before returning to AMD—
now GLOBALFOUNDRIES—in 1994. During the course of
his career, Dr. Levinson has applied lithography to many different technologies,
including bipolar memories, 64Mb and 256Mb DRAM development, the
manufacturing of applications-specific integrated circuits, thin-film heads for
magnetic recording, flash memories, and advanced logic. He was one of the first
users of 5× steppers in Silicon Valley and was an early participant in 248-nm and
193-nm lithography. He also served for several years as the chairman of the USA
Lithography Technology Working Group that participates in the generation of the
lithography chapter of the International Technology Roadmap for Semiconductors.
He has published numerous articles on lithographic science, on topics ranging from
thin-film optical effects and metrics for imaging, to overlay and process control,
and he is the author of two books, Lithography Process Control and Principles of
Lithography. He holds over 40 U.S. patents. He is an SPIE Fellow and formerly
chaired the SPIE Publications Committee. He has a BS in engineering from Cornell
University and a PhD in Physics from the University of Pennsylvania.
COLOR PLATES
Figure 3.12 Resist uniformity contours as a function of air and resist temperatures for
Shin-Etsu 430S resist coated on an SVG ProCell. The data are single-standard deviations, in
units of Angstroms.21 The initial wafer temperature was 22 ◦ C. The most uniform coatings are
produced with resist and air temperatures slightly different from the initial wafer temperature
(see p. 60).
Direction
of the
optical
axis
Unaberrated Coma Spherical

image aberration
Figure 4.7 Aerial image-intensity contours for a 0.4-µm space on the mask.10 For an
unaberrated lens, the intensity contours have left-right symmetry and are also symmetric
across the plane of best focus. Images produced by lenses with coma (Z7 ) lose the left-right
symmetry, while spherical aberration (Z9 ) breaks the symmetry across the plane of best
focus. The pictures in this figure were simulated with Solid-C for an i-line tool with NA = 0.6
and σ = 0.5. For the aberrated images, 50 nm were assumed for each aberration (see
p. 118).
Figure 5.2 ASML PAS5500 wafer stepper (see p. 148).

Figure 5.32 The benefit of aspherical lens elements (see p. 185).
Figure 7.10 Exposure dose contours from Gaussians placed at integer coordinates (x, y),
with x ≤ 0 (see p. 270).
Figure 7.32 (a) A scanning-electron micrograph of a bridging defect on a mask, and (b)
the measured aerial image from the mask. (c) The corresponding results after the mask was
repaired (see p. 292).
Figure 12.16 An EUV discharge source in operation. (Reproduced courtesy of Cymer,

Inc.) (see p. 438).

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Principles of

Bellingham, Washington USA

Printed in the United States of America.

Preface to the Third Edition ........................................................................... ix

Preface to the Second Edition ....................................................................... xi

Preface ............................................................................................................... xiii

Chapter 1 Overview of Lithography ................................................................ 1

Chapter 2 Optical Pattern Formation .............................................................. 7

Chapter 3 Photoresists ................................................................................... 51

3.1 Positive and Negative Resists....................................................................... 51

Chapter 4 Modeling and Thin-Film Effects ..................................................... 109

4.1 Models of Optical Imaging ........................................................................... 109

4.2 Aberrations ......................................................................................................... 114

Chapter 5 Wafer Steppers ............................................................................... 147

5.1 Overview ............................................................................................................. 147

Chapter 6 Overlay ............................................................................................ 215

6.1 Alignment Systems.......................................................................................... 217

Chapter 7 Masks and Reticles......................................................................... 257

7.1 Overview ............................................................................................................. 257

7.9 Mask-Defect Inspection and Repair .......................................................... 289

Chapter 8 Confronting the Diffraction Limit ................................................... 307

8.1 Off-Axis Illumination ..................................................................................... 307

Chapter 9 Metrology ........................................................................................ 351

9.1 Linewidth Measurement ................................................................................ 351

10.1 Immersion Lithography.................................................................................. 372

Chapter 11 Lithography Costs .......................................................................... 407

11.1 Cost-of-Ownership .......................................................................................... 407

11.1.3 Mask costs .......................................................................................... 417

Chapter 12 Extreme Ultraviolet Lithography .................................................... 425

12.1 Background and Multilayer Reflectors ..................................................... 425

Chapter 13 Alternative Lithography Techniques .............................................. 459

13.1 Proximity X-ray Lithography....................................................................... 459

Appendix A: Coherence ................................................................................. 491

Index ................................................................................................................... 495

Color Plates Section follows page................................................................ 256

lithography. Copies of useful references were provided by Banqui Wu of Applied

Adhesion promotion: The lithography process creates the patterns of integrated

Alignment: Integrated circuits are fabricated by a series of patterning steps. These

Exposure: Photoresists are materials that undergo photochemical reactions when

Post-exposure bake: This is an optional baking step used to drive additional

Development: This is the step by which a resist is removed, depending upon

Measurement and inspection: This is an optional operation where it is determined

Hardbake: This is another optional process. Because wafers with photoresist

Figure 1.2 Exposure of resist-coated wafers on wafer steppers.

Figure 1.3 Step-and-repeat and step-and-scan configurations.

This method of fabrication is extremely efficient, since many circuit features

used in lithography—the wafer stepper—is described in Chapter 5, and this leads

Figure 2.2 An ideal light-intensity distribution.

2.2 Aerial Images

axis illumination (θi = 0),

The resolution is found to be directly proportional to the wavelength of the light

Figure 2.8 A circular aperture illuminated by a point source of light.

For certain configurations, the light-intensity distributions resulting from

Table 2.1 Typical parameters for stepper optics.

Wavelength Numerical Rayleigh Year of first Light source

436 0.30 0.89 1982 Hg arc lamp (g line)

flatter, and it becomes increasingly difficult to locate the “edge” of a feature. As

intensity. The optical contrast or modulation is defined as 5,6

The optical contrasts of grating structures for different types of illumination, as