Effect of polymer molecular weight on AFM polymer aggregate size and LER of EUV resists

Charlotte A. Cutler; Joseph F. Mackevich; Jieming Li; Donna J. O'Connell; Gregory Frank Cardinale; Robert L. Brainard

doi:10.1117/12.482370

16 June 2003 Effect of polymer molecular weight on AFM polymer aggregate size and LER of EUV resists

Charlotte A. Cutler, Joseph F. Mackevich, Jieming Li, Donna J. O'Connell, Gregory Frank Cardinale, Robert L. Brainard

Proceedings Volume 5037, Emerging Lithographic Technologies VII; (2003) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.482370
Event: Microlithography 2003, 2003, Santa Clara, California, United States

Abstract

The relationships between polymer molecular weight, surface roughness measured by Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM), and EUV line edge roughness (LER), were studied in four separate rounds of experiments. In Round 1, EUV-2D (XP98248B) was prepared with seven levels of added base. These seven resists were patterned using EUV lithography; the LER was determined using 100 nm dense lines. The LER of the seven resist dramatically decreases with increasing level of base. These LER results were compared with the surface roughness of these resists after development for unexposed and DUV (248 nm) exposed surfaces. In Rounds 2-4, we evaluated three sets of EUV-2D type resists prepared with polymers having Mw of 2.9, 4.9, 6.1, 9.1, 16.1, and 33.5 Kg/mole. EUV LER and surface roughness were determined for each resist. In Round 2, the polymers were substituted into the EUV-2D resist matrix with no other formulation changes. In Round 3, the PAG level was decreased with increasing polymer Mw, to obtain a constant unexposed fill thickness loss (UFTL) for all six resists. In Round 4, both PAG level and base level were modified to yield six resists with similar sensitivity and EFTL. These experiments have led to conclusion about the impact of polymer molecular weight on imaging LER and AFM surface roughness, as well as elucidating the relationship between all three.

Citation Download Citation

Charlotte A. Cutler, Joseph F. Mackevich, Jieming Li, Donna J. O'Connell, Gregory Frank Cardinale, and Robert L. Brainard "Effect of polymer molecular weight on AFM polymer aggregate size and LER of EUV resists", Proc. SPIE 5037, Emerging Lithographic Technologies VII, (16 June 2003); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.482370

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