微纳加工技术在微纳电子器件领域的应用

微纳加工技术推动着集成电路不断缩小器件尺寸和提高集成度，光学光刻技术依然是目前的主流微纳加工技术，同时有多种替代技术如电子束直写、极紫外光刻和投影电子束技术，文章介绍了自上而下的微纳加工技术的进展及其在微纳器件研制的重要作用。     

基于高次谐波产生的极紫外偏振涡旋光

突破传统涡旋光场束缚,发展短波极紫外涡旋光场是实现阿秒脉冲偏振控制的有效途径.本研究利用自制的平场光栅光谱仪和超快时间保持的单色仪,以800 nm,35 fs高斯或具有偏振奇点的涡旋光脉冲驱动诱导氩原子产生高次谐波,分别获得相应的高次谐波光谱以及谐波谱单阶光源的分布.实验结果表明,基于高次谐波产生实现近红外波段的涡旋光束特性转移到极紫外波段,优化后的极紫外涡旋可以实现每秒108光子数输出.同时发现极紫外波段的涡旋场和高斯场高次谐波产生具有相似相位匹配机制.基于高次谐波产生的极紫外波段的偏振涡旋光为探究和操控原子分子量子态的含时演化动力学以及形成阿秒矢量光束提供了重要的方法和技术手段.     

极紫外多层膜技术研究进展

在极紫外波段,任何材料都表现出极强的吸收特性,因此,采用多层膜实现高反射率是构建正入射式光学系统的唯一途径。本文总结了极紫外多层膜的发展进程,叙述了制备极紫外多层膜的关键技术(磁控溅射、电子束蒸发、离子束溅射)以及它们涉及的相关设备。由于多层膜反射式光学元件主要应用于极紫外光刻与极紫外天文观测,文中重点讨论了极紫外光刻系统对多层膜性能的要求,镀膜过程中的面形精度和热稳定性等问题;同时介绍了极紫外天文观测中使用的多层膜的特点,特别讨论了多层膜光栅的制备技术和亟待解决的问题。     

纳米光刻技术

纳米科学技术将成为新世纪信息时代的核心。纳米量级结构作为研究微观量子世界的重要基础之一,其制作技术是整个纳米技术的核心基础,已成为当前世界科学研究急需解决的问题。文章针对上前的科技发展情况,介绍了几种纳米光刻技术的实现新途径、发展现状和关键问题。详细阐述了波前工程、电子束光刻、离子束光刻、Ｘ射线光刻原子光刻、干涉光刻、极紫外光刻以及１５７光刻的原理和实现难点。作为下一代各种光刻技术,它们都有望实现     

极紫外光学器件辐照污染检测技术

总结并讨论了极紫外光刻技术中,有关极紫外光学器件受辐照污染的"在线"检测方法。简要介绍了极紫外光刻系统的原理、反射镜膜层结构以及表面污染产生的机理;指出光刻系统中"在线"检测的技术要求;分析了目前几种主要表面检测技术的特点;给出了每种方法在极紫外光学系统中的应用潜力;最后,指出光纤椭偏仪在极紫外光学系统的"在线"表面污染检测中具有良好的应用前景。     

At-wavelength inspection of sub-40 nm defects in extreme ultraviolet lithography mask blank by photoemission electron microscopy

A new at-wavelength inspection technology to probe nanoscale defects buried underneath Mo/Si multilayers on an extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography mask blank has been implemented using EUV photoemission electron microscopy (EUV-PEEM). EUV-PEEM images of programmed defect structures of various lateral and vertical sizes recorded at an ~13.5 nm wavelength show that 35 nm wide and 4 nm high buried line defects are clearly detectable. The imaging technique proves to be sensitive to small phase jumps, enhancing the edge visibility of the phase defects, which is explained in terms of a standing wave enhanced image contrast at resonant EUV illumination.     

纳米压印多孔硅模板的研究

纳米压印模板通常采用极紫外光刻、聚焦离子束光刻和电子束光刻等传统光刻技术制备,成本较高.寻找一种简单、低成本的纳米压印模板制备方法以提升纳米压印光刻技术的应用成为研究的重点与难点.本文以多孔氧化铝为母模板,采用纳米压印光刻技术对纳米多孔硅模板的制备进行了研究.在硅基表面成功制备出纳米多孔阵列结构,孔间距为350—560 nm,孔径在170—480 nm,孔深为200 nm.在激发波长为514 nm时,拉曼光谱的测试结果表明,相对于单面抛光的硅片,纳米多孔结构的硅模板拉曼光强有了约12倍左右的提升,对提升硅基光电器件的应用具有重要的意义.最后,利用多孔硅模板作为纳米压印母模板,通过热压印技术,成功制备出了聚合物纳米柱软模板.     

SECRAL等离子体中EUV光功率的产生

The high power EUV source is one of key issues in the development of EUV lithography which is considered to be the most promising technology among the next generation lithography.However neither DPP nor LPP seems to meet the requirements of the commercial high-volume product.Insufficiency of DPP and LPP motivate the investigation of other means to produce the EUV radiation required in lithography.ECR plasma seems to be one of the alternatives.In order to investigate the feasibility of ECR plasma as a EUV light source,the EUV power emitted by SECRAL was measured.A EUV power of 1.03W in 4~ sr solid angle was obtained when 2000W 18GHz rf power was launched,and the corresponding CE was 0.5%.Considering that SECRAL is designed to produce very high charge state ions,this very preliminary result is inspiring. Room-temperature ECR plasma and Sn plasma are both in the planned schedule.     

“LPP-EUV”光源中的高功率CO_2激光监测与控制系统

为了满足激光诱导等离子体（LPP）体制下极紫外（EUV）光源对CO2激光器提出的稳定性需求,建立了简化的CO2激光传输系统模型,根据光束稳定性需求对光束功率、指向和位置的监测与控制方法进行了理论和实验研究。根据高功率CO2激光传输系统特点,在实验室内建立了上述光束监测和控制实验系统,包括光束功率控制模块、光束指向控制模块和光束参数监测模块,其中光束参数监测模块可实时测量光束功率、指向、尺寸及发散角等重要参数。仿真与实验结果表明：光束功率控制模块对线偏振激光功率的控制接近1%～100%,光束指向控制模块实现的光束指向稳定度在10μrad以内,可满足CO2激光驱动源的高稳定性要求。     

Secondary electron yield measurements of carbon covered multilayer optics

Carbon contamination on extreme ultraviolet (EUV) optics has been observed in EUV lithography. In this paper, we performed in situ monitoring of the build-up and removal of carbon contamination on Mo/Si EUV multilayers by measuring the secondary electron yield as a function of primary electron energy. An electron beam with an energy of 2 keV was used to simulate the EUV radiation induced carbon contamination. For a clean EUV multilayer, the maximum secondary electron yield is about 1.5 electrons per primary electron at a primary electron energy of 467 eV. The maximum yield reduced to about 1.05 at a primary electron energy of 322 eV when the surface was covered by a non-uniform carbon layer with a maximum thickness of 7.7 nm. By analyzing the change in the maximum secondary electron yield with the final carbon layer thickness, the limit of detection was estimated to be less than 0.1 nm.     

Pinch Plasma Radiation Sources for the Extreme Ultraviolet

Extreme ultraviolet lithography (EUVL) is under discussion to be implemented in the production of chips as early as 2005 to 2007 for reducing structures in semiconductor devices to below 70 nm. The challenging task of developing optical components and radiation sources within this short period of time is pushing technology. As discharge produced and laser produced plasmas are the main candidates for EUV‐sources, plasma technology is forced to leap forward significantly. Progress in EUV‐sources is expected to open EUV‐technology for other applications in science and technology with increased need for spatial resolution, elemental contrast or sensitivity. Various technical concepts for realising high power sources for EUV lithography are under investigation world‐wide. Laser produced and discharge produced plasmas are the most promising schemes. Discharge produced pinch plasmas in general are of special interest, because their prospected costs (esp. cost of ownership) for the demanded throughput is expected to be much lower than with laser produced plasmas. However, the discharge plasmas are of high risk, because many crucial tasks have to be solved before reaching the required power levels. Beside the optimisation of the EUV‐generation ‐ which is the key to build the most reliable device with demanded EUV power ‐ the success will depend on the individual technical aspects of each source concept. Currently investigated pinch plasma concepts are evaluated based on their potential to be upgraded to fulfil the challenging demands of EUV‐lithography.     

脉冲激光辐照液滴锡靶等离子体极紫外辐射的实验研究

采用波长13.5 nm的极紫外光作为曝光光源的极紫外光刻技术是最有潜力的下一代光刻技术之一, 它是半导体制造实现10 nm及以下节点的关键技术. 获得极紫外辐射的方法中, 激光等离子体光源凭借转换效率高、收集角度大、碎屑产量低等优点而被认为是最有前途的极紫外光源. 本文开展了脉冲TEA-CO₂激光和Nd:YAG激光辐照液滴锡靶产生极紫外辐射的实验, 对极紫外辐射的谱线结构以及辐射的时空分布特性进行了研究.实验发现: 与TEA-CO₂激光相比, 较高功率密度的Nd:YAG激光激发的极紫外辐射谱存在明显的蓝移; 并且激光等离子体光源可以认为是点状光源, 其极紫外辐射强度随空间角度变化近似满足Lambertian分布.     

Nanolithography in microelectronics: A review

The current status of basic photolithographic techniques allowing researchers to achieve results that seemed to be unrealistic even a short time ago is reviewed. For example, advanced DUV photolithography makes it possible to exactly reproduce IC elements 25 times smaller in size than the wavelength of an excimer laser used as a lithographic tool. Approaches owing to which optical lithography has pushed far beyond the Rayleigh-Abbe diffraction limit are considered. Among them are optical proximity correction, introduction of an artificial phase shift, immersion, double exposure, double patterning, and others. The prospects for further advancement of photolithography into the nanometer range are analyzed, and the capabilities of photolithography are compared with those of electronolithography, EUV lithography, and soft X-ray lithography     

Characterization and optimization of the laser-produced plasma EUV source at 13.5 nm based on a double-stream Xe/He gas puff target

The paper describes a debris-free, efficient laser-produced plasma source emitting EUV radiation. The source is based on a double-stream Xe/He gas-puff. Its properties and spectroscopic signatures are characterized and discussed. The spatio-spectral features of the EUV emission are investigated. We show a large body of results related to the intensity and brightness of the EUV emission, its spatial, temporal, and angular behavior and the effect of the repetition rate as well. A conversion efficiency of laser energy into EUV in-band energy at 13.5 nm of 0.42% has been gained. The electron temperature and electron density of the source were estimated by means of a novel method using the FLY code. The experimental data and the Hullac code calculations are compared and discussed. The source is well suited for EUV metrology purposes. The potential of the source for application in EUV lithography was earlier demonstrated in the optical characterization of Mo/Si multi-layer mirrors and photo-etching of polymers.     

Surface phenomena related to mirror degradation in extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography

One of the most promising methods for next generation device manufacturing is extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography, which uses 13.5 nm wavelength radiation generated from freestanding plasma-based sources. The short wavelength of the incident illumination allows for a considerable decrease in printed feature size, but also creates a range of technological challenges not present for traditional optical lithography. Contamination and oxidation form on multilayer reflecting optics surfaces that not only reduce system throughput because of the associated reduction in EUV reflectivity, but also introduce wavefront aberrations that compromise the ability to print uniform features. Capping layers of ruthenium, films ∼2 nm thick, are found to extend the lifetime of Mo/Si multilayer mirrors used in EUV lithography applications. However, reflectivities of even the Ru-coated mirrors degrade in time during exposure to EUV radiation. Ruthenium surfaces are chemically reactive and are very effective as heterogeneous catalysts. In the present paper we summarize the thermal and radiation-induced surface chemistry of bare Ru exposed to gases; the emphasis is on H₂O vapor, a dominant background gas in vacuum processing chambers. Our goal is to provide insights into the fundamental physical processes that affect the reflectivity of Ru-coated Mo/Si multilayer mirrors exposed to EUV radiation. Our ultimate goal is to identify and recommend practices or antidotes that may extend mirror lifetimes.     

X‐ray photoelectron spectroscopy process optimization for characterization of trace contamination elements for extreme ultraviolet resist outgassing study

X‐ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) is used for elemental identification and quantification in a number of fields, and the optimization of XPS performance can help in making better use of the limited XPS tool availability. In the field of extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography, one of the requirements is having a clean vacuum environment to minimize contamination of the EUV optics. EUV resist outgassing is viewed as one of the main issues that could affect the vacuum environment. There is a program underway to measure the relative contamination rates from different resists following the ASML (provider of lithography systems) approved protocols for witness plate testing. One of the key steps is the XPS measurement of residue on the optics after cleaning. The role of XPS in quantification of species that adhere to the ruthenium‐coated silicon witness plate sample is discussed. The various XPS tool parameters like the pass energy and source setting were optimized for our application of witness plate analysis. The statistics of our XPS tool were studied, and combined with the fundamental XPS equations, a simple mathematical model was developed to optimize the number of scans for the various elements of interest in our witness plate study. Using the optimized number of scans, the acquisition time to measure the contaminant elements to a precision better than 0.1 at.% was minimized. The model devised in the paper can be adapted to other XPS measurements requiring different levels of precision. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Chiral Lithography with Vortex Non-diffracted Laser for Orbital Angular Momentum Detection

Chiroptical response, demonstrating chiral interaction between optical vortex and chiral structure, plays an important role in variety of fields like optics and material science. However, the flexibility and efficiency of chiral structure fabrication are limited due to mask requirement and a point-by-point constructing strategy. In this paper, a novel chiral lithography method is proposed that utilizes optical vortex phase beam shaping to achieve chiral structure processing with high efficiency and flexibility. By programming topological charges of the vortex phase, chiral structures with adjustable appearance, rotation, and chirality can be produced using femtosecond laser single pulse exposure. Transmittance measurements of fabricated chiral structures array confirm a 66% helical dichroism that is predicted by simulation. Moreover, with the aid of convolutional neural networks (CNN), an accuracy of 98% in Orbital Angular Momentum (OAM) recognition can be achieved. This chiral lithography method provides an alternative for chiral structure fabrication and holds promise in the development of chiral optics, optical communications, and next-generation optical devices.     

Effect of focal spot size on in-band 13.5 nm extreme ultraviolet emission from laser-produced Sn plasma

The effect of focal spot size on in-band 13.5 nm extreme ultraviolet (EUV) emission from laser-produced Sn plasmas was investigated for an EUV lithography light source. Almost constant in-band conversion efficiency from laser to 13.5 nm EUV light was noted with focal spot sizes from 60 to 500 microm. This effect may be explained by the opacity of Sn plasmas. Optical interferometry showed that the EUV emission must pass through a longer plasma with higher density when the focal spot is large, and strong reabsorption of EUV light was confirmed by a dip located at 13.5 nm in the spectrum.     

Semiconductor patterning technologies for nano devices

In the era of nano devices, patterning technology encounters many challenges, which arise from not only lithography but also plasma etching. Water-immersion lithography (193 nm) is clearly within sight and many lithography technologies, including extreme ultra-violet (EUV) and other methods, are being developed as the next generation lithography technologies. For nano device etching, introduction of very thin photoresist and more complex device structure requires subtle improvement of etching. Also, the adoption of new materials such as high-k dielectric, metal gate, and phase change materials require more improvement in the view point of profile and selectivity. Finally, since the process window is getting narrower, control and monitoring technologies such as advanced process control (APC) and advanced equipment control (AEC) are strongly required.     

Project for manufacturing a Russian EUV nanolithographer for the fabrication of chips according to technological standards of 22 nm

We examine the development of the project for manufacturing a Russian nanolithographer with an operating wavelength of λ = 13.5 nm for fabricating nanoelectronic element bases (chips) according to technological standards of 32–22 nm at the first stage and 22–16 nm at the second. A list of the project’s main participants and their duties is presented. An overview of current situation in EUV lithography in Russia is given. The main problems to be solved on the road to mass production of electronic components involving EUV lithography are discussed.