Due to the anamorphic optics that enable high-numerical aperture (NA) extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography, the maximum field size printed on wafers in high NA (EXE) scanners is halved as compared to low NA (NXE) scanners. Two half-field exposures are therefore needed to expose a conventional full-field area, with a method called stitching. The half fields use different reticles, and swapping them introduces overhead between the exposures. Complex wafer and lot operations are implemented to offset throughput loss caused by the reticle swap, but these methods create variable and larger processing delays that may influence imaging performance, specifically pattern critical dimension (CD) drift. We pay attention to the additional delay introduced due to stitching, meaning the duration between half-field exposures. Inpria metal-oxide resists are a leading candidate for high-NA EUV lithography because of their increased resolution capabilities and etch resistance. Due to their sensitivity to ambient conditions after the exposure, the impact of the environment during the various delays has been investigated, with the goal of mitigating the CD drift due to the post-exposure delay involved in high-NA exposure stitching.
All chipmakers understand that variability is the adversary of any process and reduction is essential to improving yield which translates to profit. Aggressive process window and yield specifications necessitate tight inline variation requirements on the DUV light source which impact scanner imaging performance. Improvements in reducing bandwidth variation have been realized with DynaPulse™ bandwidth control technology as significant reduction in bandwidth variation translates to a reduction in CD variation for critical device structures.
Previous work on a NAND Via layer has demonstrated an improvement in process capability through improve source and mask optimization with greater ILS and reduced MEEF that improved CDU by 25%. Using this Via layer, we have developed a methodology to quantify the contribution in an overall CDU budget breakdown. Data from the light source is collected using SmartPulse™ allowing for the development of additional methodologies using predictive models to quantify CD variation from Cymer’s legacy, DynaPulse 1 and DynaPulse 2 bandwidth control technologies. CD non-uniformities due to laser bandwidth variation for lot to lot, wafer to wafer, field to field and within field is now available based on known sensitivities and modeled. This data can assist in understanding the contribution from laser bandwidth variation in global and local CDU budgets.
The charge transport in white light-emitting polymers was investigated using hole-only devices of a series of copolymers. The series consists of three spirobifluorene copolymers with a common backbone. The polymers contain an increasing number of dyes that are included into the backbone to achieve white light emission. Because the dyes have different band gaps than the backbone, it is expected that they will hamper the charge transport in the polymer since they will result in electron traps or hole traps, or both. In this experiment we demonstrate that the dyes in the polymers under investigation have no influence on the hole transport. We therefore conclude that the dyes have their HOMO levels aligned and are thus likely to function as electron traps.
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