User Meeting 2022

Progress Towards an X-ray Nanolithography Facility

Not scheduled

1m

Hybrid

Poster Manufacturing, Engineering & Cultural Heritage Poster

Speaker

Mr Blair Haydon (La Trobe University)

Description

High-volume semiconductor device manufacturing has recently adopted lithography technology based on extreme ultraviolet radiation of wavelength 13.5 nm. A transition to 6.x nm wavelength sources is anticipated during the next decade to keep pace with the demand for device scaling predicted by Moore’s Law. However, there are many challenges that must be overcome as critical dimensions approach the single-digit nanometer scale, including the availability of suitable light sources, photoresist sensitivity, and photomask defectivity.

Soft X-ray (SXR) and EUV interference lithography (IL) using synchrotron radiation has recently emerged as a powerful tool for understanding key aspects of future lithographic processes, including photoresist performance at EUV [1] and SXR wavelengths [2].

An EUV-IL exposure instrument with in situ metrology capabilities is currently in development for use at the the imaging branch of the SXR beamline of the Australian Synchrotron. We will outline key characteristics of the technical design of the X-ray Nanolithography Facility (XRNF), current status of its implementation, and the expected performance predicted using partially coherent wavefront propagation modelling of the SXR beamline and IL optics. We will also describe the metrology capabilities based on coherent diffractive imaging that will provide the required resolution and sensitivity for photomask inspection[3] and for in situ optimisation of lithographic processes.

[1] Mojarad, N., Gobrecht, J. & Ekinci, Y. Sci Rep 5, 9235 (2015).
[2] Mojarad, N., Kazazis, D., & Ekinci, Y., Journal of Vacuum Science & Technology B 39, 042601 (2021).
[3] Shen, T., Kazazis, D, Kim, H.-S., Dejkameh, A., Nebling, R., Ekinci Y. & Mocha, I., Proc. SPIE 12053,120530H, 2022.