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Introduction to lithography

V.Velmurugan
Sr Lecturer
Nanotechnology Division
VIT University
• Litho – Stone
graphy- writing

• In the context of nanotechnology,


the method is widely employed by
the semiconductor industry to
pattern the surface of silicon
wafers.

• Lithography is the process of


transferring patterns of geometric
shapes in a mask to a thin layer of
radiation-sensitive material (called
resist) covering the surface of a
semiconductor wafer.
Performance parameters
• The performance of a lithographic exposure is determined by three
parameters:

(a) Resolution: minimum feature dimension that can be transferred


with high fidelity to a resist film on a semiconductor
wafer, normally known by “Halfpitch”.

(b) Repeatability: measure of how accurately patterns on successive masks


can be aligned or overlaid with respect to previously
defined patterns on the same wafer.

( c ) Throughput: The number of wafers that can be exposed per hour for a
given mask level and is thus a measure of the efficiency of

the lithographic process. (80-120W/H).

The challenges are Mask cost, fabrication delay, and the cost of the instrument.
Moore’s Law
• Gordon Moore in 1965
predicted that the number
of transistors on an IC
would double every year
for the next 10 years.

• Moore's Second Law


states that the cost of
building a semiconductor
fab line is doubling every
three to four years.
Ref: “Cramming more components onto integrated circuits”, Gordon E. Moore, Electronics,
Volume 38, Number 8, April 19, 1965
Resolution

Ref: International technology road map for semiconductors (ITRS 2005)


Clean Rooms
A class X clean room is
usually defined to be one that
has a dust count of X particles
(diameters of 0.5 μm or larger)
per cubic foot.

In a clean room, the total


number of dust particles per
unit volume must be tightly
controlled along with other
parameters such as
temperature, humidity,
pressure, and so on.

For modern lithographic


processes, a class 10 or better
clean room is required
Bottom-up approach Top-down approach

• Molding, carving and fabricating small


• Building (or designing) larger, more complex
materials and components by using larger
objects by integration of smaller building
objects such as our hands, tools and lasers
blocks or components

• Bottom-up approaches seek to have smaller • Top-down approaches seek to create


(usually molecular) components arrange nanoscale devices by using larger,
themselves into more complex assemblies. externally-controlled ones to direct their
assembly.

• Bottom-up approaches use the chemical


• The top-down approach often uses the
properties of single molecules to cause
single-molecule components to traditional workshop or microfabrication
methods where externally-controlled tools
automatically arrange themselves into some
are used to cut, mill and shape materials
useful conformation. These approaches
into the desired shape and order.
utilize the concepts of molecular self-
assembly and/or molecular recognition.
Why is it so important to study lithography
techniques…….
• Electronic and world economy
productivity can be linked to
3O%/yr growth in IC
productivity, half of which is
attributed to lithography
improvements, as shown in
Figure.

• Lithography consumes ~60%


of the total time and ~40% of
the cost required to fabricate
IC devices.

Ref: “Beyond Refractive Optical Lithography Next Generation Lithography - “What’s


After 193nm ??” Phil Seidel, John Canning, Scott Mackay,
Process steps that are involved in IC
devices fabrication
• Substrate preparation.
• Resist coating
• Exposure
• Development
• Pattern transfer.
Resists
• A resist is a radiation-sensitive compound.

• Resists are tuned to respond to specific wavelengths of light and different exposure
sources.They are given specific thermal flow characteristics and formulated to adhere
to specific surfaces.

• A positive photoresist - Prior to exposure, the photosensitive compound is insoluble


in the developer solution. After irradiation, the photosensitive compound in the
exposed pattern areas absorbs energy, changes its chemical structure, and
transforms into a more soluble species. Upon developing, the exposed areas are
expunged.

• Negative photoresists are polymers combined with a photosensitive compound.


Following exposure, the photosensitive compound absorbs the radiation energy and
converts it into chemical energy to initiate a chain reaction, thereby causing
crosslinking of the polymer molecules. The cross-linked polymer has a higher
molecular weight and becomes insoluble in the developer solution. After
development, the unexposed portions are removed.
There are 4 basic ingredients in photoresisits,

• (a) Polymers : Polymer structure changes from soluble to polymerized (or vice versa) when
exposed by the exposure source and the aligner. (+ve or – ve resist depends on this factor).
Light sensitive and energy sensitive polymers: Polymers are groups of large, heavy molucules
containinbg carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen that are formed into a reparated pattern.

• (b) solvents: Thin resists to allow application of thin layers by spinning. This is the major portion
of the resist. In negative resists , sensitizers are added to resist either to assist or to narrow the
response range for a particular wavelength.

• (c) Sensitizers : control and/or modifies chemical reaction of the resist during exposure

• (d) additives: Various added chemical to achieve process result, such as dyes. They are added to
get a particular result. In positive resists may have dissolution inhibitor systems, that inhibit the
dissolution of the non exposed portions of the resist during the development. In negative resists
they may have dyes intended to absorb and control light rays in the resist film.
• For positive resists, the exposed region becomes more soluble and thus more readily removed
in the developing process. The net result is that the patterns formed in the positive resist are the
same as those on the mask.

• For negative resists, the exposed regions become less soluble, and the patterns engraved are
the reverse of the mask patterns.

One major drawback of a negative photoresist is that the resist absorbs developer solvent and
swells, thus limiting the resolution of a negative photoresist.
• The figure shows exhibits a typical exposure
response curve for a positive resist. Note that the
resist has a finite solubility in the developer solution
even prior to exposure. At a threshold energy, ET,
the resist becomes completely soluble. ET
therefore corresponds to the sensitivity of the
photoresist. Another parameter, γ, is the contrast
ratio and is given by:

• A larger γ implies a more rapid dissolution of the


resist with an incremental increase of exposure
energy and results in a sharper image. The image
cross section depicted in Figure illustrates that the
edges of the resist image are generally blurred due
to diffraction.

• The right hand side fig shows an analogous


situation but for a negative photoresist. The
sensitivity of a negative photoresist is defined as
the energy required to retain 50% of the original
resist film thickness in the exposed region.
Resists - examples
Resist coating
• Surface preparation Spin Coating.
• Spin coating The wafer is placed in a clean room that
typically is illuminated with yellow light as
• Soft-bake (pre-bake) photoresists are not sensitive to
wavelengths greater than 0.5 µm. The wafer
is held on a vacuum spindle, and
approximately 1 cm3 of liquid resist is
applied to the center of the wafer. The wafer
is than spun for about 30 seconds. The
thickness of the resulting resist film, lR, is
directly proportional to its viscosity as well
as the percent solid content indigenous to
the resist, and varies inversely with the spin
speed. For spin speeds in the range of 1000
to 10000 rpm, film thicknesses on the order
of 0.5 to 1 µm can be accomplished.
Spin Coating
Exposure
Other types of lithography
techniques……………..
• Scanning Probe techniques.
• Step growth.
• Nano imprint.
• Shadow mask
• Self assembly
• Nano templates.
Development
• Development
• Hard bake
• Stripping
Pattern Transfer
• Etching
• Lift off/Deposition
Lift off
• The insulator image can be
employed as a mask for
subsequent processing. For
instance, ion implantation can
be performed to dope the
exposed regions selectively.
Figure illustrates the lift-off
technique. This method
suffices if the film thickness is
smaller than that of the
photoresist

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