Masked ion beam lithography for proximity printing

Optical and X-Ray proximity printing systems are resolution limited by diffraction and beam dispersion. Parallel dispersion free ion beam systems are therefore ideal to transfer stencil mask patterns onto all sorts of nonideal substrates. A feasibility study was performed with the existing Alpha ion projector of the Society for the Advancements of Microelectronics in Austria operated in the MIBL (Masked Ion Beam Lithography) mode with ≈ 10×10 mm² exposure field. Structures as small as 0.2 μm in diameter could be transfered even with a gap of 1 mm between stencil mask and substrate. The widening of resist lines with 10% increase in dose was evaluated to be 14 nm for 2800 μm gap and 4 nm for 300 μm gap. This excellent exposure latitude favourably compares with synchrotron based X-ray lithography, where a widening of 20 nm with 10% overexposure has been reported for a 40 μm gap, and 10 nm for 10 μm gap. Promising applications of the MIBL technique include the fabrication of flat panel displays based on vacuum electronics (field emitter displays), surface acoustic wave and microoptic devices and - in combination with reactive ion etching - the fabrication of micro electro mechanical systems (MEMS). Prospects for MIBL steppers of printing fields > 100×100 mm² are discussed.     

Silicon stencil masks for masked ion beam lithography proximity printing

Silicon membranes with 2 μm to 6 μm thickness and ≈ 10×10 mm² mask field have been fabricated with the help of electrochemical etch stop techniques. The Si foil was coated with 0.3 μm thick PECVD Si₃N₄. Shaped electron beam lithography was done in ARCH (OCG) positive resist. RIE etching into the nitride layer was done with CHF₃/Ar/SF₆. Silicon trench etching was based on Cl₂/Ar/BCl₃ plasma chemistry implementing gas chopping. Ion beam proximity printing of the Silicon stencil mask structures was done with 55 keV Helium ions into 0.4 μm thick AZ PN114 negative resist using the Alpha ion projector of the Society for the Advancements of Microelectronics in Austria in the MIBL (Masked Ion Beam Lithography) mode. Pattern transfer of a mask feature of less than 100 nm diameter (25:1 aspect ratio in the stencil mask) could be demonstrated even for a mask to wafer gap of 1 mm. The prospects of fabricating large area (> 100×100 mm²) Silicon stencil masks for MIBL printing of gate levels for

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ystems (MEMS) is discussed.     

New concept for applying edge line phase-shifting masks to arbitrary mask layouts

This paper explains the principle of a method which avoids printing of phantom resist lines due to undesired intensity minima appearing on Cr-less edge line phase-shifting masks. The method combines principles of grey-tone lithography and attenuated phase-shifting masks to give, what we call, a Cr-Less Attenuated Phase-shifting mask (CLAP). Rules for generating a CLAP design and a paradigm setup of a CLAP mask are presented. The capabilities and possible limitations of the CLAP method based on simulated results for a standard wafer stepper setup using the SOLID lithography simulator are being assessed.     

Proximity X-ray lithography as a quick replication technique in nanofabrication: Recent progress and perspectives

With synchrotron radiation (SuperACO) and a commercial stepper (Karl Suss XRS200), the proximity x-ray lithography is used for quick replication of high resolution patterns. The physical limits of the resolution are evaluated, taking into account both effects of near-field diffraction and photoelectrons. All experimental ingredients are described, including the achievements in 50nm pattern replication and also in 20nm linewidth mask fabrication. Data are compared to the theoretical predictions, showing a reasonable agreement under close proximity conditions.     

Electron beam nanolithography in AZnLOF 2020

We present a lithography process using electron beam lithography with an optical resist AZnLOF 2020 for pattern transfer. High-resolution 100 keV electron beam lithography in 400 nm layers of negative resist AZnLOF 2020 diluted 10:4 with PMGEA is realized. After the electron beam lithography process, the resist is used as a mask for reactive ion etching. We performed the transfer of patterns by RIE etching of the substrate allowing a final resolution of 100 nm. We demonstrate the patterning in an insulating layer, thus simplifying the fabrication process of various multilayer devices; proximity correction has been applied to improve pattern quality and also to obtain lines width according to their spacing. This negative resist is removed by wet etching or dry etching, could allow combining pattern for smallest size down to 100 nm by EBL techniques and for larger sizes by traditional lithography using photomask.     

A new method of formation of the masking image (relief) directly during the electron-beam exposure of the resist

A new method of dry electron-beam etching of some positive resists directly during exposure is proposed. It is shown that exposure of the PMMA resist (the layer 80–85 nm thick on the Si wafer) by electrons with energy of 15–20 keV in vacuum at temperatures of 115–170°C (above the glass-transition temperature of the PMMA) leads to the effective etching of the resist at relatively low exposure doses by a factor of 10–100 smaller than the exposure doses of this resist in the conventional “wet” lithography. It is assumed that the direct etching proceeds by the mechanism of the radical-chain depolymerization of the PMMA resist to a monomer. The high efficiency of the suggested method for the formation of spatial 3D structures in the PMMA resist is shown.     

Investigation of the adhesive strength of PMMA structures on substrates obtained by deep X-ray lithography

The adhesive strength of PMMA structures obtained by deep X-ray lithography with synchrotron radiation is a decisive factor for effective structure replication in subsequent electroforming processes. The adhesion depends on various factors, in particular on the interaction of radiation and secondary electrons at the boundary resist/substrate. We have determined the adhesion strength of PMMA microcolumns as a function of the dose deposited below the mask absorber by breaking tension measurements applying a new experimental method. Care has been taken to separate degradation effects in the resist due to the primary photon beam from the loss of adhesion at the boundary substrate/resist caused by secondary electrons. This has been studied quantitatively by utilizing different substrate materials like glassy carbon, wet oxidized titanium, copper and gold.

Monte Carlo simulations have been carried out to simulate the deposited dose at the surface layer of different substrates. The corresponding results are supplemented by deep lithography experiments, which may be used as a means to directly conclude the deposited resist dose from secondary electrons emitted from the substrate surface.

All the irradiation experiments have been performed with specially designed masks for deep X-ray lithography at the storage ring DCI (Orsay/France).     

Step edge cut off — A new fabrication process for metal-based single electron devices

Proper operation of single electron devices is restricted to tempertures where the charging energy of one single electron is well above its thermal energy. Liquid helium operation, for example, requires device capacitances below 55 aF. A single electron transistor (SET) consists of three capacitors, a conventional gate capacitor and two tunneling capacitors forming source and drain. Therefore the fabrication of 20 aF tunneling capacitances is the prerequisite for a 4.2 K SET. Conventional fabrication processes require sub-20 nm electron beam lithography to achieve such small tunneling capacitances. The new step edge cut off process presented here has drastically relaxed technological requirements. Tunneling capacitances of 8 aF were realized in metal based structures, using a 100 nm design. Liquid helium operation was demonstrated and traces of single electron effects were observable up to 20 K. A further increase in operating temperature can be achieved with both smaller structure sizes and low dielectric materials.     

Novel Patterning of Gold Using Spin‐Coatable Gold Electron‐Beam Resist

Conventional lithography methods of gold patterning are based on deposition and lift‐off or deposition and etching. In this letter, we demonstrate a novel method of gold patterning using spin‐coatable gold electron‐beam resist which is functionalized gold nanocrystals with amine ligands. Amine‐stabilized gold electron beam resist exhibits good sensitivity, 3.0 mC/cm², compared to that of thiol‐stabilized gold electron beam resists. The proposed method reduces the number of processing steps and provides greater freedom in the patterning of complex nanostructures.     

纳米级精细线条图形的微细加工

对分辨率极高的电子束光刻技术和高选择比、高各向异性度的ICP刻蚀技术进行了研究,形成一套以负性化学放大胶SAL-601为电子抗蚀剂的电子束光刻及ICP刻蚀的优化工艺参数,并利用这些优化参数结合电子束邻近效应校正等技术制备出剖面形貌较为清晰的30nm精细线条图形.     

Ion-beam etched multi-level resist technique for electroplating of submicron gold absorber patterns

A structuring process is developed which enables the fabrication of gold patterns by electroplating with a minimum linewidth of ? 0.3 μm. These patterns are used as mask patterns for X-ray lithography. They can be up to 1.6 μm thick. For this purpose, a resist pattern, which is generated by an electron beam, is transmitted to a multi-layer system by reactive ion-beam etching. The multi-layer system consists of a 2 μm thick polyimide layer, a 70 nm thick aluminum intermediate layer and a 30 nm thick gold passivation layer.With this process, X-ray masks with a polyimide membrane were produced and utilized for exposure to synchrotron radiation.     

Electron-optical-phonon scattering in the emitter and collector barriers of semiconductor-metal-semiconductor structures

A theoretical analysis is made of the effects on the emitter-collector current transfer ratio of optical-phonon scattering of electrons in the emitter and collector semiconductors of semiconductor-metal-semiconductor structures. The collector and emitter efficiencies are shown to increase appreciably with increasing collector and emitter electric fields respectively. At temperatures such that kT ≈ the optical-phonon energy, E₀, the collector efficiency varies only slightly with increasing emitter-collector barrier height difference, Δ, but the emitter efficiency is greatly decreased when Δ<E₀. The collector and emitter efficiencies increase substantially with decreasing temperature when Δ<E₀, but only slightly when Δ>E₀.

The current transfer ratios predicted by this theory for Si---Au---Si and GaAs---Au---Si structures are 0·68 and 0·55 respectively at 298°K and 0·85 and 0·61 respectively at 105°K with a collector field of 10⁵ V/cm. This calculation does not treat collisions in the metal or quantum-mechanical reflection of electrons at the collector barrier.     

Electron beam lithography at 10 keV using an epoxy based high resolution negative resist

The behaviour of a new epoxy based resist (mr-EBL 6000.1 XP) as a negative resist for e-beam lithography is presented. We demonstrate that it is possible to define sub-100 nm patterns when irradiating thin (120 nm) layers of resist with a 10 keV electron beam. The dependence of resolution and remaining thickness on electron dose, electron energy and photo acid generator (PAG) content is determined. After the electron beam lithography process, the resist is used as a mask for reactive ion etching. It presents a good etch resistance, that allows transfer of patterns to the substrate with resolution below 100 nm.     

Electron scattering of low-Z high-density materials in X-ray mask patterning

The scattering properties of low-Z high-density materials are discussed, through Monte Carlo simulation, in view of their utilization as membranes for X-ray masks. The interplay between low atomic number and high atomic density is discussed and a comparison with silicon is carried out, both in case of bulk targets and membranes. The low Z causes smaller proximity effects, but the decisive factor relative to silicon is constituted by the higher mechanical stiffness, which, in principle, allows to greatly reduce membrane thickness. However, we show that, in spite of the more favourable intrinsic scattering properties, the choice of these materials, in actual systems, is not always a real advantage. In the analysis of the single-layer resist process for X-ray mask fabrication, no significant difference relative to Si is found in the two limits of low and high energy. On the contrary, the choice of low-Z high-density materials is found to be advantageous at intermediate energy. In particular, we demonstrate that, while in the case of low-Z high-density materials, 0.15 μm resolution is successfully obtained already at 30 keV, in case of Si, this same resolution is only reached at e-beam energies of at least 40 keV.     

多能点X射线透射光栅的制作技术

针对X射线自支撑透射光栅在多能点单色成像光栅谱仪中的应用,采用电子束和光学匹配曝光、微电镀和高密度等离子体刻蚀技术,成功制备了周期为500nm、金吸收体厚度为350nm、占空比接近1∶1,满足三个能点成像需求的2000lp/mm X射线自支撑透射光栅。首先利用电子束光刻和微电镀技术制备金光栅图形,然后采用紫外光刻和微电镀技术制作自支撑结构,最后通过腐蚀体硅和感应耦合等离子体刻蚀聚酰亚胺完成X射线自支撑透射光栅的制作。在电子束光刻中,采用几何校正和高反差电子束抗蚀剂实现了对纳米尺度光栅图形的精确控制。实验结果表明,同一个器件分布的三块光栅占空比合理,栅线平滑,可以满足单能点单色成像谱仪的要求。     

GaInAs/InP quantum wires grown by metalorganic vapor phase epitaxy on V-grooved InP substrates

A single nominally lattice matched GaInAs quantum well (QW)/quantum wire (QWR) structure was grown by metalorganic vapor phase epitaxy (MOVPE) in V-grooved InP substrates. Different Si0₂ etch masks with opening widths from 2 μm down to 200 nm (for application as second order DFB grating) were defined by optical and electron beam lithography. A damage-reduced wet chemical etching process enables the growth of the GaInAs QWs/QWRs without any InP buffer layer. In low temperature photoluminescence we found improved intensity for all wire structures prepared by this etching technique. A reduction of the period and opening width of the V-groove etch mask resulted in a optimized luminescence intensity ratio between QW and QWR. Decay times from time resolved luminescence measurements were compared to the decay times of wet or dry etched mesa wires before and after regrowth. The good optical properties of the GaInAs QWRs are encouraging for future application as a QWR-laser device.     

掩模制作中的邻近效应

计算模拟了激光束和电子束直写加工的掩模畸变,并分别用理想掩模和有畸变的掩模进行投影光学光刻过程的模拟和比较,讨论了光学邻近效应校正掩模在加工过程中所产生的畸变对传递到最终基片上的图形的影响。模拟分析指出,掩模加工中的邻近畸变应在设计光学邻近校正掩模时予以注意,即在掩模设计时,应把掩模加工中的邻近效应和光刻图形传递过程的邻近效应进行总体考虑,以便设计出最优化的掩模,获得最好的邻近效应校正效果。     

Monte Carlo simulation of the energy dissipation profiles of 30, 50 and 100 keV incident beams in a layered structure in electron beam lithography

This paper presents a Monte Carlo simulation of the energy dissipation profiles of 30, 50 and 100 keV incident beams in thin film (0.4μm) of electron resist, polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA), on thick silicon substrate in electron beam lithography. The radial scattering and the energy loss of incident electrons (including backscattered electrons from the substrate) are simulated under the illumination of ideal point source and Gaussian round beam spot source, and the histories of 30000–50000 electrons are computed.     

Nanoimprint lithography resist profile inversion for lift-off applications

A method is described in which the tapered features that are inherent to nanoimprint lithography are inverted to allow successful lift-off. A mold of the relief is created by in-filling the imprinted resist with hydrogen silsesquioxane (HSQ) before selectively removing the resist with O₂ plasma. Nanoscale etch masks have been created by lift-off from the negative HSQ profile and used to create high-aspect-ratio structures in materials that are hard to plasma etch.     

软X射线偏折仪用自支撑莫尔光栅研制

介绍了莫尔光栅制作的主要方法和进展。利用紫外光刻、离子束刻蚀技术制作自支撑金莫尔光栅，讨论了金膜厚度要求、电镀金膜质量和光栅占空比控制等影响莫尔光栅质量的关键技术问题。实验结果表明，通过设计较小占空比的光栅掩模、紫外光刻时擦除基片边缘的光刻胶棱以消除衍射效应、离子束刻蚀时基片倾斜一定的角度旋转刻蚀等措施可以改善自支撑金莫尔光栅的占空比。