为了满足32nm和22nm半导体制程的需要，材料供应商Dow Corning Electronics硅光刻方案组近日发布XR-1541 E-Beam Resist光刻胶。
该款全新涂布式光刻胶可用于电子束光刻，还可用于无掩模光刻技术，最小精度可达6nm。
Dow Corning硅光刻方案全球市场经理Jeff Bremmer表示，对于32nm及以下制程，半导体制造最大的挑战是获得高分辨率。
“目前，32nm节点的光刻在技术上和经济上都遇到了困难。”Bremmer在一份声明中表示，“这些创新性的新型光刻胶使研究人员可通过经济的方法直接将版图写入，并获得高分辨率，这能推进下一代光刻技术的发展。”
Dow Corning Corp. (Midland, Mich.) has begun commercial sales of an electron-beam (e-beam) resist with a resolution capability of 6 nm lines/spaces (L/S). the resist also has good line edge roughness (LER) properties with an edge definition of 3.3 nm, the company said.
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| Dow Corning worked with Philips researchers on e-beam lithography development. |
While the XR-1541 e-beam resist is fast enough
to support chip development projects, further improvements in sensitivity are needed to support high-volume manufacturing, said
Jeff Bremmer, global marketing manager with the company's lithography solutions group. He declined to specify the sensitivity level.
“Throughput is holding e-beam back. To some extent, improvements are needed to the equipment so that it patterns fast enough. Another part is to create an e-beam resist that reacts fast enough to the e-beam. Improvements are needed on both the equipment and material sides to get the throughput up,” Bremmer said.
The XR-1541 resist could also play a role in the formation of 1:1 templates, created with e-beam tools and used in nanoimprint lithography.
Since 1994, Dow Corning has sold its flowable oxide material, which is widely used in the DRAM industry as an interlevel dielectric (ILD). The spin-on dielectric has good etch resistivity, and lithographers began using it as an e-beam photoresist. Dow Corning chemists took the hydrogen silsesquioxane-based resin and improved on its resist capabilities.
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| Dow Corning’s manufacturing site in Auburn, Mich., two hours north of Detroit. |
Bremmer said Dow Corning will work to develop second- and third-generation resists. “We are looking at a need to continually develop this material to get to the target of high-volume manufacturing, which could be quite a large market in five or 10 years. But this is a starting point for the researchers to work with to develop the technology,” he said.
Bremmer said while extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography has its own advantages, maskless e-beam offers much lower capital costs. E-beam resist could blossom into a major market for Dow Corning.
Dow Corning has used its expertise in silicon-based resins, which Bremmer said provide better etch resistance than organic materials, to work with partners who specialize in lithography materials, including resists and anti-reflective coatings.