Recent Progress in Inorganic Metal-Oxide-Based Photoresists For EUVL


A technical paper titled "Recent Advances in Metal-Oxide-Based Photoresists for EUV Lithography" was published by researchers at University of South–Eastern Norway. Abstract: "Extreme ultraviolet lithography (EUVL) is a leading technology in semiconductor manufacturing, enabling the creation of high-resolution patterns essential for advanced microelectronics. This review highlights recent... » read more

Photoresist Materials Development


Toru Fujimori of FUJIFILM Corporation provides an overview of the development of photoresist materials for masks and wafers to support continued pattern shrinkage and address stochastic issues in lithography. » read more

Assist Layers: The Unsung Heroes of EUV Lithography


Most discussions of advanced lithography focus on three elements — the exposure system, photomasks, and photoresists — but that's only part of the challenge. Successfully transferring a pattern from the photomask to a physical structure on the wafer also depends on a variety of films working together, including the underlayers, the developers, and a variety of surface treatments. In fact... » read more

Challenges Grow For CD-SEMs At 5nm And Beyond


CD-SEM, the workhorse metrology tool used by fabs for process control, is facing big challenges at 5nm and below. Traditionally, CD-SEM imaging has relied on a limited number of image frames for averaging, which is necessary both to maintain throughput speeds and to minimize sample damage from the electron beam itself. As dimensions get smaller, these limitations result in higher levels of n... » read more

New Challenges Emerge With High-NA EUV


High numerical aperture EUV exposure systems are coming — as soon as 2025 by some estimates. Though certainly a less profound change than the introduction of extreme ultraviolet lithography, high-NA lithography still brings a new set of challenges for photoresists and related materials. With a higher numerical aperture, photons strike the wafer at a shallower angle. That requires thinner p... » read more

The High Price Of Smaller Features


The semiconductor industry’s push for higher numerical apertures is driven by the relationship between NA and critical dimension. As the NA goes up, the CD goes down: Where λ is the wavelength and k1 is a process coefficient. While 0.55 NA exposure systems will improve resolution, Larry Melvin, principal engineer at Synopsys, noted that smaller features always come with a process cos... » read more

Week In Review: Manufacturing, Test


The U.S. Congress approved the CHIPS Act, a mammoth bipartisan achievement the New York Times called “the most significant government intervention in industrial policy in decades.” As passed, the full package — now called the Chips and Science Act — contains $52 billion in direct assistance for the semiconductor industry, along with $24 billion in tax incentives. In addition, the bill c... » read more

High-NA EUV May Be Closer Than It Appears


High-NA EUV is on track to enable scaling down to the Angstrom level, setting the stage for chips with even higher transistor counts and a whole new wave of tools, materials, and system architectures. At the recent SPIE Advanced Lithography conference, Mark Phillips, director of lithography hardware and solutions at Intel, reiterated the company’s intention to deploy the technology in high... » read more

ASD process that was performed in situ on the etch chamber


New research paper entitled "Plasma-based area selective deposition for extreme ultraviolet resist defectivity reduction and process window improvement" from TEL Technology Center, Americas and IBM Research. Abstract: "Extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography has overcome significant challenges to become an essential enabler to the logic scaling roadmap. However, it remains limited by stocha... » read more

Gearing Up For High-NA EUV


The semiconductor industry is moving full speed ahead to develop high-NA EUV, but bringing up this next generation lithography system and the associated infrastructure remains a monumental and expensive task. ASML has been developing its high-numerical aperture (high-NA) EUV lithography line for some time. Basically, high-NA EUV scanners are the follow-on to today’s EUV lithography systems... » read more

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