Sequential infiltration synthesis for line edge roughness mitigation of EUV resist

Abstract

It is well known that high line-edge roughness (LER) and line-width roughness (LWR) are one of the key problems hindering utilization of extreme ultraviolet lithography (EUVL) in fabrication of semiconductor devices at advanced technology nodes where pattern with sub-20 nm half pitch lines and spaces is required. Sequential infiltration synthesis (SIS) has never been used before in lithography for line-edge roughness mitigation, but this concept has proved its value for 14 nm half pitch block copolymer lines formed by directed self-assembly. During this process an inorganic scaffold is being deposited inside the resist material after performing several sequential infiltration cycles with metal-organic precursor and its oxidizing agent. Etching in oxygen atmosphere after is required to transform former resist pattern into metal oxide one and improve (up to 40%) the pattern roughness. In this paper, for the first time we demonstrate feasibility of sequential infiltration synthesis (SIS) for smoothing of EUV resist lines.