Development of spin-on carbon hardmasks with comparable etch resistance to Amorphous Carbon Layer (ACL)

Abstract

In recent microlithography of semiconductor fabrication, spin-on hardmask (SOH) process continue to gain popularity as it replaces the traditional SiON/ACL hardmask scheme which suffers from high CoO, low productivity, particle contamination, and layer alignment issues. In the SOH process, organic polymer with high carbon content is spin-cast to form a carbon hardmask film. In the previous papers, we reported the development of organic SOH materials and their application in sub-70 nm lithography. In this paper, we describe the synthesis of organic polymers with very high carbon contents ( > 92 wt.%) and the evaluation of the spin-coated films for the hardmask application. The high carbon content of the polymer ensures improved etch resistance which amounts to > 90% of ACL's resistance. However, as the carbon content of the polymers increases, the solubility in common organic solvents becomes lower. Here we report the strategies to improve the solubility of the high carbon content resins and optimization of the film properties for the SOH application. © 2008 SPIE.