Date of Award

1-1-2017

Language

English

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

College/School/Department

Department of Nanoscale Science and Engineering

Program

Nanoscale Engineering

Content Description

1 online resource (i, xiv, 116 pages) : illustrations (some color)

Dissertation/Thesis Chair

Dr. Nathaniel Cady

Committee Members

Dr. Christopher Borst, Dr. Natalya A. Tokranova, Dr. John G. Hartley, Dr. Lan Zhang

Keywords

Electron beam lithography(EBL), Etching, Extreme ultra violet lithography (EUVL), Hydrogen silsesquioxane (HSQ), Thin film deposition, Lithography, Electron beam, Extreme ultraviolet lithography, Photoresists, Rapid thermal processing, Vapor-plating, Nanostructured materials, Silicon oxide

Subject Categories

Nanoscience and Nanotechnology

Abstract

Novel applications for the directly-patternable resist material, hydrogen silsesquioxane (HSQ), were studied for multiple advanced lithography techniques. Initially, electron beam lithography (EBL) patterned low-resolution HSQ patterns were demonstrated as a mandrel in a self-aligned double patterning (SADP) approach. Using the novel EBL-SADP approach, the number of total process steps was reduced, as compared to conventional SADP methods. This work provided proof-of-concept for using HSQ resist as a directly-patternable mandrel and plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposited (PECVD) low-stress silicon nitride (LSSiN) as a spacer. Furthermore, rapid thermal annealing (RTA) was demonstrated as a method to increase the spacer etch resistance in this novel EBL-SADP approach. Moreover, to transition towards high volume manufacturing, a commercial Extreme Ultra Violet (EUV) scanner was used to develop high-resolution HSQ patterning (18 to 10 nm) with a simplified patterning stack. Resolution of 10 nm lines on 21 nm spacing was obtained for sub-dense patterns and 18 nm dense patterns were partially resolved. Lastly, a novel HSQ based EUV-SADP approach was demonstrated, which provides a potential pathway towards obtaining resolution beyond the limitation of commercial EUV scanners (sub 15 nm dense), along with a reduction in total processing steps.

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