Airborne Contamination Control for 157-nm Lithography -Influence of Ammonia Contamination-

摘要

The ammonia durability of the 157-nm lithography resists is still unclear due to the smaller target dimensions, thinner resist films, and variations in base polymer compared to those of 193-nm and 248-nm resists. It has not been determined what ammonia concentrations must be achieved in order to successfully process 157-nm resists. Until now, the ammonia durability of initial 157-nm resists during post exposure delay (FED) and during post coating delay (PCD) was compared to those of 193-nm and 248-nm resists. It was confirmed that all initial 157-nm resists had low ammonia durability. In this paper, the ammonia durability of newly developed 157-nm resists, that have improved transmittance and resolution, was evaluated during PED and PCD. Then, we found that the ammonia durability of these resists were not enough and that the ammonia concentration from exposure to development should be kept under 0.1 ppb. Thermal desorption spectroscopy results showed that resists with lower ammonia durability tended to have more amount of adsorbed ammonia than other resists. Furthermore, the ammonia durability of 157-nm resist couldn't be improved to the level of that of 193- and 248-nm resist by the adjustment amount of resist additives. Due to the low ammonia durability, it will be necessary to control the ammonia concentration below 0.1 ppb in processing equipment used in 157-nm lithography.