Feasibility study of sub-10-nm-half-pitch fabrication by chemically amplified resist processes of extreme ultraviolet lithography: II. Stochastic effects

Abstract

Line edge roughness (LER) rapidly increases in the sub-10-nm-half-pitch region of resist processes used for the fabrication of semiconductor devices. Sub-10-nm fabrication with high throughput is a challenging task. In this study, the stochastic effects (LER and stochastic defect generation) of chemically amplified resist processes in the sub-10-nm-half-pitch node were investigated, assuming the use of extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography. The latent images were calculated by a Monte Carlo method on the basis of the sensitization and reaction mechanisms of chemically amplified EUV resists. 7-nm-half-pitch fabrication by chemically amplified resist processes is considered to be feasible. However, significant improvement in the efficiencies of the conversion processes from optical images to resist images is required.