Nanofabrication with a Novel EB System with a Large and Stable Beam Current

Abstract

We describe nanofabrication using a novel electron beam (EB) system that has a large and stable beam current, combined with high resolution resists. This system has a low aberration objective lens and a Zr/O/W cathode that provides a probe current of 1.2 nA. By detecting Si-groove marks, the system achieves high overlay accuracy of within 10 nm ( mean+3σ) over large areas. We have realized resist nanofabrication down to 10 nm with small nano edge roughness. By introducing a hard mask consisting of a thin (25 nm) SiO2 layer, we have also obtained a poly-Si gate structure of 30 nm on a thin (4 nm) gate oxide.