Novel spin-coating technology for 248-nm/193-nm DUV lithography and low-k spin on dielectrics of 200-mm/300-mm wafers

Abstract

An alternative coating technology was developed for 248 nm/193 nm DUV lithography and low-k spin on dielectric (SOD) materials used in the interconnect area. This is a 300 mm enabling technology which overcomes turbulent flow limitations above 2000 rpm and it prevents 40 - 60% reduction on the process latitudes of evaporation-related variables, common to 300 mm conventional coaters. Our new coating technology is fully enclosed and it is capable of controlling the solvent concentration above the resist film dynamically in the gas phase. This feature allows a direct control of the evaporation mass transfer which determines the quality of the final resist profiles. Following process advantages are reported in this paper: (1) Demonstrated that final resist film thickness can be routinely varied by 4000 angstrom at a fixed drying spin speed, thus minimizing the impact of turbulence wall for 300 mm wafers. (2) Evaporation control allows wider range of useful thickness from a fixed viscosity material. (3) Latitudes of evaporation-related process variables is about 40% larger than that of a conventional coater. (4) Highly uniform films of 0.05% were obtained for 8800 angstrom target thickness with tighter wafer-wafer profile control because of the enclosed nature of the technology. (5) Dynamic evaporation control facilitates resist consumption minimization. Preliminary results indicate feasibility of a 0.4 cc process of record (POR) for a 200 mm substrate. (6) Lower COO due to demonstrated relative insensitivity to environmental variables, robust resist consumption minimization and superior process capabilities. (7) Improved planarization and gap fill properties for the new generation photoresist/low-k SOD materials deposited using this enclosed coating technology.