Parameters of exposure equipment for SOR x-ray lithography (abstract)

Abstract

The potential of x-ray lithography makes it a promising method to fulfill the demands of ultralarge-scale integration (ULSI) device fabrication. The main advantages compared to competing lithographic methods are simple shadow printing exposure arrangement, large field size, the excellent resolution down to approximately 150-nm pattern size, high depth of focus, process latitude, and low sensitivity against wafer topography and against dust particles. An increasing worldwide activity can be observed to solve the remaining problems: the small source for production environment, the 1:1 x-ray mask with high quality concerning positioning and linewidth, the x-ray stepper with large throughput and accurate alignment strategy, and a quick repair system for subhalf micron defects. The high sensitive x-ray resist will probably be available in the near future. At Fraunhofer-Institute für Mikrostrukturtechnik (IMT) in Berlin there is an exposure instrumentation under construction, consisting of the race-track compact storage ring COSY, the beamline, and the x-ray stepper XRS 200 from Suss Company. This contribution presents an investigation of choosing the parameter of the above mentioned setup to ensure high-throughput requirements. Experimental results based on experiments at BESSY and theoretical results obtained by means of the simulation program x-ray lithography modeling and simulation (XMAS) are presented concerning, e.g., resolution and transfer of defect particles.