Partially coherent extreme ultraviolet interference lithography for 16 nm patterning research

摘要

Conditions are reported under which a partially coherent plasma source of 13.5 nm wavelength radiation is found to be suitable for interference lithography. The predicted resolution exceeds the capability of present imaging systems and is comparable to synchrotron-based approaches. Methods borrowed from ray tracing are utilized for a partially coherent interference analysis, and a rigorous coupled wave theory is applied to optimize grating efficiency. The results suggest that a compact patterning tool with a resolution of 16 nm is possible by a careful selection of the design parameters.