Extreme Ultraviolet Process Optimization for Contact Layer of 14nm Node Logic and 16 nm Half Pitch Memory Devices

摘要

Extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography is considered the most promising single exposure technology at the 27 nm half-pitch node and beyond. The imaging performance of ASML TWINSCAN NXE:3100 has been demonstrated to be able to resolve 26 nm Flash gate layer and 16nm static random access memory (SRAM) metal layer with a 0.25 numerical aperture (NA) and conventional illumination. Targeting for high volume manufacturing, ASML TWINSCAN NXE:3300B, featuring a 0.33 NA lens with off-axis illumination, will generate a higher contrast aerial image due to improved diffraction order collection efficiency and is expected to reduce target dose via mask biasing. This work performed a simulation to determine how EUV high NA imaging benefits the mask rule check trade-offs required to achieve viable lithography solutions in two device application scenarios: a 14 nm node 6T-SRAM contact layer and a 16 nm half-pitch NAND Flash staggered contact layer. In each application, the three-dimensional mask effects versus Kirchhoff mask were also investigated.