Low-Stress Sputtered Chromium-Nitride Hardmasks and Their Etching Characteristics for X-Ray Mask Fabrication

摘要

Fabrication of precise X-ray masks is one of the most important issues in Synchrotron Radiation (SR) lithography. To achieve high-precision X-ray masks, we have developed A low-stress Chromium-Nitride (CrN) hardmask. Both the stress and its distribution (gradient)in The CrN films, which are electrically conductive, are within measurement error. Using a 75 nm-thick CrN hardmask, 0.10 μm line-and-space patterns in a 0.4 μm-thick Tantalum-Germanium (TaGe) alloy X-ray absorber have been demonstrated.