66 results about "Extreme ultraviolet" patented technology

This invention discloses a method for enhancing and controlling the radiation of an LPP-EUV light source based on dual-pulse spatiotemporal co-constraint, belonging to the field of semiconductor manufacturing technology. This invention obtains a spatiotemporal reference by real-time monitoring of a liquid metal droplet, uses a pre-pulse laser to induce target material deformation into a fogged target cloud, and combines high-speed imaging and a hydrodynamic model to predict the time and coordinates of the target cloud's energy absorption peak. It dynamically adjusts the delay time and optical axis direction of the main pulse laser to achieve dual-pulse spatiotemporal co-constraint, and constructs a closed-loop control system through a recursive least squares algorithm with a dynamic forgetting factor. This invention effectively improves the extreme ultraviolet light conversion efficiency, controls the power fluctuation of the light source within ±0.5%, and extends the maintenance cycle of optical components by 2 times. It can be widely applied to next-generation high-power extreme ultraviolet lithography light source systems, meeting the application requirements of semiconductor miniaturization processes.

A method of modifying an opening in a masking material layer provided on a substrate to achieve desired critical dimensions may include forming a plurality of openings in the masking material layer, and performing one or more ion processes on the masking material layer to enlarge or reduce one or more dimensions of the plurality of openings. A first ion process of the one or more ion processes may include directionally depositing a material layer on the masking material layer by directing a material beam at a first non-zero angle relative to a normal direction extending from a top surface of the masking material layer. A second ion process of the one or more ion processes may include performing an angled ion etch by delivering an ion beam at a second non-zero angle relative to the normal direction extending from the top surface of the masking material layer.

A method of microfabrication includes forming a sacrificial layer over a film. A resist layer is formed over the sacrificial layer. The resist layer includes an extreme ultraviolet (EUV) resist. A pattern is formed in the resist layer by an EUV exposure and a wet etch followed by rinsing and drying, resulting in uncovered portions of the sacrificial layer. The uncovered portions of the sacrificial layer are treated. The pattern is transferred from the resist layer to the film by performing an etch process.

The application discloses a kind of pneumatic seal nozzle for extreme ultraviolet lithography machine, which is based on a kind of hydrogen curtain gas supply system for extreme ultraviolet lithography machine, the system is arranged in the outer edge, inner edge and center ring of extreme ultraviolet light collection mirror, three groups of independent controllable hydrogen nozzle;Its characteristics are: the pneumatic seal nozzle in the form of Laval nozzle with throat arranged in the center of extreme ultraviolet light collection mirror, the high-speed flow generated by it is used to form the cross-seam pneumatic seal in the form of backflow zone at the gap between laser chamber and collection mirror assembly, the scale of backflow zone is in the same geometric order with the cross-seam width, so that the leakage of laser chamber gas supply at the gap is weakened by one order of magnitude;The application integrates the pneumatic seal nozzle in the form of Laval nozzle with throat at the gap between laser chamber and collection mirror assembly, reduces the hydrogen leakage flow to about 5% without device, greatly reduces gas loss, and reduces the working pressure of gas pressure maintenance pump set.

To provide a target supply system that suppresses generation of a defective target formation.SOLUTION: A target supply system comprises: a target generating part which fuses a solid target substance inside thereof to generate a liquid target substance, and ejects the liquid target substance; a loading mechanism which loads the solid target substance into the target generating part; a heater which is arranged for the target generating part; a sensor which detects the temperature of the target generating part; and a processor which controls loading timing at which the solid target substance is loaded into the target generating part, feedback-controls the heater on the basis of the current temperature detected by the sensor, and feed-forward controls the heater on the basis of the loading timing while feedback-controlling the heater.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 14

A method for forming a hydrophobic photoresist thin film includes the steps of: injecting a first precursor and an oxygen source into a chamber in which a substrate is disposed, so as to form a thin film including hydrophilic groups; and injecting a second precursor to modify the thin film including the hydrophilic groups and form a modified layer. The photoresist thin film formed thereby does not contain hydroxyl groups and thus exhibits hydrophobicity.

A method of fabricating a semiconductor device is disclosed. The method may include forming an etch-target layer, a mask layer, a blocking layer, and a photoresist layer, which are sequentially stacked on a substrate; forming a photoresist pattern, the forming the photoresist pattern including irradiating the photoresist layer with extreme ultraviolet (EUV) light; forming a mask layer, the forming the mask layer including etching the mask layer using the photoresist pattern as an etch mask; and forming a target pattern, the forming the target pattern including etching the etch-target layer using the mask pattern as an etch mask. The photoresist layer may include an organic metal oxide. The blocking layer may be a non-polar layer and may limit and / or prevent a metallic element in the photoresist layer from infiltrating into the mask layer.

The application relates to the technical field of extreme ultraviolet light generation, in particular to a magnetic levitation potential well coagulation device and a metal droplet coagulation method. The magnetic levitation potential well coagulation device comprises a magnetic potential well generator, a detection sensor and a controller. The magnetic potential well generator is arranged at the downstream of a metal droplet generator, and the magnetic potential well generator is configured to generate a magnetic potential well to generate a force on the metal droplets output by the metal droplet generator, and the force can reduce the movement speed of the metal droplets. The detection sensor is arranged at the downstream of the magnetic potential well generator, and the detection sensor can detect the size of the metal droplets. The detection sensor and the magnetic potential well generator are in communication connection with the controller, and the controller is configured to control the start, the stop and the adjustment of the strength of the magnetic potential well generator according to the detection result of the detection sensor. The metal droplet coagulation method can make the size of the metal droplets meet the generation requirements of extreme ultraviolet light when applied to the above-mentioned magnetic levitation potential well coagulation device.

The present application relates to the field of extreme ultraviolet lithography protective film preparation, in particular to a preparation method of a single-walled carbon nanotube film with high strength and high extreme ultraviolet transmittance. In the process of growing single-walled carbon nanotubes by floating catalyst chemical vapor deposition, selenium is used as a growth promoter, and the weak etching effect of hydrogen flow is regulated to reduce amorphous carbon deposition and prolong catalyst life, so as to realize the controlled preparation and in-situ dry collection of single-walled carbon nanotubes with high purity, high crystallinity and large aspect ratio. The diameter distribution of the single-walled carbon nanotubes is 1.6-3 nm, the aspect ratio is >30000, the Raman spectrum G / D ratio is >150, and the purity of the prepared single-walled carbon nanotubes is >98wt.%. The prepared single-walled carbon nanotube film not only has excellent mechanical properties but also has adjustable EUV transmittance, and at the same time meets the particle interception and EUV high transmittance requirements of the EUV lithography protective film, and is an ideal protective film for EUV lithography mask.

A reflective photomask including a substrate, a multilayer reflection film, a protection film and a pattern of a light absorbing film is provided. The protection film has an extinction coefficient of 0.018 to 0.035, and a thickness of 1 to 6 nm, the light absorbing film is constituted of a single layer or multiple layers, the single layer or each layer of the multiple layers is composed of a material that contains ruthenium and platinum, and has a ruthenium content of 30 to 70 at %, a platinum content of 30 to 70 at %, and a total content of ruthenium and platinum of not less than 96 at %, the light absorbing film has a thickness of 32 to 38 nm, and a reflectance of 1 to 8% and a phase shift of 190 to 240 degrees, with respect to exposure light being light in extreme ultraviolet range.

This invention relates to a dual-coordinated cyclic hexanuclear tin oxide cluster compound, a photoresist composition, and its application in photolithography, belonging to the fields of photolithography materials and semiconductor manufacturing technology. The composition uses a cyclic hexanuclear tin oxide cluster as the active component, is compatible with common solvents and coating processes, and exhibits excellent thermal stability (significant mass loss only occurs above 260°C), meeting the requirements of coating, pre-baking, and exposure processes. This material demonstrates good film-forming properties, enabling the formation of uniform, low-defect thin films on silicon wafers, suitable for deep ultraviolet (DUV) lithography, electron beam (EB) lithography, and extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography. In these platforms, the photoresist composition can achieve high resolution, low line edge roughness (LER), and high-fidelity pattern transfer, exhibiting high etching resistance, meeting the performance and process requirements of advanced microelectronics manufacturing.

The object of the present invention is to provide a method for forming a photoresist thin film that has improved photon absorption rate in extreme ultraviolet light and excellent etching resistance, and a photoresist thin film formed by this method. [Solution] One embodiment of the present invention provides a method for forming a hydrophobic photoresist thin film, comprising the steps of: introducing a first precursor and an oxygen source into a chamber in which a substrate is located to form a thin film containing hydrophilic groups; and introducing a second precursor to modify the thin film containing the hydrophilic groups to form a modified layer. The photoresist thin film formed through this method does not contain hydroxyl groups and therefore exhibits hydrophobicity.

An extreme ultraviolet (EUV) mask, includes a substrate, a reflective multilayer stack on the substrate, and a single layer or multi-layer capping feature on the reflective multilayer stack. The capping feature includes a capping layer or capping layers including a material having an amorphous structure. Other described embodiments include capping layer(s) that contain element(s) having a first solid carbon solubility less than about 3. In multilayer capping feature embodiments, element(s) of the respective capping layers have different solid carbon solubility properties.

To modify some of the characteristics of the light pulses generated by an extreme ultraviolet light source. [Solution] An extreme ultraviolet (EUV) light pulse is formed by illuminating a semiconductor material of a modulation system with a first light beam having a first wavelength, applying a voltage to the semiconductor material for a certain duration that is sufficient to modify the refractive index of the semiconductor material so that the polarization state of a light beam having a second wavelength passing through the semiconductor material is modified and passes through at least one polarization-based optical element of the modulation system, and passing the semiconductor material through a second light beam having a second wavelength for the duration thereof to form a light pulse.

A method and device for generating extreme ultraviolet lithography light source, where the method comprises generating micron-thick, uniform, and stable metallic liquid film target material in vacuum environment, and using focused 2-micron wavelength laser beam to irradiate target material to produce extreme ultraviolet (EUV) light; the device comprises 2-micron solid-state laser module, liquid film generation and maintenance module, laser focusing and energy coupling module, and EUV light collection and transmission module. Two-micron solid-state laser module is used to irradiate metallic liquid film target to generate EUV light. Liquid film generation and maintenance module ensures uniform and stable micron-thick metallic liquid film through precise temperature and flow control. Laser focusing and energy coupling module adjusts spatiotemporal distribution of laser pulses to facilitate efficient absorption of driving energy by liquid film target. EUV light collection and transmission module collects generated EUV light and transmits it to subsequent lithography process.

The application discloses a hydrogen curtain gas supply system for a collecting mirror of an extreme ultraviolet lithography machine, characterized in that three groups of independently controllable hydrogen nozzles are arranged on the outer edge, the inner edge and the center ring of the extreme ultraviolet light collecting mirror; the three groups of independently controllable hydrogen nozzles and the hydrogen gas supply flow from the laser chamber work together to form a three-dimensional hydrogen curtain with a laminar flow dominated by no backflow, circumferential uniformity and stability on the surface of the collecting mirror; the hydrogen curtain gas supply nozzles on the outer edge form a "gas scraper" close to the mirror surface; the inner edge shunt nozzles actively inhibit the formation of a backflow area near the main focal point, thereby avoiding that the tin particles carried away are rolled back to the mirror surface, and fundamentally eliminating secondary pollution; the cross-seam pneumatic sealing nozzles reduce the hydrogen leakage to about 5% of the conventional design; the application systematically solves the tin pollution protection and gas leakage control problems of the collecting mirror of the extreme ultraviolet lithography machine, and realizes efficient, energy-saving and reliable long-time stable operation.

Embodiments of this disclosure relate to the catalytic conversion of a gas medium in an optical amplifier. An extreme ultraviolet (EUV) light system includes an optical amplifier system and an optical conversion system. Each optical amplifier in the optical amplifier system includes a gain medium in the form of a gas mixture that generates an amplified light beam. The optical amplifier system includes a fluid inlet and a fluid outlet through which the gas mixture can flow. The catalytic conversion system is fluidly connected to the fluid outlet of the optical amplifier system and to the fluid inlet of the optical amplifier system. The catalytic conversion system includes a catalytic converter comprising: a housing; a substrate having openings within the housing through which the gas mixture can flow; and a catalyst, applied as a coating to the inner surface of the openings of the substrate, the catalyst comprising particles of a metal. The metal particles may be nanoparticles of a noble metal.

This invention relates to the field of optoelectronics, specifically to a metal-based extreme ultraviolet photoresist composition and photoresist, and a method for forming patterns using photolithography. The composition contains a metal oxide cluster compound with the structural formula shown in formula (I), wherein R1 is selected from C6-C6. 20 aryl or C2-C 20 Alkyl group, R2 is selected from C 2‑ C 10 Alkyl or C2-C 10 The haloalkyl group. The metal-based extreme ultraviolet lithography composition of the present invention has low exposure dose, excellent resolution and low linear edge roughness (LER) during photolithography.

An extreme ultraviolet (EUV) photolithography system includes a scanner. Photolithography system performs EUV photolithography processes with a reticle in the scanner. The scanner includes a reticle storage chamber, a reticle backside inspection chamber, and a reticle cleaning chamber. The reticle cleaning chamber cleans debris from the backside of the reticle within the scanner.

This invention discloses an extreme ultraviolet (EUV) time-delay compensated monochromator, processing method, and electronic device, relating to the field of EUV light processing technology. The monochromator includes: a first optical structure comprising a first planar blazed grating and a first ring mirror, wherein the first planar blazed grating is used to split and diffract the incident light, and the first ring mirror is used to focus and reflect the beam; a second optical structure comprising a second planar blazed grating and a second ring mirror, wherein the second planar blazed grating is used to compensate for the pulse forward tilt introduced by the first planar blazed grating, and the second ring mirror is used to focus and reflect the beam; and a slit plane, disposed between the first and second optical structures to ensure symmetry, for filtering the beam corresponding to the desired wavelength. This invention solves the technical problem in related technologies where monochromators cannot simultaneously achieve performance indicators such as energy transfer efficiency, spectral resolution, and pulse forward tilt compensation.

The present invention provides carbon nanotube aggregates and the like that exhibit excellent conductivity when used as a carbon nanotube dispersion, and that yield a carbon nanotube dispersion with appropriate viscosity. [Solution] A carbon nanotube aggregate and its application that satisfies the following conditions (1) and (2): (1) It contains Na atoms, and the Na atom content is less than 200 ppm by mass relative to the total mass of the carbon nanotube aggregate. (2) The elongation at break measured by the following measurement method is greater than 0% and 3.0% or less. The method for measuring the elongation at break involves preparing a dispersion containing the carbon nanotube aggregate, pouring the obtained dispersion onto a plate, heating and drying it at 100°C, and performing a tensile test on the resulting sample using a tensile testing device. The point where the stress is maximum is considered the breaking point, and the elongation at break is calculated from the length of the sample at the breaking point and the length of the sample before measurement.

A resist composition for use in the manufacture of integrated circuits, uses of the resist composition and a lithography method using the resist composition, wherein the resist composition comprises an alkyltin oxocage having a counterion selected from tetrakis(pentafluorophenyl)borate, tetrakis[3,5-bis(trifluoromethyl)phenyl]borate, tetrakis[3,5-bis(tert-butyl)phenyl]borate and tetrakis[(3,5-bis(1,1,1,3,3,3-hexafluoro-2-methoxypropan-2-yl)phenyl)phenyl]borate. A lithography method comprising the steps of: a) providing a resist composition comprising an alkyltin oxocage having a counterion selected from the above borate group; b) exposing the resist composition to a patterned radiation beam or electron beam to form a pattern in the resist composition; and c) developing the resist to form a circuit pattern.

An extreme ultraviolet light generation system generating extreme ultraviolet light by irradiating targets with pulse laser light includes a chamber; a target supply unit configured to continuously generate the targets at a specific time interval and supply the targets into the chamber; a timing sensor configured to detect the target passing through a first region and output a signal; a laser device configured to radiate the pulse laser light toward the target having passed through the first region; and a processor configured to obtain first time when a first target has passed through the first region from the signal and second time when a second target generated immediately before the first target has passed through the first region, and determine a timing at which the first target is irradiated with the pulse laser light of the laser device based on the first time, the second time, and the time interval.

This invention belongs to the field of nonlinear optics and extreme ultraviolet coherent light source technology, specifically relating to a method for generating a quasi-monochromatic circularly polarized extreme ultraviolet light source. The method involves: constructing a reverse-rotating bicolor circularly polarized laser field as the driving light source; this reverse-rotating bicolor circularly polarized laser field is a superimposed field of reverse-rotating circular polarization composed of a fundamental frequency light field and a second harmonic light field; in a vacuum environment, the reverse-rotating bicolor circularly polarized laser field is coincident in time and space and focused into a medium to generate high-order harmonic radiation; by adjusting the relative intensity of the fundamental frequency light field and the second harmonic light field, a quasi-monochromatic circularly polarized extreme ultraviolet light source is generated; the medium is an atomic, ionic, or unarranged molecular system. The method of this invention is simple to implement experimentally, and the resulting circularly polarized extreme ultraviolet light source has high monochromaticity and high polarization purity, solving the problem of previous methods for generating quasi-monochromatic extreme ultraviolet light sources that relied on complex media and could not simultaneously achieve monochromaticity and circular polarization state.

The present application relates to a kind of for photolithography system and its control method of extreme ultraviolet light source.The extreme ultraviolet light source includes: electron beam source, generates electron beam;Micro-beam establishment unit, makes electron beam form and keep micro-beam structure before reaching radiation saturation;High-frequency deflection unit, according to the angle deflection of the electron beam with micro-beam structure that photolithography demand information makes;First polarized radiation unit is configured to make first deflected electron beam obtain radiation amplification and generate first extreme ultraviolet radiation light and inhibit second deflected electron beam;Second polarized radiation unit is configured to make second deflected electron beam obtain radiation amplification and generate second extreme ultraviolet radiation light and inhibit first deflected electron beam;Far-field optical separation unit, select first extreme ultraviolet radiation light is emitted to photolithography machine through first light path, or second extreme ultraviolet radiation light is emitted to photolithography machine through second light path.The extreme ultraviolet light source provided by the present application can realize high-frequency, stable, compact and low-cost polarization state switching.

To provide an extreme ultraviolet light generation device.SOLUTION: An extreme ultraviolet light generation device comprises: a chamber including a plasma generation region 25; a target supply part for supplying a target to the plasma generation region; a laser light condensation mirror for condensing pulse laser light to the plasma generation region; and an EUV condensation mirror 23 having a reflection plane for reflecting the EUV light radiated from the plasma generation region. The EUV condensation mirror is arranged so that the reflection plane falls within an angle range where ion energy is less than an average value of a spatial distribution of the ion energy at a position separated by a prescribed distance, from the plasma generation region of ions diffusing from the plasma generation region.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 3

The present invention relates to a photoresist mask for extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography. The photoresist mask of the present invention comprises a main area where a main pattern is formed, a first dummy area surrounding the main area where a first dummy pattern is formed, and a plurality of second dummy areas disposed in corner areas and spaced apart from the first dummy area, where a second dummy pattern with a width greater than that of the first dummy pattern is formed, wherein the second dummy area is an area where a lithography process is performed at least three times.

A method of enhancing extreme ultraviolet (EUV) transmission and reducing scattering of a carbon nanostructure pellicle film is disclosed. The method includes annealing the carbon nanostructure pellicle film at least once at an elevated temperature before exposing the pellicle film to an EUV lithography process. The method further provides measures to maintain the annealed nanostructure pellicle film in an inert gas environment or vacuum.

Optical elements that efficiently propagate x-ray radiation over a desired energy range and reject radiation outside the desired energy range are presented herein. In one aspect, one or more optical elements of an x-ray based system include an integrated optical filter including one or more material layers that absorb radiation having energy outside the desired energy band. In general, the integrated filter improves the optical performance of an x-ray based system by suppressing reflectivity within infrared (IR), visible (vis), ultraviolet (UV), extreme ultraviolet (EUV) portions of the spectrum, or any other undesired wavelength region. In a further aspect, one or more diffusion barrier layers prevent degradation of the integrated optical filter, prevent diffusion between the integrated optical filter and other material layers, or both. In some embodiments, the thickness of one or more material layers of an integrated optical filter vary over the spatial area of the filter.

The application relates to the field of optical technology and provides an extreme ultraviolet high-flux polarization multiplexing transmission type super lens and a design method. The extreme ultraviolet high-flux polarization multiplexing transmission type super lens comprises a polygon mirror body, a through hole is arranged at the center of the polygon mirror body, and a circular-arc-shaped notch is formed by inwardly recessing the corners of the polygon mirror body. The extreme ultraviolet high-flux polarization multiplexing transmission type super lens is characterized in that the through hole is arranged at the center of the polygon mirror body, the circular-arc-shaped notch is arranged at the corner of the polygon mirror body, the solid material filling factor in the mirror body is significantly reduced under the premise of keeping the same phase modulation depth, and the light transmittance is improved; the corner of the polygon mirror body is arranged as the circular-arc-shaped notch, the isolated thin-wall structure with an extremely high depth-width ratio is avoided, the polygon mirror body has better mechanical stability and is not prone to structural collapse in the nano-imprinting or electron beam lithography manufacturing process, and the preparation yield of a large-area device is improved.