SEDL / STP / STP960-EB / STP25757S

Influence of X-Ray Exposure Conditions on Pattern Quality

Starov, V
manager, Resist and Application, of the X-ray Lithography Program, Varian Associates, Inc., Palo Alto, CA

Pages: 9    Published: Jan 1987

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Abstract

We have examined the relationship between x-ray resist sensitivity, spectral characteristics of the x-ray sources, and resist absorption coefficient with respect to our ability to control feature size in x-ray lithography. We have derived an expression relating these properties to the edge-definition quality by estimating the mean distance between the adjacent photon absorption events. It is shown that to ensure feature-size control to 0.05µm necessary to achieve 0.5µm minimum feature size, x-ray resist sensitivity should be no greater than 8 mJ/cm² if conventional x-ray sources are used for exposure. The effect of a controlled exposure ambient [1] on edge definition is also demonstrated and discussed.