Dwayne L. LaBrake

Whole wafer imprint patterning using step and flash imprint lithography: a manufacturing solution for sub-100-nm patterning

Imprint lithography has been shown to be an effective technique for the replication of nano-scale features1. When the imprint material is a UV cross linkable liquid, it is possible to perform the patterning process at room temperature and ambient pressure, which enables good pattern fidelity, short processing times, and reduced process defectivity2. Imprinting whole wafers using drop on demand dispense techniques offers improved throughput and nanopatterning over wafer topography which can exceed 10 μm. Template fabrication of arbitrary whole wafer patterns offers unique challenges for 1x feature fabrication. The resolution and pattern area of the imprint approach is strictly dependent on the ability to create a 1X master template. This paper provides a detailed description of whole wafer templates, imprint patterning processes, and etch processes that have been employed to create a whole wafer archetype process through hard mask patterning. Particular attention is given to high volume manufacturing focused on whole wafer template fabrication, throughput and pattern fidelity. Step and Flash Imprint Lithography (S-FILTM) makes use of templates that can be fabricated with the same patterning and etch transfer processes that are used for manufacturing phase-shifting photo masks. In the case of whole wafer templates the master die pattern is fabricated using conventional techniques. The replicate template carries the full wafer die pattern imprinted by step and repeat using the master. The S-FIL/R process can be used for patterning the replicate template3. The structure, pattern fidelity and critical dimension uniformity of the master and replicate templates and patterned wafer is shown to be within measurement errors.

Step and flash imprint lithography for manufacturing patterned media

The ever-growing demand for hard drives with greater storage density has motivated a technology shift from continuous magnetic media to patterned media hard disks, which are expected to be implemented in future generations of hard disk drives to provide data storage at densities exceeding 1012 bits/in.2. Step and flash imprint lithography (S-FIL) technology has been employed to pattern the hard disk substrates. This article discusses the infrastructure required to enable S-FIL in high-volume manufacturing, namely, fabrication of master templates, template replication, high-volume imprinting with precisely controlled residual layers, and dual-sided imprinting. Imprinting of disks is demonstrated with substrate throughput currently as high as 180 disks/h (dual sided). These processes are applied to patterning hard disk substrates with both discrete tracks and bit-patterned designs.

Fabrication of nanometer sized features on non-flat substrates using a nano-imprint lithography process

The Step and Flash Imprint Lithography (S-FILTM) process is a step and repeat nano-imprint lithography (NIL) technique based on UV curable low viscosity liquids. Generally nano-imprint lithography (NIL) is a negative acting process which makes an exact replica of the imprint mold and is subsequently dry developed to reveal the underlying substrate material. The authors have demonstrated a novel imprint process, which reverses the tone of the imprint and enables dry develop on nonflat wafers with good critical dimension control and resist layer thickness. This positive acting NIL process termed SFIL/RTM (reverse tone S-FIL), enables nano-imprinting over intrinsic substrate topology of the type commonly found on single side polished substrates. This paper describes the SFIL/R process and the results of pattern transfer on single side polished silicon wafers.

Realization of >10-m-long chirped fiber Bragg gratings

Recently long-length fiber Bragg gratings (FBGs) have been developed and studied by several researchers [1-5].

Defect reduction for semiconductor memory applications using jet and flash imprint lithography

Imprint lithography has been shown to be an effective technique for replication of nano-scale features. Jet and Flash Imprint Lithography (J-FIL) involves the field-by-field deposition and exposure of a low viscosity resist deposited by jetting technology onto the substrate. The patterned mask is lowered into the fluid which then quickly flows into the relief patterns in the mask by capillary action. Following this filling step, the resist is crosslinked under UV radiation, and then the mask is removed leaving a patterned resist on the substrate. Acceptance of imprint lithography for manufacturing will require demonstration that it can attain defect levels commensurate with the defect specifications of high end memory devices. Typical defectivity targets are on the order of 0.10/cm2. In previous studies, we have focused on defects such as random non-fill defects occurring during the resist filling process and repeater defects caused by interactions with particles on the substrate. In this work, we attempted to identify the critical imprint defect types using a mask with NAND Flash-like patterns at dimensions as small as 26nm. The two key defect types identified were line break defects induced by small particulates and airborne contaminants which result in local adhesion failure. After identification, the root cause of the defect was determined, and corrective measures were taken to either eliminate or reduce the defect source. As a result, we have been able to reduce defectivity levels by more than three orders of magnitude in only 12 months and are now achieving defectivity adders as small as 2 adders per lot of wafers.

High volume jet and flash imprint lithography for discrete track patterned media

The Jet and Flash Imprint Lithography (J-FIL) process uses drop dispensing of UV curable resists for high resolution patterning. Several applications, including patterned media, are better, and more economically served by a full substrate patterning process since the alignment requirements are minimal. Patterned media is particularly challenging because of the aggressive feature sizes necessary to achieve storage densities required for manufacturing beyond the current technology of perpendicular recording. In this paper, the key process steps for the application of J-FIL to pattern media fabrication are reviewed with special attention to the vapor adhesion layer and imprint performance at >300 disk per hour.

Chirped fiber grating characterization with phase ripples

The performance of chirped fiber gratings as dispersion compensators can be specified with the variance of their phase ripples weighted by the input signal spectrum.

Jet and flash imprint lithography for the fabrication of patterned media drives

The ever-growing demand for hard drives with greater storage density has motivated a technology shift from continuous magnetic media to patterned media hard disks, which are expected to be implemented in future generations of hard disk drives to provide data storage at densities exceeding 1012 bits per square inch. Jet and Flash Imprint Lithography (J-FILTM) technology has been employed to pattern the hard disk substrates. This paper discusses the infrastructure required to enable J-FIL in high-volume manufacturing; namely, fabrication of master templates, template replication, high-volume imprinting with precisely controlled residual layers, dual-sided imprinting and defect inspection. Imprinting of disks is demonstrated with substrate throughput currently as high as 180 disks/hour (dual-sided). These processes are applied to patterning hard disk substrates with both discrete tracks and bit-patterned designs.

High-throughput jet and flash imprint lithography for advanced semiconductor memory

Imprint lithography has been shown to be an effective technique for replication of nano-scale features. Jet and Flash Imprint Lithography (J-FIL) involves the field-by-field deposition and exposure of a low viscosity resist deposited by jetting technology onto the substrate. The patterned mask is lowered into the fluid which then quickly flows into the relief patterns in the mask by capillary action. Following this filling step, the resist is crosslinked under UV radiation, and then the mask is removed, leaving a patterned resist on the substrate. Non-fill defectivity must always be considered within the context of process throughput. Processing steps such as resist exposure time and mask/wafer separation are well understood, and typical times for the steps are on the order of 0.10 to 0.20 seconds. To achieve a total process throughput of 20 wafers per hour (wph), it is necessary to complete the fluid fill step in 1.0 seconds, making it the key limiting step in an imprint process. Recently, defect densities of less than 1.0/cm2 have been achieved at a fill time of 1.2 seconds by reducing resist drop size and optimizing the drop pattern. There are several parameters that can impact resist filling. Key parameters include resist drop volume (smaller is better), system controls (which address drop spreading after jetting), Design for Imprint or DFI (to accelerate drop spreading) and material engineering (to promote wetting between the resist and underlying adhesion layer). In addition, it is mandatory to maintain fast filling, even for edge field imprinting. This paper addresses the improvements made with reduced drop volume and enhanced surface wetting to demonstrate that fast filling can be achieved for both full fields and edge fields. By incorporating the changes to the process noted above, we are now attaining fill times of 1 second with non-fill defectivity of ~ 0.1 defects/cm2.

Defect reduction of high-density full-field patterns in jet and flash imprint lithography

Imprint lithography has been shown to be an effective technique for replication of nano-scale features. Jet and Flash Imprint Lithography (J-FIL) involves the field-by-field deposition and exposure of a low viscosity resist deposited by jetting technology onto the substrate. The patterned mask is lowered into the fluid which then quickly flows into the relief patterns in the mask by capillary action. Following this filling step, the resist is crosslinked under UV radiation, and then the mask is removed leaving a patterned resist on the substrate. Acceptance of imprint lithography for manufacturing will require demonstration that it can attain defect levels commensurate with the defect specifications of high end memory devices. Typical defectivity targets are on the order of 0.10/cm2. This work summarizes the results of defect inspections focusing on two key defect types; random non-fill defects occurring during the resist filling process and repeater defects caused by interactions with particles on the substrate. Non-fill defectivity must always be considered within the context of process throughput. The key limiting throughput step in an imprint process is resist filling time. As a result, it is critical to characterize the filling process by measuring non-fill defectivity as a function of fill time. Repeater defects typically have two main sources; mask defects and particle related defects. Previous studies have indicated that soft particles tend to cause non-repeating defects. Hard particles, on the other hand, can cause either resist plugging or mask damage. In this work, an Imprio 500 twenty wafer per hour (wph) development tool was used to study both defect types. By carefully controlling the volume of inkjetted resist, optimizing the drop pattern and controlling the resist fluid front during spreading, fill times of 1.5 seconds were achieved with non-fill defect levels of approximately 1.2/cm2. Longevity runs were used to study repeater defects and a nickel contamination was identified as the key source of particle induced repeater defects.