Hiroyoshi Kubo

Canon's development status of EUVL technologies

Canon has been developing the EUVL technologies for more than ten years. The current development status of EUVL technologies is presented. The small field exposure tool (SFET) is positioned as a cornerstone of the manufacturing technologies for the EUVL beta tool. LPP source and the DPP source are the most expecting methods for the EUVL beta tools.

Development of a novel EUV mask protection engineering tool and mask handling techniques

We have developed a mask protection engineering tool (MPE Tool) that simulates various types of tests during the transfer of a mask or blank in air and in vacuum. We performed mask transfer experiments to investigate particle-free mask handling techniques using the MPE and mask inspection tools. We measured the number of particles accumulated during the transfer of the mask blanks. Less than 0.3 particles were added over a path from a load port (in air) to an ESC chamber (in vacuum) and more than half the particles accumulated appeared during the pumping down and purging steps in the load-lock chamber. Consequently, we consider that pumping down and purging are the most important steps for particle-free mask handling.

Nonlinear Behavior of Decrease in Reflectivity of Multilayer Mirrors for Extreme Ultraviolet Lithography Optics by High-Flux Extreme Ultraviolet Irradiation in Various Vacuum Environments

To estimate the optics lifetime of an extreme ultraviolet lithography (EUVL) system with a contaminated mirror surface, it is indispensable to carry out an acceleration test using high-flux EUV irradiation. In this study, Mo/Si multilayer mirrors were irradiated in various vacuum environments using a contamination evaluation system with an undulator light source, and changes in their reflectivity were evaluated. The dependence of the decrease in reflectivity per unit dose on the EUV irradiance was observed in high-flux irradiation experiments in vacuum with water vapor or n-decane gas introduction at pressures lower than about 10-5 Pa. The irradiance dependence disappeared when the pressures were increased for both water vapor and decane gas. A reflectivity distribution with a doughnut shape, namely, high at the irradiation center, low in the surrounding area, and high in the non-irradiated area, was observed in the irradiation experiments during the simultaneous introduction of water vapor and decane gas. These results can be generally explained by the mechanism of the supply-controlled limit.

Canon's Development Status of EUVL Technologies

Canon has been developing the EUVL technologies for more than ten years. The current development status of EUVL technologies is presented. The small field exposure tool (SFET) is positioned as a cornerstone of the manufacturing technologies for the EUVL beta tool. LPP source and the DPP source are the most expecting methods for the EUVL beta tools.