Neil Leslie Robertson

Line-frequency doubling of directed self-assembly patterns for single-digit bit pattern media lithography

Directed self-assembly is emerging as a promising technology to define sub-20nm features. However, a straightforward path to scale block copolymer lithography to single-digit fabrication remains challenging given the diverse material properties found in the wide spectrum of self-assembling materials. A vast amount of block copolymer research for industrial applications has been dedicated to polystyrene-b-methyl methacrylate (PS-b-PMMA), a model system that displays multiple properties making it ideal for lithography, but that is limited by a weak interaction parameter that prevents it from scaling to single-digit lithography. Other block copolymer materials have shown scalability to much smaller dimensions, but at the expense of other material properties that could delay their insertion into industrial lithographic processes. We report on a line doubling process applied to block copolymer patterns to double the frequency of PS-b-PMMA line/space features, demonstrating the potential of this technique to reach single-digit lithography. We demonstrate a line-doubling process that starts with directed self-assembly of PS-b-PMMA to define line/space features. This pattern is transferred into an underlying sacrificial hard-mask layer followed by a growth of self-aligned spacers which subsequently serve as hard-masks for transferring the 2x frequency doubled pattern to the underlying substrate. We applied this process to two different block copolymer materials to demonstrate line-space patterns with a half pitch of 11nm and 7nm underscoring the potential to reach single-digit critical dimensions. A subsequent patterning step with perpendicular lines can be used to cut the fine line patterns into a 2-D array of islands suitable for bit patterned media. Several integration challenges such as line width control and line roughness are addressed.

The effect of a trailing shield for perpendicular write heads

The effect of a magnetic trailing shield located in close proximity of the pole tip for a perpendicular write head has been studied in a perpendicular recording system. For a 150nm wide write pole, the write field gradient is improved yielding a 40% decrease in jitter and 2.2dB increase in the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR). As the pole width is narrowed further, modeling and experiments show that the trailing shield leads to a tradeoff between maintaining a high write field (writeability) and achieving an optimal write field gradient (jitter). For a 70nm writer, the addition of a trailing shield results only in a small 0.5dB SNR gain despite a 25% decrease in jitter as a result of the concomitant loss in writeability. The latter results in an increased dc noise and becomes more significant with trailing shield throat thickness.