Ronald D. Voisin

Design and performance of a step and repeat imprinting machine

Molecular Imprints, Inc. (MII) has developed the ImprioTM 100, which is the first commercial step and repeat imprint lithography system with field-to-field alignment. This system is designed to implement the UV curable nano-replication capability of the Step and FlashTM Imprint Lithography (S-FILTM) process. To-date, the Imprio 100 system has demonstrated: 1) Full 200 mm wafer coverage with lithographically useful patterning; 2) Full wafer residual thickness control to enable practical etching (thickness variation < 50 nm, 3 sigma); 3) Field edge control compatible with 50 um kerf regions. 4) Multi-day CD uniformity measured on an analytical SEM < 2 nm, 3 sigma with no process adjustments; 5) Etch pattern transfer including break-through etch of residual material, followed by a bi-layer etch through thick planarization layers; 6) Initial level-to-level alignment target acquisition with accuracy of better than 100 nm. 7) Low air borne particle counts in tool microenvironment consistent with Class 0.1 while imprinting.