William H. Williams

Development of spin-on metal hardmask (SOMHM) for advanced node

With the continuous demand for higher performance of computer chips and memories, device patterns and structures are becoming smaller and more complicated. Hard mask processes have been implemented in various steps in the devise manufacturing, and requirements for those materials are versatile. In this paper, novel organometal materials are presented as a new class of spin on solution in order to support the hard mask process. Type of metals, formulation scheme and processing conditions were carefully designed to meet the fundamental requirements as a spin on solution, and their characteristic properties were investigated in comparison to other conventional films such as spin on carbons (SOC), organic bottom anti-reflective coatings (oBARC) and inorganic films formed by chemical vapor deposition (CVD). Several advantages were identified with these SOMHM materials over other films which include 1) better thermal stability than SOC once fully cured, 2) reworkable with industry standard wet chemistry such as SC-1 where conventional Si-BARC is difficult to remove, 3) a wide range of optical constants to suppress reflection for photoresist imaging, 4) high etch resistance and 5) better gap filling property. Curing conditions showed a significant impact on the performance of SOMHM films, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) was utilized to elucidate the trends. With SOMHM film as a BARC, photolithographic imaging was demonstrated under ArF immersion conditions with 40nm linewidth patterning.