The field of the invention relates generally to nano-fabrication of structures. More particularly, the present invention is directed to a method of patterning a substrate.
Nano-fabrication involves the fabrication of very small structures, e.g., having features on the order of nanometers or smaller. One area in which nano-fabrication has had a sizeable impact is in the processing of integrated circuits. As the semiconductor processing industry continues to strive for larger production yields while increasing the circuits per unit area formed on a substrate, nano-fabrication becomes increasingly important. Nano-fabrication provides greater process control while allowing increased reduction of the minimum feature dimension of the structures formed. Other areas of development in which nano-fabrication has been employed include biotechnology, optical technology, mechanical systems and the like.
An exemplary nano-fabrication technique is commonly referred to as imprint lithography. Exemplary imprint lithography processes are described in detail in numerous publications, such as United States patent application publication 2004/0065976 filed as U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/264,960, entitled, “Method and a Mold to Arrange Features on a Substrate to Replicate Features having Minimal Dimensional Variability”; United States patent application publication 2004/0065252 filed as U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/264,926, entitled “Method of Forming a Layer on a Substrate to Facilitate Fabrication of Metrology Standards”; and U.S. Pat. No. 6,936,194, entitled “Functional Patterning Material for Imprint Lithography Processes,” all of which are assigned to the assignee of the present invention and all of which are incorporated by reference herein.
An imprint lithography technique disclosed in each of the aforementioned United States patent application publications and United States patent includes formation of a relief pattern in a layer suitable for polymerization and transferring a pattern corresponding to the relief pattern into an underlying substrate. The substrate may be positioned upon a motion stage to obtain a desired position to facilitate patterning thereof. To that end, a template is employed spaced-apart from the substrate with a formable liquid present between the template and the substrate. The liquid is solidified to form a solidified layer that has a pattern recorded therein that is conforming to a shape of the surface of the template in contact with the liquid. The template is then separated from the solidified layer such that the template and the substrate are spaced-apart. The substrate and the solidified layer are then subjected to processes to transfer, into the substrate, a relief image that corresponds to the pattern in the solidified layer.
It may be difficult to produce a vertical or re-entrant resist profile when patterning at a high resolution; i.e., the resist profile may contain some slope. This may be true for patterns with high areal density. As a result, it has been difficult to create high resolution structures by lift-off patterning. Since it is difficult to solve the problem of resist profile, it may be desired to determine a solution to degrade or substantially remove the material that is deposited on the resist sidewall. Reactive ion etching (RIE) is effective for isotropic removal of a variety of materials that are patterned by the lift-off approach. Dry etch processes generally operate with much lower defect levels than lift-off processes. To reduce the process defects while maintaining the overall result of a lift-off process, a planarizing coating may be applied to allow selective etching of extraneous material from on top of the resist patterns. Existing approaches for high-resolution lift-off patterning may create moderate physical damage to the material that is deposited on the resist sidewalls. The present invention improves upon the existing practices by substantially removing the sidewall material. These and other embodiments are described more fully below.
The details of one or more embodiments of the invention are set forth in the accompanying drawings and the description below. Other features, objects, and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the description and drawings, and from the claims.
Like reference symbols in the various drawings indicate like elements.
Referring to
Template 14 and/or mold 16 may be formed from such materials including but not limited to, fused-silica, quartz, silicon, organic polymers, siloxane polymers, borosilicate glass, fluorocarbon polymers, metal, and hardened sapphire. As shown, patterning surface 18 comprises features defined by a plurality of spaced-apart recesses 17 and protrusions 19, with recessions 17 extending along a direction parallel to protrusions 19 that provide a patterning surface 18 with a shape of a battlement. However, recess 17 and protrusions 19 may correspond to virtually any feature desired, including features to create an integrated circuit and may be as small as a few nanometers. However, in a further embodiment, patterning surface 18 may be substantially smooth and/or planar. Patterning surface 18 may define an original pattern that forms the basis of a pattern to be formed on substrate 12.
Template 14 may be coupled to an imprint head 20 to facilitate movement of template 14, and therefore, mold 16. In a further embodiment, template 14 may be coupled to a template chuck (not shown), the template chuck (not shown) being any chuck including, but not limited to, vacuum and electromagnetic. A fluid dispense system 22 is coupled to be selectively placed in fluid communication with substrate 12 so as to deposit monomeric material 24 thereon. It should be understood that monomeric material 24 may be deposited using any known technique, e.g., drop dispense, spin-coating, dip coating, chemical vapor deposition (CVD), physical vapor deposition (PVD), and the like. Monomeric material 24 is polymerized upon ultra violet (UV) exposure.
A source 26 of energy 28 is coupled to direct energy 28 along a path 30. Imprint head 20 and stage 10 are configured to arrange mold 16 and substrate 12, respectively, to be in superimposition and disposed in path 30. Either imprint head 20, stage 10, or both vary a distance between mold 16 and substrate 12 to define a desired volume there between that is filled by monomeric material 24.
An exemplary source 26 may produce ultraviolet energy. Other energy sources may be employed, such as thermal, electromagnetic and the like. The selection of energy employed to initiate the polymerization of monomeric material 24 is known to one skilled in the art and typically depends on the specific application which is desired.
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The broadband energy may comprises an actinic component including, but not limited to, ultraviolet wavelengths, thermal energy, electromagnetic energy, visible light and the like. The actinic component employed is known to one skilled in the art and typically depends on the material from which imprinting layer 12 is formed. Control of this process is regulated by a processor 32 that is in data communication with stage 10, imprint head 20, fluid dispense system 22, source 26, operating on a computer readable program stored in memory 34.
The above-mentioned may be further be employed in imprint lithography processes and system referred to in U.S. Pat. No. 6,932,934 entitled “Formation of Discontinuous Films During an Imprint Lithography Process;” United States patent application publication 2004/0124566, filed as U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/194,991 entitled “Step and Repeat Imprint Lithography Processes;” and United States patent application publication 2004/0188381, filed as U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/396,615, entitled “Positive Tone Bi-Layer Imprint Lithography Method”; and United States patent application publication 2004/0211754, filed as U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/432,642, entitled “Method of Forming Stepped Structures Employing Imprint Lithography,” all of which are incorporated by reference herein.
To that end, lithographic techniques for creating patterns in material may be generally characterized as either “additive” or “subtractive”. Subtractive processes typically work by patterning a resist on top of the material and then using the resist as a mask during an etch process. The resist protects the material during the etching process, and thus the resist pattern is transferred into the underlying material. The resist may then be removed. Subtractive processes frequently require a highly tuned, anisotropic reactive ion etching (RIE) process.
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One approach to minimize, if not prevent, deposition of material 52b on the resist sidewalls 56 is to incorporate a re-entrant profile in the resist pattern 50. The re-entrant portion of the resist sidewall 56 is “shadowed” such that the deposited material 52 forms a discontinuous film. Thus, the material 52a on the substrate 112 is not connected to the material 52b that is to be lifted-off. Re-entrant profiles have been created by using with multilayer resists, chemical surface treatments that alter the resist composition, and preferential exposure of the resist surface. However, it may be difficult to incorporate a re-entrant resist profile. It is difficult to create a re-entrant profile when very small features are required or when the resist pattern is created by imprinting.
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The embodiments of the present invention described above are exemplary. Many changes and modifications may be made to the disclosure recited above, while remaining within the scope of the invention. Therefore, the scope of the invention should not be limited by the above description, but instead should be determined with reference to the appended claims along with their full scope of equivalent.
This application for patent claims priority to U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 60/826,124 and U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 60/824,762, which are hereby incorporated by reference herein.
The United States government has a paid-up license in this invention and the right in limited circumstance to require the patent owner to license others on reasonable terms as provided by the terms of N66001-66-C2003 awarded by the Space and Naval Warfare Systems Center San Diego (SPAWAR).
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