The present disclosure relates to manufacturing integrated circuits (ICs). More specifically, it relates to techniques, methods, and materials directed to metal oxide photoresist films for patterning.
Electronic circuits when commonly fabricated on a wafer of semiconductor material, such as silicon, using lithography. Such electronic circuits are called ICs. ICs are typically fabricated by sequentially depositing and patterning layers of dielectric, conductive, and other semiconductor materials over a substrate to form an electrically connected network of electronic components and interconnect elements (e.g., capacitors, transistors, resistors, conductive traces, pads, and vias) integrated in a monolithic structure. A wafer with such ICs is typically cut into numerous individual dies. The dies may be packaged into an IC package containing one or more dies along with other electronic components. The IC package may be integrated onto an electronic system, such as a consumer electronic system.
Embodiments will be readily understood by the following detailed description in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. To facilitate this description, like reference numerals designate like structural elements. Embodiments are illustrated by way of example, and not by way of limitation, in the figures of the accompanying drawings.
For purposes of illustrating IC packages manufactured using photolithography described herein, it is important to understand phenomena that may come into play during developing a metal oxide photoresist. The following foundational information may be viewed as a basis from which the present disclosure may be properly explained. Such information is offered for purposes of explanation only and, accordingly, should not be construed in any way to limit the broad scope of the present disclosure and its potential applications.
Photolithography is commonly used to pattern thin films during semiconductor processing, where photons are emitted from a light source onto a photosensitive photoresist to initiate a chemical reaction in the photoresist. When exposed to light, a photoresist may be further polymerized or cross linked to form a hardened coating which is resistant to etching solutions (e.g., negative-type photoresist) or may become more easily decomposable or dissolvable (e.g., positive-type photoresist). Thereafter, the photoresist is developed and exposed or unexposed portions of the photoresist are removed to form a pattern. A photoresist can be crucial to maintaining circuit element tolerances. A photoresist may be susceptible to degradation due to exposure from air or water, for example, during manufacturing processes delays. A degraded photoresist may become more easily removed, which may cause the photoresist to dissolve and/or lift away from the substrate and further expose the underlying metal resulting in decreased resolution and additional underlying metal to be etched away. A degraded photoresist may result in inaccurate patterning and other defects, which decreases manufacturing yields and increases costs. Ways to mitigate the degradation of a photoresist may be desired. Current photolithography processes use ultraviolet (UV) light with a wavelength between 10 nanometers and 400 nanometers or extreme ultraviolet radiation (EUV) with a wavelength between 10 nanometers and 15 nanometers (e.g., 13.5 nanometers +/−2%), which may be used for providing improved pattern resolution in advanced integrated circuits where reduction in feature sizes is required. Metal oxide photoresists, specifically photoresists containing bismuth (Bi) metal (e.g., bismuth-oxy-carbide-based photoresists), may be especially suitable for EUV photopatterning. In particular, a bismuth-containing precursor/photoresist may increase an overall thermal stability and longevity of the precursor/photoresist as compared to traditional precursors/photoresists containing other metals. Additionally, bismuth has a high EUV absorption cross-section and may provide increased EUV reactivity in a bismuth-containing photoresist, which may result in reduced EUV dosing, increased resolution, and more contrast at a lower dosage.
Accordingly, Precursors and methods related to a bismuth-oxy-carbide-based photoresist are disclosed herein. In some embodiments, a method for forming a bismuth-oxy-carbide-based photoresist may include exposing a bismuth-containing precursor to a substrate, physisorbing or chemisorbing the bismuth-containing precursor on the substrate, and exposing the substrate with the physisorbed or chemisorbed bismuth-containing precursor to a co-reagent to form a bismuth-oxy-carbide-based photoresist having a formula BixOyCz on the substrate, where x is 1 or 2, y is between 2 and 4, and z is between 1 and 5, where the bismuth-containing precursor has a formula R′Bi(NR2 )2 or R′2 BiNR2, where R is methyl, ethyl, isopropyl, tert-butyl, or trimethylsilyl, or NR2 is piperidine, and where R′ is methyl, ethyl, isopropyl, tert-butyl, cyclo-pentyl, cyclo-hexyl, methyl trimethylsilyl, methyl 2-butyl, benzyl, 1-methyl 2-dimethyl propyl, or cyclopentadienyl. The co-reagent may include one or more of water, hydrogen peroxide, oxygen, ozone, formic acid, maleic acid, and an alcohol, where the alcohol has a formula R″—OH, and where R″ is an alkyl group.
Each of the methods and materials of the present disclosure may have several innovative aspects, no single one of which is solely responsible for all the desirable attributes disclosed herein. Details of one or more implementations of the subject matter described in this specification are set forth in the description below and the accompanying drawings.
In the following detailed description, various aspects of the illustrative implementations may be described using terms commonly employed by those skilled in the art to convey the substance of their work to others skilled in the art.
The term “coupled” means either a direct connection (which may be one or more of a mechanical, electrical, and/or thermal connection) between the things that are connected, or an indirect connection through one or more intermediary objects between the things that are connected.
The description uses the phrases “in an embodiment” or “in embodiments,” which may each refer to one or more of the same or different embodiments.
Furthermore, the terms “comprising,” “including,” “having,” and the like, as used with respect to embodiments of the present disclosure, are synonymous.
The term “dispose” as used herein refers to position, location, placement, and/or arrangement rather than to any particular method of formation.
The term “between,” when used with reference to measurement ranges, is inclusive of the ends of the measurement ranges.
The terms “substantially,” “close,” “approximately,” “near,” and “about,” generally refer to being within +/−20% of a target value (e.g., within +/−5% or 10% of a target value) based on the context of a particular value as described herein or as known in the art.
For the purposes of the present disclosure, the phrase “A and/or B” means (A), (B), or (A and B). For the purposes of the present disclosure, the phrase “A, B, and/or C” means (A), (B), (C), (A and B), (A and C), (B and C), or (A, B, and C). When used herein, the notation “A/B/C” means (A), (B), and/or (C).
Although certain elements may be referred to in the singular herein, such elements may include multiple sub-elements.
Unless otherwise specified, the use of the ordinal adjectives “first,” “second,” and “third,” etc., to describe a common object, merely indicate that different instances of like objects are being referred to, and are not intended to imply that the objects so described must be in a given sequence, either temporally, spatially, in ranking or in any other manner.
In the following detailed description, reference is made to the accompanying drawings that form a part hereof, and in which is shown, by way of illustration, embodiments that may be practiced. It is to be understood that other embodiments may be utilized, and structural or logical changes may be made without departing from the scope of the present disclosure. Therefore, the following detailed description is not to be taken in a limiting sense.
The accompanying drawings are not necessarily drawn to scale.
In the drawings, same reference numerals refer to the same or analogous elements/materials shown so that, unless stated otherwise, explanations of an element/material with a given reference numeral provided in context of one of the drawings are applicable to other drawings where element/materials with the same reference numerals may be illustrated. Further, the singular and plural forms of the labels may be used with reference numerals to denote a single one and multiple ones respectively of the same or analogous type, species, or class of element.
In the drawings, a particular number and arrangement of components are presented for illustrative purposes and any desired number or arrangement of such components may be present in various embodiments.
For convenience, if a collection of reference numerals designated with different numerals are present (e.g., 101-1, 101-2), such a collection may be referred to herein without the numerals (e.g., as “101”).
Various operations may be described as multiple discrete actions or operations in turn in a manner that is most helpful in understanding the claimed subject matter. However, the order of description should not be construed as to imply that these operations are necessarily order dependent.
In particular, these operations may not be performed in the order of presentation. Operations described may be performed in a different order from the described embodiment. Various additional operations may be performed, and/or described operations may be omitted in additional embodiments.
R′2BiNR2. The R group may be part of an amide ligand (e.g., NR2 group), where the R group includes methyl, ethyl, isopropyl, tert-butyl, or trimethylsilyl, or the NR2 group may include piperidine. The R′ group may include methyl , ethyl, isopropyl, tert-butyl, cyclo-pentyl, cyclo-hexyl, methyl trimethylsilyl, methyl 2-butyl, benzyl, 1-methyl 2-dimethyl propyl, or cyclopentadienyl.
The following paragraphs provide various examples of the embodiments disclosed herein.
Example 1 is a method for forming a photoresist, including exposing a precursor to a substrate, the precursor having a formula R′Bi(NR2)2, and may further specify that R is selected from the group consisting of methyl, ethyl, isopropyl, tert-butyl, and trimethylsilyl, or the NR2 group is piperidine, and R′ is selected from the group consisting of methyl, ethyl, isopropyl, tert-butyl, cyclo-pentyl, cyclo-hexyl, methyl trimethylsilyl, methyl 2-butyl, benzyl, 1-methyl 2-dimethyl propyl, and cyclopentadienyl; exposing a co-reagent to the precursor and the substrate; and forming a photoresist on the substrate, the photoresist having a formula BixOyCz, wherein x is equal to 1 or 2, y is between 2 and 4, and z is between 1 and 5.
Example 2 may include the subject matter of Example 1, and may further specify that R is selected from the group consisting of methyl or ethyl, and R′ is selected from the group consisting of ethyl, isopropyl, tert-butyl, cyclo-pentyl, cyclo-hexyl, and 1-methyl 2-dimethyl propyl.
Example 3 may include the subject matter of Examples 1 or 2, and may further specify that the co-reagent includes one or more of water, hydrogen peroxide, oxygen, ozone, formic acid, maleic acid, and an alcohol having a formula R″—OH, wherein R″ is an alkyl group.
Example 4 may include the subject matter of Example 3, and may further specify that the co-reagent is alcohol having a formula R″—OH and R″ is selected from the group consisting of methyl, ethyl, isopropyl, butyl, vinyl, and tert-butyl.
Example 5 may include the subject matter of any of Examples 1-4, and may further specify that forming the photoresist includes a chemical vapor deposition (CVD) process, an atomic layer deposition
(ALD) process, or a spincoating process.
Example 6 may include the subject matter of any of Examples 1-5, and may further specify that a thickness of the photoresist is between 10 nanometers and 100 nanometers.
Example 7 may include the subject matter of any of Examples 1-6, and may further include selectively exposing the photoresist to extreme ultraviolet radiation (EUV) using a mask to create exposed and unexposed regions; developing the photoresist; and removing the unexposed regions of the photoresist.
Example 8 may include the subject matter of Example 7, and may further include baking the photoresist.
Example 9 is a method for forming a photoresist, including exposing a precursor to a substrate, the precursor having a formula R′2BiNR2, and may further specify that R is selected from the group consisting of methyl, ethyl, isopropyl, tert-butyl, and trimethylsilyl, or the NR2 group is piperidine, and R′ is selected from the group consisting of methyl, ethyl, isopropyl, tert-butyl, cyclo-pentyl, cyclo-hexyl, methyl trimethylsilyl, methyl 2-butyl, benzyl, 1-methyl 2-dimethyl propyl, and cyclopentadienyl; exposing a co-reagent to the precursor and the substrate; and forming a photoresist on the substrate, the photoresist having a formula BixOyCz, wherein x is equal to 1 or 2, y is between 2 and 4, and z is between 1 and 5.
Example 10 May include the subject matter of Example 9, and may further specify that R is selected from the group consisting of methyl or ethyl, and R′ is selected from the group consisting of ethyl, isopropyl, tert-butyl, cyclo-pentyl, cyclo-hexyl, and 1-methyl 2-dimethyl propyl.
Example 11 May include the subject matter of Examples 9 or 10, and may further specify that the co-reagent includes one or more of water, hydrogen peroxide, oxygen, ozone, formic acid, maleic acid, and an alcohol having a formula R″—OH, wherein R″ is an alkyl group.
Example 12 May include the subject matter of Example 11, and may further specify that the co-reagent is alcohol having a formula R″—OH and R″ is selected from the group consisting of methyl, ethyl, isopropyl, butyl, vinyl, and tert-butyl.
Example 13 May include the subject matter of any of Examples 9-12, and may further specify that forming the photoresist includes a chemical vapor deposition (CVD) process, an atomic layer deposition (ALD) process, or a spincoating process.
Example 14 May include the subject matter of any of Examples 9-13, and may further specify that a thickness of the photoresist is between 10 nanometers and 100 nanometers.
Example 15 May include the subject matter of any of Examples 9-14, and may further include selectively exposing the photoresist to extreme ultraviolet radiation (EUV) using a mask to create exposed and unexposed regions; developing the photoresist; and removing the unexposed regions of the photoresist.
Example 16 May include the subject matter of Example 15, and may further include baking the photoresist.
Example 17 is an apparatus, including a substrate; and a photoresist on the substrate, the photoresist having a formula BixOyCz, wherein x is equal to 1 or 2, y is between 2 and 4, and z is between 1 and 5.
Example 18 May include the subject matter of Example 17, and may further specify that a thickness of the photoresist is between 10 nanometers and 100 nanometers.
Example 19 May include the subject matter of Examples 17 or 18, and may further specify that the substrate includes a semiconductor material.
Example 20 May include the subject matter of any of Examples 17-19, and may further specify that the photoresist is a negative-type photoresist.