SBIR Phase I: Far UV Metrology of Semiconductors

这个小型企业创新研究第一阶段项目将把进行椭圆偏振测量的光子能量范围扩大到9 eV，远远超过目前限制在大约6.5 eV的“深紫外线”系统。具体地说，设想了一种使用常规实验室光源在整个3 eV至9 eV光子能量范围内运行的仪器。这台仪器将用于在这些较高的能量下对宽带隙材料碳化硅和氮化镓以及目前正在开发的一些替代介质进行材料研究。在这两种情况下，许多表征能带结构的临界点都是传统设备无法获得的。我们还将重点研究有机电子材料，包括空穴分数、衬底介电依赖和层相关能级等问题。此外，该项目还为半导体器件行业面临的关键问题提供了潜在的工具性解决方案。它显然符合国家技术路线图中确定的栅电介质计量的必要要求，但没有已知的解决方案。这也是157 nm准分子激光光刻计划所需要的，这是下一代光刻的候选技术之一。

This Small Business Innovation Research Phase I project will extend the photon energy range over which one performs ellipsometry to 9 eV, well beyond the current 'deep UV' systems which are limited to roughly 6.5 eV. Specifically, an instrument operating over the entire 3 eV to 9 eV photon energy range using conventional laboratory light sources is envisioned. This instrument would be used for material studies, at these higher energies, upon the wide band gap materials SiC and GaN, as well as some alternative dielectrics currently being developed. In both cases, many of the critical points characterizing the band structure are inaccessible to conventional equipment. We shall also emphasize studies of organic electronic materials, including issues such as void fraction, substrate dielectric dependence, and layer-dependent energy levels. Furthermore, this project provides a potential instrumental solution to critical issues facing the semiconductor device industry. It clearly meets the requirements identified in the National Technology Roadmap for gate dielectric metrology as being necessary but having no known solution. It is also required by 157 nm excimer laser lithography programs, one of the candidate technologies for Next Generation Lithography.