GOALI: Photoresist Dissolution and Stripping in Gas Expanded Liquids

目标：气体膨胀液体中的光刻胶溶解和剥离

• 批准号: 0343142
• 负责人: Dennis Hess
• 金额: $ 34.73万
• 依托单位: Georgia Tech Research Corporation
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Continuing Grant
• 财政年份: 2004
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2004-04-01 至 2008-03-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0343142&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: GOALI; Photoresist; Dissolution; Stripping; Gas

Hess, Dennis W. / GA Tech Res Corp - GITCarter, Melvin K. / DuPont Electronic Technologies "GOALI: Photoresist Dissolution and Stripping in Gas-Expanded Liquids"State-of-the-art integrated circuit (IC) fabrication processes require more than 25 patterning or photolithography steps. Controlled, effective removal of photoresist (PR) and associated etch residues/contaminants after pattern formation is critical to achieve successful manufacturing processes with high device yield and reliability. PR/residue removal is currently performed by plasma processes followed by the use of environmentally hazardous, corrosive chemical treatments and extensive deionized water (DIW) rinses. Such approaches use large quantities of chemicals and DIW and thus are environmentally harmful.Gas-expanded liquids (GELs) represent a promising alternative to the traditional liquid-phase processes used extensively in the fabrication of ICs. Research with GELs in separations and reaction engineering suggests that these fluids may also offer numerous benefits in microelectronics process technology. GELs of particular interest include those formulated with carbon dioxide and conventional solvents (e.g., alcohols) used in microelectronic device fabrication. GELs have superior mass-transport properties while maintaining the solvent ability necessary for PR and etch residue removal. In addition, environmental benefits associated with organic film and contaminant removal using GELs may be substantial. Finally, since the pressures needed for GEL formation are significantly lower than those required to implement supercritical fluid (SCF) technology, energy requirements and hazards associated with GELs will be reduced relative to SCFs.A mass transport-based model formulated to describe the dissolution of films in GELs suggests that GELs may be superior to traditional liquids in several respects. For instance, dissolution rates can be increased by as much as 50% in a GEL relative to a pure liquid. Furthermore, the amount of solvent consumed in a PR removal process may be significantly reduced. The proposed research will experimentally investigate the accuracy of these models and establish if large-scale industrial processes are feasible. Investigations will be performed to address the fundamental physical and chemical interactions causing swelling and dissolution of organic films in GELs. Joint efforts with Dupont-EKC, a manufacturer and supplier of wet chemical formulations to the IC industry for resist and residue removal will permit the identification, formulation, and investigation of GELs capable of implementation into IC manufacturing.The combination of fundamental investigations of GEL interactions with surfaces and films (Georgia Tech), removal of films/residues on 8-inch wafers in a prototype commercial reactor (EKC), reformulation/design of commercial solvent mixtures expressly for the purpose of resist/residue removal (EKC), and investigation of the fundamental properties of these new GELs (Georgia Tech) will ensure the connection of fundamental studies with direct application to manufacturing operations for future generations of ICs. Broader Impacts:The proposed research will lead to the development of more environmentally benign processes for the fabrication of future ICs. Professor Hess' group is well equipped to perform this research, with regard to laboratory facilities and microelectronics processing expertise. This work will establish relationships between the properties of GELs and their interaction with PR layers; such results will supply a fundamental understanding of surface cleaning and preparation using GELs in IC process engineering, while EKC will ensure the transfer of this knowledge into manufacturing expertise. The proposed research project is ideal for chemical engineering graduate students in that experimental work is combined with fundamental thermodynamic and kinetics studies; the joint effort with EKC will allow students to work directly with a supplier of chemical formulations to the IC industry. The project will result in: (1) improved technology, environmental concerns, safety, and economics in IC fabrication by developing novel, more environmentally benign cleaning and surface preparation processes, (2) provide molecular level information concerning the interaction of GELs with polymer materials, (3) development of novel examples/case studies in the IC and environmental areas to be incorporated into core undergraduate and graduate ChE courses, (4) train minority undergraduate students each summer who are participants in the Georgia Tech Summer Undergraduate Research in Engineering Program (SURE), (5) educate high school students and teachers in IC fabrication and environmental issues.

作者：Dennis W. / GA Tech Res Corp - GITCarter，Melvin K. / DuPont Electronic Technologies“GOALI：光致抗蚀剂在气体膨胀液体中的溶解和剥离“最先进的集成电路（IC）制造工艺需要超过25个图案化或光刻步骤。在图案形成之后，光致抗蚀剂（PR）和相关联的蚀刻残留物/污染物的受控、有效的去除对于实现具有高器件产量和可靠性的成功制造工艺是关键的。PR/残留物去除目前通过等离子体工艺进行，然后使用对环境有害的腐蚀性化学处理和大量的去离子水（DIW）冲洗。这种方法使用大量的化学品和DIW，因此对环境有害。气体膨胀液体（GEL）代表了广泛用于IC制造的传统液相工艺的有前途的替代品。在分离和反应工程中使用凝胶的研究表明，这些流体也可以在微电子工艺技术中提供许多好处。特别感兴趣的凝胶包括用二氧化碳和常规溶剂（例如，醇）用于微电子器件制造。凝胶具有上级传质性能，同时保持PR和蚀刻残留物去除所需的溶剂能力。此外，与使用凝胶去除有机膜和污染物相关的环境效益可能是显著的。最后，由于凝胶形成所需的压力明显低于超临界流体（SCF）技术所需的压力，因此，与SCF相比，凝胶的能量需求和危险性都将降低。例如，相对于纯液体，在凝胶中的溶解速率可以增加多达50%。此外，PR去除过程中消耗的溶剂量可显著减少。这项研究将通过实验研究这些模型的准确性，并确定大规模工业过程是否可行。将进行调查，以解决基本的物理和化学相互作用，导致凝胶中的有机膜的溶胀和溶解。与杜邦EKC（一家为IC工业提供抗蚀剂和残留物去除的湿化学制剂的制造商和供应商）的共同努力将允许能够实施到IC制造中的凝胶的鉴定、配制和研究。（格鲁吉亚技术公司），在原型商业反应器（EKC）中去除8英寸晶片上的膜/残留物，专门用于抗蚀剂/残留物去除（EKC）目的的商业溶剂混合物的重新配制/设计，这些新的凝胶（格鲁吉亚技术）的基本性能的研究将确保基础研究与直接应用到未来几代集成电路的制造操作的连接。更广泛的影响：拟议的研究将导致开发更环保的工艺，用于制造未来的集成电路。赫斯教授的团队在实验室设施和微电子加工专业知识方面拥有开展这项研究的良好条件。这项工作将建立GEL的性质及其与PR层的相互作用之间的关系;这些结果将提供在IC工艺工程中使用GEL进行表面清洁和制备的基本理解，而EKC将确保将这些知识转化为制造专业知识。拟议的研究项目是化学工程研究生的理想选择，因为实验工作与基础热力学和动力学研究相结合;与EKC的共同努力将使学生能够直接与IC行业的化学制剂供应商合作。该项目将产生：（1）通过开发新的、更环保的清洁和表面处理工艺，改进集成电路制造的技术、环境问题、安全性和经济性，（2）提供有关凝胶与聚合物材料相互作用的分子水平信息，（3）开发集成电路和环境领域的新实例/案例研究，纳入核心本科生和研究生化学课程，（4）每年夏天培训少数民族本科生，他们是格鲁吉亚理工学院夏季本科生工程研究计划（SURE）的参与者，（5）教育高中学生和教师IC制造和环境问题。