MRI: Development of an Energetic Atom Beam Lithography System for Nanosystem Prototyping and Manufacturing

MRI：开发用于纳米系统原型设计和制造的高能原子束光刻系统

• 批准号: 0521523
• 负责人: John Wolfe
• 金额: $ 29.61万
• 依托单位: University of Houston
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2005
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2005-09-01 至 2009-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0521523&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: MRI; Development; Energetic; Atom; Beam

The remarkable increase in the processing power of silicon integrated circuits over the last half-century was enabled by a scalable lithographic approach that advanced through the generations by reducing the wavelength of the exposing radiation; first visible light (435 nm), then ultra-violet (365 nm), and now the deep-ultraviolet wavelengths (193 nm) that will drive the minimum feature size in manufacturing to 45 nm within 5 years. To advance further requires even smaller wavelengths, possibly soft x-rays (13 nm) or charged particles, electrons or light ions (10-6 nm). However, the sub-nanometer pattern placement accuracy and line edge roughness needed at this scale is significantly more challenging with charged particles than with photons owing to their electrostatic interaction with fixed, or mobile, charge in the mask or on the wafer. Our approach uses energetic neutral hydrogen atoms to provide immunity to charge build-up while, at the same time, limiting diffraction to that of protons. We propose to develop a turn-key, mass-selected, atom beam lithography instrument with 5-10 nm resolution over a 2 cm2 exposure field and sub-10 second exposure times. An instrument with these specifications will dramatically improve nanosystem prototyping capability both at the University of Houston and Nationally. It will also provide a test-bed for nanosystem manufacturability. The development project involves the following key tasks: (1) The development and characterization of a high brightness, energetic hydrogen atom source using a mass-selected, multicusp proton source and a high pressure gas cell to convert the parent proton beam to neutral hydrogen atoms. (2) The development and characterization of a novel pulsed source concept with ultra-low energy spread. This will significantly enhance the throughput of the basic system developed in task 1, above. (3) The development of an ultra-high precision nanostepping system with a lead-screw driven, interferometrically-controlled, wafer stage and a piezoelectric, flexure stage for the mask. We will explore the fundamental resolution limit of atom beam lithography due to the combined effects of diffraction, penumbra, shot noise, secondary electron range, and resist scattering during the qualification tests of the instrument.

在过去半个世纪中，硅集成电路的处理能力的显著增加是通过可缩放的光刻方法实现的，该方法通过减少曝光辐射的波长而在几代人中发展;首先是可见光（435 nm），然后是紫外线（365 nm），而现在的深紫外波长（193 nm）将在5年内将制造中的最小特征尺寸驱动到45 nm。要进一步发展，需要更小的波长，可能是软X射线（13 nm）或带电粒子，电子或轻离子（10-6 nm）。然而，由于带电粒子与掩模或晶片上的固定或移动的电荷的静电相互作用，这种规模下所需的亚纳米图案放置精度和线边缘粗糙度对于带电粒子比对于光子更具挑战性。我们的方法使用高能中性氢原子来提供对电荷积累的免疫力，同时将衍射限制在质子的衍射范围内。 我们建议开发一个交钥匙，质量选择，原子束光刻仪器5-10 nm的分辨率超过2平方厘米的曝光场和子10秒的曝光时间。具有这些规格的仪器将大大提高休斯顿大学和国家的纳米系统原型能力。它还将为纳米系统的可制造性提供一个测试平台。该发展项目包括以下关键任务：（1）高亮度高能氢原子源的开发和表征，该源使用质量选择的多尖质子源和高压气室将母质子束转换为中性氢原子。 (2)具有超低能量扩展的新型脉冲源概念的开发和表征。这将大大提高上述任务1中开发的基本系统的吞吐量。(3)超高精度纳米步进系统的开发与丝杠驱动，干涉控制，晶圆平台和压电，掩模弯曲阶段。我们将探讨原子束光刻的基本分辨率极限，由于衍射，半影，散粒噪声，二次电子范围，和抗蚀剂散射的综合影响，在仪器的资格测试。