NXT:1980Di immersion scanner for 7nm and 5nm production nodes

Immersion scanners remain the critical lithography workhorses in semiconductor device manufacturing. When progressing towards the 7nm device node for logic and D18 device node for DRAM production, pattern-placement and layer-to-layer overlay requirements keep progressively scaling down and consequently require system improvements in immersion scanners. The on-product-overlay requirements are approaching levels of only a few nanometers, imposing stringent requirements on the scanner tool design in terms of reproducibility, accuracy and stability. In this paper we report on the performance of the NXT:1980Di immersion scanner. The NXT:1980Di builds upon the NXT:1970Ci, that is widely used for 16nm, 14nm and 10nm high-volume manufacturing. We will discuss the NXT:1980Di system- and sub-system/module enhancements that drive the scanner overlay, focus and productivity performance. Overlay, imaging, focus, productivity and defectivity data will be presented for multiple tools. To further reduce the on-product overlay system performance, alignment sensor contrast improvements as well as active reticle temperature conditioning are implemented on the NXT:1980Di. Reticle temperature conditioning will reduce reticle heating overlay and the higher contrast alignment sensor will improve alignment robustness for processed alignment targets. Due to an increased usage of multiple patterning techniques, an increased number of immersion exposures is required. NXT:1980Di scanner design modifications raised productivity levels from 250wph to 275wph. This productivity enhancement provides lower cost of ownership (CoO) for customers using immersion technology.