Design and Development of Developable BARCs (DBARCs) for Advanced Lithographic Applications

Developable BARC (DBARC) technology is presently being considered for use in semiconductor device manufacture. The unique ability of a DBARC to offer substrate reflection control without the need for a BARC open etch is attractive for application in two large segments of device manufacture. Firstly, implant lithography may benefit from DBARC technology as these layers cannot withstand a BARC open etch but improved reflection control is needed over existing TARC and dyed resist schemes.The other area of potential interest is to reduce cost of ownership by replacing a conventional BARC with a DBARC thereby eliminating the BARC open etch step in conventional lithographic applications.In this paper, we describe recent improvements in Developable BARC (DBARC) technology for advanced lithography. The general design concepts used to create high performing DBARC materials are reviewed and fundamental characterization data are presented. Thereafter, data on key performance metrics is shared for implant and non-implant applications. For KrF implant applications, the key metrics include CD swing and CD control over varying oxide thickness and active to filed CD bias. In the case of ArF implant, data on performance over topography is included. Based on the implant application data, our DBARC technology is surpassing the capability of a traditional TARC process for both KrF and ArF implant applications. In the non-implant application, we demonstrate our DBARC is competitive with conventional BARC in an aggressive immersion ArF application. In this application the DBARC offers leading edge lithography without the need for a BARC open etch step. This suggests a DBARC may help reduce cost of ownership even in critical applications.