157-nm lithography with high numerical aperture lens for 70-nm technology node

l57nm lithography is being investigated for the sub-7Onm technology node of semiconductor devices. Many efforts have been reported on the exposure tool, the F2 laser, the resist materials, the resist processing and the mask materials1. A critical component for the success of this 157nm lithography is the availability of high numerical aperture (NA) lenses that lead to higher resolution capability and higher process margin. In this article, we describe our recent evaluation results of a high precision 157nm Microstepper with 0.85 NA lens combined with simulation analysis of the lithographic performance. The details of the evaluation results discussed here include the resolution limit of the high NA lens and the possible effects of intrinsic birefringence upon the lithographic performance.