Electron beam lithography patterning of sub-10nm line using hydrogen silsesquioxane for nanoscale device applications

We investigated novel patterning techniques to produce ultrafine patterns for nanoscale devices. Hydrogen silsesquioxane (HSQ) was employed as a high-resolution negative tone inorganic electron beam resist. The nanoscale patterns with sub-10nm linewidth were successfully formed. A trimming process of HSQ by the reactive ion etcher (RIE) played an important role for the formation of 5nm nanowire patterns. Additionally, hybrid lithography was used to produce various device patterns as well as to minimize proximity effects of electron beam lithography (EBL). Finally, we successfully fabricated triple-gate metal oxide semiconductor field effect transistor (MOSFET) with a gate length of 6nm by using the proposed patterning process.