EUV Source Technology: Challenges and Status

Extreme ultraviolet lithography (EUVL) is the leading technology being considered for printing circuits at the 32-nm node and below in a high-volume manufacturing (HVM) environment fab. In EUVL, a 13.5-nm-radiation wavelength generated by an EUV source is used to print circuits. Because light radiation is strongly absorbed at this wavelength, the entire EUVL scanner system must be in a vacuum environment, and all optics must be reflective, not refractive. Based on the HVM requirements of 100-wafer∕h throughput and other system requirements for optics, resist sensitivity, and overhead (Table 1.1), a power requirement of 115 W has been specified for HVM EUVL scanners. Besides power, EUV sources must meet additional specifications. The production-level requirements in Table 1.1 have been jointly agreed upon by major scanner manufacturers. Discharge-produced plasma (DPP) and laser-produced plasma (LPP) are the leading technologies for generating high-power EUV radiation at 13.5 nm. In both technologies, hot plasma of ≈20–50 eV of the chosen fuel material is generated, which produces EUV radiation. In DPP, magnetic pinching of low-temperature plasma generates the high-temperature plasma. In LPP, the target material is heated by a laser pulse to generate high-temperature plasma. Xenon, tin, and lithium are the fuel materials of choice for EUV sources. The cost-effective implementation of EUVL in HVM presents many technical challenges, of which the EUV source power has remained the greatest one until recently. In the fall of 2004, significant progress in EUV source power was reported at the EUVL Symposium in Miyazaki, Japan, making source power a lesser concern. The current challenges for implementing EUVL in HVM are listed in Table 1.2. Today worldwide, more than eight suppliers and consortia are working to develop high-power EUV sources for EUVL. In addition, some suppliers are working to develop low-power EUV sources that are finding applications in metrology to support EUVL. This chapter presents the status of high-power EUV source technology and summarizes the technical challenges that must be overcome to meet the specifications for high-power EUV sources in HVM.