Challenges in Development of Sub-10 nm Resist Materials

Abstract

In the sub-10 nm resist processes for the high volume production of semiconductor devices, the suppression of stochastic phenomena is a critical issue. In this study, the resist processes of line-and-space patterns with sub-10 nm half-pitches were calculated by the Monte Carlo method on the basis of the sensitization and reaction mechanisms of chemically amplified extreme ultraviolet (EUV) resists. The effects of thermalization distance and effective reaction radius for deprotection on line edge roughness (LER) and stochastic defect generation were evaluated for the different halt-pitches in the sub-10 nm region.