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Lithography

Presentation · June 2023

DOI: 10.13140/RG.2.2.16611.12323

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Forough Zahedpour
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Lithography
(Photolithography, E-beam lithography, Ion beam lithography)

For the “Nanochemistry” course / June 2023

B.S. Forough Zahedpour

Instructor : Prof. Fazel Shojaii

Contact : [email protected]
Content
• Nanotechnology …………………………………………….……. 3
• Photolithography basic function …………………………...……...4
• Photolithography steps …………………………………..………..5
• Electron-beam Lithography basic function ………………...…….10
• Electron-beam Lithography machine ……………..………...........11
• Ion Beam Lithography basic function ………………….........…..12
• Ion Beam Lithography instruments ……………...……………....14
• References ………………………………………..………..…… 15
 3 ‫صفحه‬

Characterization Examining the properties of an object or material

Nano technology

Creating a physical realization of our mind Clean environment

Fabrication Thin film deposition
Specialized equipment
Photolithography
When
Patterning E-beam lithography
Ion beam lithography
Hot embossing
Etching
Self-assembly

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Photolithography basic function
Photolithography technology refers to the technology of transferring the pattern on the
mask plate to the substrate with the help of photoresist under the action of light (generally
ultraviolet light, deep ultraviolet light, extreme ultraviolet light). The photolithography
technology is one of the most important processes in semiconductor manufacturing. The
cost is about 1/3 of the whole silicon wafer manufacturing process, and the time
consumption accounts for about 40%~60% of the whole silicon wafer manufacturing
process. In the field of semiconductor manufacturing, as the line width of semiconductor
processing becomes smaller and smaller, the photolithography process is extremely strict on
the control of minimal pollutants. It not only strictly controls particles, but also has strict
requirements on low precipitates.

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Photolithography steps :
1)Coat
2)Expose
3)Develop

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Coat step :
• Spin coating is depositing a few millimeters of liquid polymer onto the substrate
and spinning the substrate at high speed.
• Wafer is placed on a vacuum chuck
• A vacuum holds the wafer on the chuck
• Resist is applied
• Chuck accelerates for desired resist thickness
• Chuck continues to spin to dry film

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Photoresist (resist) :
• This liquid polymer called photoresist is typically only a
temporary layer.
• Photoresist is a mixture of organic compounds in a
solvent solution.
• Two types of resist:
1)Positive resist – Exposed regions become more soluble
and undergo a chemical change . A positive mask is left
after develop.
2)Negative resist – Exposed materials harden. A negative
mask is left after develop.

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Expose step :
• The wafer is exposed by UV from a light source traveling through the mask
to the resist.
• A chemical reaction occurs between the resist and the light.
• Only those areas not protected by the mask undergo a chemical reaction.

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• Develop step : submerging the exposed substrate into a chemical bath known as developer
The developer dissolves the (positive) photoresist that
was exposed to UV light rather than the photoresist that
was not exposed to UV light.
• Rinse the substrate with deionized water
Eliminates trace minerals.
• Blow it dry with nitrogen gas
Ensures that no water remains on our substrate.
• Bake the wafer on the hot plate
Removes any remaining solvent and solidify it into a thin polymer film.
• Alignment : "Align" is one of the most critical steps in the entire microsystems fabrication
process
Each layer must be aligned properly
within specifications to the previous layers and subsequent layers.
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Electron-beam Lithography basic function
• Electron Beam Lithography which uses electrons to make a pattern.
• Similar to photolithography : EBL uses spin coating, exposure, and development steps.
• EBL uses Electron Beam Resist (EBL Resist), which is sensitive to electrons.
• the exposure step of EBL doesn't involve light. But, uses an electron beam instead.
• Typical EBL systems use the electron beam to sequentially write each feature in the pattern. In
contrast to photolithography, where all of the pattern is illuminated at one time.
• The advantages of EBL include small feature sizes, down to ten nanometers or less. And a mask
is not needed for patterning, so it's easy and fast to change a design.
• There is no mask required for EBL, we simply use computer aided design or a CAD program to
lay out the pattern that we want to transfer to our substrate.
• Rinse the substrate, usually with isopropyl alcohol and dry it with pressurized nitrogen gas to
ensure that we have a clean dry wafer.
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 Electron-beam Lithography machine :
1. Electron source (a small sharpened tip) >> emits a stream of
electrons when a high voltage bias is applied. (The inside of
the EBL is under vacuum because air would interfere with
the electron beam.)
2. Electromagnetic lens system >> The lens system focuses
the beam of electrons to an extremely small spot size less
than five nanometers in diameter. (the cross section of the
human hair is about 100 thousand nanometers in diameter.)
3. Set of beamed deflectors >> can electronically deflect the
focused beam of electrons at extremely high speeds. This
controls the position of the electron beam, allowing the beam
to be steered to different regions of the substrate. Typical
beam deflectors can move the beam from one position to
another. In a matter of nanoseconds, so it's very fast.
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Ion Beam Lithography basic function
• Similar to laser beams. Lasers produce a focused beam of light particles called
photons. However, instead of providing photons, IBL provide ions.
• Ion beam lithography (IBL) or focused ion beam lithography (FIBL) refers to a direct
writing process that uses a narrow scanning ion beam source (e.g., 20 nm in diameter)
typically of gallium ions. IBL is employed for several nanofabrication processes including
milling, etching, ion implantation, and resist exposure. Compared with EBL, IBL requires
only about 1–10% of the particle dose to expose a resist.
• The system is housed in a chamber that is under a vacuum in order to prevent collisions
between the ions and air molecules.

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• Greater resolution : IBL offers higher resolution than photolithography or EBL, as the ions
used in this technique are far heavier than photons or electrons. Ion beam possesses a smaller
wavelength, and thus produces very little diffraction or scattering of the particles. Ions also
follow a straighter path through material than electrons, while any secondary electrons
produced are of lower energy due to the lower speed of the ion.
• Additional features : Ion beam lithography opens some additional avenues not available in
EBL, such as the ability to locally mill away atoms by physical sputtering, or locally
deposit material. Ion-induced mixing can also directly modify material.
• Disadvantages of Ion Beam Lithography : IBL requires the use of thinner resist layers
than in EBL, since the penetration depth of ions is lower than electrons. Use of a resist
bilayer that is first irradiated with gallium ions to create a mask pattern is employed to
circumvent this limitation. Reactive ion etching, which uses a plasma to remove deposited
material, is then used to transfer the image of the gallium resist layer to the secondary layer.
This allows deep 3D structures to be created, while also improving write speed and with very
low requirement of ion beam density. Optical or EBL is still generally much quicker than
IBL, as they can be done in parallel, with several beams creating a pattern on a single
substrate.

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Ion Beam Lithography instruments :

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References :
**Coursera | Online Courses & Credentials From Top Educators. Join for Free | Coursera.
(n.d.). Coursera. https://www.coursera.org/learn/nanotechnology/home/
**Photolithography Applications – Membrane Solutions. (n.d.). https://www.membrane-
solutions.com/application_photolithography.htm
**Pala, N., & Karabiyik, M. (2016). Electron Beam Lithography (EBL). In Springer eBooks
(pp. 1033–1057). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-9780-1_344
**Martinez-Chapa, S. O., Salazar, A., & Madou, M. J. (2016). Two-Photon Polymerization
as a Component of Desktop Integrated Manufacturing Platforms. In Elsevier eBooks (pp.
374–416). https://doi.org/10.1016/b978-0-323-35321-2.00019-4
**https://nanoscale.unl.edu/pdf/Photolithography_Powerpoint.pdf
**
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And that brings us to the end
Thank you so much for your interest and attention 

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