DEEP UV PHOTO RESIST DEVELOPMENT

WE PROPOSE TO IMPROVE RESIST MATERIAL DEVELOPMENT BY USING COMPUTATIONAL SIMULATION TO EVALUATE THE MATERIAL PROPERTIES SUITABLE FOR THE DEEP UV RANGE. WE PROPOSE TO DISCUSS CURRENT MATERIALS WITH RESIST PRODUCERS AND THEN TO WORK WITH THE MANUFACTURERS OF PHOTOLITHOGRAPHY SYSTEMS AND THE DESIGNERS OF SEMICONDUCTORS TO DEVELOP PROCEDURES AND DESIGN RULES WHICH ARE CONSISTENT WITH THE OPTIMAL USE OF THE RESIST MATERIAL AND ITS SOLVENT. CURRENT COMPUTATIONAL SIMULATIONS WILL NOT BE ADEQUATE FOR RESIST DEVELOPMENT IN THE DEEP UV BECAUSE MUCH NEW MATERIAL PHYSICS NEEDS TO BE INCLUDED, IE, RESIST MATERIALS UNDER CURRENT CONSIDERATION HAVE LOW TRANSPARENCY AND HIGH ABSORPTION RATIOS IN THE DEEP UV RANGE. NOT ONLY DO NEW RESIST MATERIALS NEED TO BE DEVELOPED BUT WHOLE NEW PROPERTIES NOT FOUND IN CURRENT RESISTS ARE ALSO DESIRABLE, FOR INSTANCE, DUAL-TONE RESISTS AND CHEMICALLY AMPLIFIED RESISTS. WE CURRENTLY HAVE THE BEST MODEL OF THREE-DIMENSIONAL PHOTORESIST IMAGES AVAILABLE. THIS NUMERICAL SIMULATION CAN BE USED TO IMPROVE THE DESIGN PROCESS FOR RESISTS, SOLVENTS AND PROCESSES BY REDUCING THE CUT AND TRY WHICH WILL BE REQUIRED FOR THE WIDE RANGE OF NEW PROPERTIES DESIRED IN THE DEEP UV RANGE. ANTICIPATED BENEFITS/POTENTIAL COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS - MILITARY WEAPON SYSTEMS HAVE BECOME INCREASINGLY DEPENDENT ON MICROELECTRONICS TO CREATE MORE FUNCTION IN SMALLER SPACES WITH LESS POWER. METHODS -SUCH AS THIS NUMERICAL SIMULATION OF THE RESIST DESIGN PROCESS FOR THE DEEP UV -WHICH CONTINUE RAPID EVOLUTION OF VLSI TECHNOLOGY AND WHICH BRING SUB-MICRON SYSTEMS TO REALITY ON SHORTER SCHEDULES WILL CONTINUE THE RAPID IMPROVEMENT IN PERFORMANCE OF MILITARY SYSTEMS. KEY WORDS - VLSI DESIGN, PHOTORESIST, NUMERICAL SIMULATION, DEEP ULTRAVIOLET