Optical Lithography

P Narashimaraja

R.V.C.E

August 24, 2017

PNR VLSI Design - Optical Lithography(Class 7)

Review Basics of Optics

Table of contents

1. Review

2. Basics of Optics
Light Diffraction

PNR VLSI Design - Optical Lithography(Class 7)

Review Basics of Optics

Review of last session

Current CMOS process technologies:
n-well process
p-well process
twin-well/twin-tub process
triple-well process
silicon-on-insulator

PNR VLSI Design - Optical Lithography(Class 7)

Review Basics of Optics

Review of last session

Any CMOS technologies - involves the following process steps:
Wafer Formation Czochralski Process
Photolithography 3 Exposure techniques:
Well and Channel Formation 1. Contact Printing
Silicon Dioxide (SiO2 ) 2. Proximity Printing
3. Projection Printing
Isolation
Gate Oxide
Gate and Source/Drain Formations
Contacts and Metallization
Passivation
Metrology
PNR VLSI Design - Optical Lithography(Class 7)
Review Basics of Optics

Basics of optics

Light diffraction
Resolution
Depth of focus (DOF)

PNR VLSI Design - Optical Lithography(Class 7)

Review Basics of Optics

Light Diffraction
When Light passes through an aperture, whose size is comparable to that of ,
light wave gets diffracted

Note:
The light diffracted to wider angles carries the information about the finer details
of the aperture.

PNR VLSI Design - Optical Lithography(Class 7)

Review Basics of Optics

Light Diffraction Without Lens

PNR VLSI Design - Optical Lithography(Class 7)

Review Basics of Optics

Diffraction Reduction

Short wavelength waves have less diffraction

Optical lens can collect diffracted light and enhance the image

PNR VLSI Design - Optical Lithography(Class 7)

Review Basics of Optics

Basics of Diffraction

To image the aperture on an image plane (resist) -collect the light using a
lens and focus on the image plane.
Finite diameter of the lens means some information is lost (high frequency
components)
Colliminating Aperture Focusing Image plane
Lens Lens
Point
d
source

Diffracted light Collected light

PNR VLSI Design - Optical Lithography(Class 7)
Review Basics of Optics

Light Diffraction With Lens

PNR VLSI Design - Optical Lithography(Class 7)

Review Basics of Optics

Basic terminologies in optics

There are 3 parameter, one can define w.r.t Focusing lens/Projection lens:
Numerical Aperture
Airy disk diffraction pattern for circular slit
Resolution of Point images
Depth of focus (DOF)

PNR VLSI Design - Optical Lithography(Class 7)

Review Basics of Optics

Numerical Aperture
NA is the ability of a lens to collect
diffracted light
NA2 is a measure of the light gathering
power
N A = n0 sin
- n0 1: refractive index of medium
d/2 d
sin =
f 2f
d
NA =
2f
Lens with larger NA can capture higher
order of diffracted light and generate
sharper image.
PNR VLSI Design - Optical Lithography(Class 7)
Review Basics of Optics

Numerical Aperture
NA is the ability of a lens to collect
diffracted light
NA2 is a measure of the light gathering
power
N A = n0 sin
- n0 1: refractive index of medium
d/2 d
sin =
f 2f
d
NA =
2f
Lens with larger NA can capture higher
order of diffracted light and generate
sharper image.
PNR VLSI Design - Optical Lithography(Class 7)
Review Basics of Optics

Numerical Aperture
NA is the ability of a lens to collect
diffracted light
NA2 is a measure of the light gathering
power
N A = n0 sin
- n0 1: refractive index of medium
d/2 d
sin =
f 2f
d
NA =
2f
Lens with larger NA can capture higher
order of diffracted light and generate
sharper image.
PNR VLSI Design - Optical Lithography(Class 7)
Review Basics of Optics

Diffraction of Circular slit

A simple example is the image formed by a small circular aperture (Airy
disk).

PNR VLSI Design - Optical Lithography(Class 7)

Review Basics of Optics

Single slit Diffraction

According to Huygens principle, each
portion of the slit acts as a source of
waves
If light from symmetric elements near
each edge of the slit travels to the
centerline of the slit(rays 1 and 2)- arrives
in phase and experiences constructive
interference.
The 1st min in intensity can be visualized
in terms of rays 3 and 4. An element at
one edge of the slit and one just past the
centerline are chosen, and the condition
for minimum light intensity is that light
from these two elements arrive 180A out
of phase, or a /2 difference in
pathlength. PNR VLSI Design - Optical Lithography(Class 7)
Review Basics of Optics

Resolution of Point Images

Consider two close point sources that we are trying to image
2 Images of Airy disks will be produced
These point sources will be distinguishable from each other (or) resolved - if
they can satisfy Rayleights criteria

Rayleighs criteria
The Rayleighs criteria for resolution of the images occur when the center of one
Airy disc is at the first minimum of the other Airy disk

PNR VLSI Design - Optical Lithography(Class 7)

Review Basics of Optics

Resolution of Point Images

min = 1.22
D

min : Angular resolution,

radians
D: Apperture diameter

PNR VLSI Design - Optical Lithography(Class 7)

Review Basics of Optics

Resolution of Point Images

PNR VLSI Design - Optical Lithography(Class 7)

Review Basics of Optics

Spatial resolution
The Angular resolution,, can be converted into a Spatial resolution, R
- by multiplying the angle(in radians) with the distance of the image from
the focusing lens
For a microscope, that distance is close to the focal length,f , of the objective.
f
R = 1.22
D

PNR VLSI Design - Optical Lithography(Class 7)

Review Basics of Optics

(Optical) Resolution w.r.t pattern size, d

The achievable, repeatable minimum feature size

Determined by the wavelength of the light and the numerical aperture of the
system.
The resolution can be expressed as

f K1
R = 1.22 =
d NA

PNR VLSI Design - Optical Lithography(Class 7)

Review Basics of Optics

Exercise:1

NA R

436nm 0.6 m
365nm 0.6 m
248nm 0.6 m
193nm 0.6 m

PNR VLSI Design - Optical Lithography(Class 7)

Review Basics of Optics

Depth of Focus

PNR VLSI Design - Optical Lithography(Class 7)

Review Basics of Optics

Depth of Focus
Depth of Focus (DOF) decreases as the numerical aperture increases
If is the on-axis path length difference at the limit of focus, then path
length difference is cos .
Raleigh criteria for depth of focus (DOF) is that the two path lengths do
not differ by more than /4

= cos
4
Assuming is small 
sin2
 

= [1 cos ] = 1 1
4 2
2 2
 
1 1 =
2 2
PNR VLSI Design - Optical Lithography(Class 7)
Review Basics of Optics

Depth of Focus

2
=
4 2
d
we know, sin = = NA
2f

DOF = = 2
= K2
2(N A) (N A)2

PNR VLSI Design - Optical Lithography(Class 7)

Review Basics of Optics

PNR VLSI Design - Optical Lithography(Class 7)