EECE 5141C/6041C:

Microfabrication Lab for

Semiconductor Devices and MEMS

3. Photolithography
Tao Li

Spring 2023
Acknowledgements: This lecture is partly based on Prof. Chong Ahn’s
previous course notes.

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Photolithography – Brief Summary

• Lithography is the basic technique used to define and
transfer patterns in most micromachining and
integrated circuit fabrication.
• In optical lithography UV light is directed through a
“mask” to selectively expose a photosensitive organic
material (“photoresist”)
• For positive-working resist, exposed resist is
removed in “developer” (like traditional photographic
process)
• Exposed regions can be then manipulated (etching,
deposition, etc.) or the resist can be used as a
sacrificial (temporary spacer) layer

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 Photolithography Applications

Conceptual design on paper Photolithography

• Circuits diagram
• Microsensor design
• Microactuator design
• Lab-on-a-chip devices
• And so on… Physical realization
on silicon, glass,
polymer, or other
types of substrate

Photolithography is a critical step for converting

conceptual designs into tangible products through
2D pattern transfer using microfabrication
techniques.
Sources: Google images

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General Photolithography Procedure

Design Mask/Reticle Wafer

Fabrication Exposure

• Slow • High-throughput
• Need high resolution
Source: Madou, Fundamentals of Microfabrication

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 Photolithography

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Photolithography Challenges
• Resolution: Due to the demand for the ever-
decreasing sizes of features
• Exposure field: Due to ever-increasing sizes of chips
• Alignment/placement accuracy: Need for tighter
feature control
• Throughput and defect density: High throughput and
better yield

• Resolution (R): Smallest size of distinct feature or pitch possible on wafer.

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 Exposure Systems for Optical Lithography
Exposure Systems

• Contact printing
• High resolution (<1 µm)
• Two-mode operation: separate for alignment, contact for exposure
• Mask deterioration
• Proximity printing
• 10-25 µm gap, long mask life
• Resolution limited by diffraction effect, 2-4 µm resolution
• Projection printing
• Image of mask (usually reduced with 5:1 or 10:1 ratio)
• Scanning or stepping of small field (strip or one die)
• VLSI standard
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Maskmaking

Heidelberg Desktop
E-beam Maskmaker Maskmaker

• Cr metal film (≈80 nm thick) on glass substrates (quartz or soda-lime)

• Quartz is more expensive, but much lower coefficient of thermal expansion
and is transparent at deeper UV wavelengths where soda lime glass is
opaque
• Quartz needs to be used for wavelength less than or equal to 365nm (i-line)

https://himt.de/index.php/photomask-production.html

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 Types of Masks
• Dark field mask: Incident light passes through patterned regions of
desired features
• Clear field mask: Incident light passes through the field regions
outside the patterned region

Clear
field

Dark
field
Is this a dark field or clear
field mask?

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Photoresist
• Photoresist (PR) is a polymer whose chemical properties change when
exposed to incident radiation, typically UV light
• Used to form a light sensitive conformal coating on the wafer surface,
and then exposed and developed to replicate mask pattern geometries
• Formulated to resist attack by etchant used to pattern the metal or
semiconductor layer
• PR typically cannot be exposed to temperatures above about 200°C
because it burns
Negative PR Positive PR

m m m m m m
m m
m m

m m
m m

m m
m m
m m
Before exposure: no binding
After exposure: connected bindings
m m
m m
Before exposure: connected bindings
After exposure: broken bindings

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 Positive and Negative Photoresists

• Negative PR • Positive PR
• Photosensitive • Photoactive
cross-linking compound +
material + resin + solvent
synthetic rubber • Upon exposure,
+ solvent
the chains of
• Upon exposure, polymer are
the compound destroyed,
cross links the dissolvable in
rubber, become developer
resistant to • Poor adhesion,
developer but no swelling
• Swelling but good and good patterns
adhesion

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Photoresist Characteristics

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 Light Sources

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Typical Lithography Procedure for Pattern Transfer

• Uses optical masks

• To transfer the patterns
in the masks to wafers
• Uses a photoresist (PR),
like photo film
• Positive or negative PRs
• Spin-coat the PR on the
wafers
• Soft bake
• Exposure in UV
• Develop and hard bake

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 Procedure for Basic Photolithography

Surface cleaning and

dehydration bake Post exposure bake
(if needed)
HMDS coating
Develop resist
Resist coating

Post-develop bake
Pre-bake (softbake) (hardbake)(if needed)

Align wafer and Etching, etc.

expose

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Photoresist Process – 1. Spin coating

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 Photoresist Process – 1. Spin coating

Trends of spin time vs. coating uniformity

(actual values are varying by photoresist)

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Photoresist Process – 2. Softbake

• Pre-bake/softbake to remove solvents in resist

• Baking temperature and time are resist-dependent
• Fresh air convection oven, e.g.:
• Positive photoresist: 95 +/- 5 C for 25 minutes
• Negative photoresist: 85 +/- 5 C for 10-20 minutes
• Hot plate bake, e.g.:
• Positive photoresist: 95 C for 4-5 minutes
• Negative photoresist: 85 C for 4-8 minutes, in-line bake systems

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 Photoresist Process – 3. Exposure
• Formation of carboxylic acid derivatives in positive resists which
are much more developer soluble than unexposed resist
• Cross-linking of the polymer chains in negative resists
• Exposure energy required depends on resist thickness
• Mercury vapor UV source
• Exposure step has the greatest influence on line-width control

Aligners

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Photoresist Process – 4. Development

• Positive photoresist – developing is the dissolution of exposed

resist by an alkaline developer

• Negative photoresist – developing is the dissolution of

unexposed resist by aromatic solvents. Exposed resist,
although insolubilized by photo-induced cross-linking, will swell
extensively in good rubber solvents. This swelling may limit
resolution

• Negative photoresist – after developing, the swollen resist film

must be rinsed with solvents that are miscible with the developer
but are non-solvents for the rubber

• Rinse & inspect

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 Photoresist Process – 5. Post Baking

• Post-bake (hard-bake) to increase adhesion

• Should be done just prior to etching

• Temperature: 120-150ºC

• Time: ≈20 minutes

• Thermal reflow of resist will occur at high temperatures

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Photoresist Process – 6. Resist Removal

• Use a solution or technique that will remove the resist without

damaging the wafer

• Acetone will remove positive resist which has not been post
baked

• Positive resist strippers

• Microposit 140, Posi-Strip, PRS 2000, etc.

• Negative resist strippers

• Microstrip J-100, NMP, etc.

• Oxygen plasma ashing

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 EECE 5141/6041 – Fabrication Sequence for
Pressure Sensor
Mask 0 Mask 1
(No mask, wafer preparation)

Open window for backside etching

(100) Silicon wafer cleaning

Anisotropic Si backside etching

Oxidation for wet etching mask Oxide removal

Re-oxidation

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EECE 5141/6041 – Fabrication Sequence for

Pressure Sensor
Mask 2 Mask 3

Open window for p+ implantation

Open for ohmic contact

Boron p+ implantation

Anneal & drive-in Aluminum deposition

Mask 4
Strip oxide for wafer bonding

Pattern metal lines

Wafer bonding on glass substrate

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