Lithography

Continuous miniaturization of devices takes IC into

nanometer level so producing the same design in
several places uses pattering process.
Patterning on the wafer in most Ic’s two steps
a) patterning of a resist film on top of the
functional material, process is known as
lithography
b) transferring the resist pattern into the functional
material, by the process called as etching.
History of Lithography
Lithography Origin
Important Process in IC Fabrication
Lithography
Types of Lithography
Overview of Photolithography
 Optical Lithography
Optical equipment using ultraviolet light
or deep ultraviolet light is popular lithographic
equipment for IC fabrication. There are mainly two
optical exposure methods:
(1) shadow printing (2) projection printing.
In shadow printing, the mask and wafer may be in direct
contact known as contact printing, or in close proximity
called proximity printing while in projection printing, an
image of the mask patterns have projected through
exposure tool onto a resist-coated wafer many
centimeters away from the mask.
 Photoresist
A photo resist is a raiation sensitive compound that
forms a Polymer film in radiation. The film is
photosensitive or capable or reacting with the
photolysis product of added compound so that the
solubility in developer solution increases or
decreases significantly by exposure to UV radiation.
 Photoresist
To get an authentic recording of the geometry of
mask over the substrate surface the resist
should fulfill following conditions:
➢Uniform film formation
➢ Resolution
➢Good adhesion to the substrate
➢Proper resistance to dry and wet etch
processes
Steps of Lithography
 Steps of Lithography
Wafer clean and prime: The first step of the photolithography is to
clean the wafer because it might be contaminated during the
previous step. Then, a priming process is utilized to deposit a thin
primer layer to wet the wafer surface that enhance the adhesion
between the photoresist and the water surface.
Photoresist coating: The wafer is coated with a liquid photo resist
by a spin coating method. The spin speed and the viscosity of
photoresist material determine the final photoresist thickness,
ranging from 0.6 to 1 mm.
Softbake: Before going to the alignment and exposure step, a
softbake process is required to drive off most of the solvent in the
photoresist material. The softbake process is to place the wafer
on a hot plate at a temperature of 90 to 100°C for about 30
seconds
 Steps of Lithography
Post-exposure bake: The post-exposure bake is intended to
minimize striations of overexposed and underexposed areas
through the photoresist caused by the standing-wave effect
that might be occurring from the interference between the
incident light and the light reflected from the photoresist-
substrate interface. In modern processes, a thin Anti
Reflective Coating (ARC) layer is often used to help reduce the
amount of reflective light.
Development: Development is the critical step for creating the
pattern in photo resist on the wafer surface. In this step, the
soluble regions are removed by developer chemicals .After
development, the following two steps are often carried out.
 Steps of Lithography

Pattern inspection
The closing step of the pattern transfer process is
pattern inspection, which checks whether the sketch
on the mask correctly transported onto the
photoresist. The photoresist has to stripped and the
whole process is repeated again if the wafer fails in
inspection test.
 Steps of Lithography
Hardbake : After development, the wafer needs to be baked again on
a hot plate at a temperature of 100 to 130.C for about 1 to 2
minutes to drive out the remaining solvent in the photoresist
material. This step improves not only the strength and adhesion
but also the, etch and ion-implantation resistance of the
photoresist.
Photoresist Stripping : The remaining part of the pattern transfer of
the running example is completed by etching away the silicon
dioxide exposed and then removing the photoresist. Succeeding
oxide etching and with the help of abrasion process, the remaining
resist is finally stripped off with a mixture of H2SO4 and H2O2.
Finally a step of washing and drying completes the required
window in the oxide layer.
E-Beam Lithography
E-Beam Lithography
Next Generation Lithography