Fabrication Technology and Lithography

Akansha Lal(2K21/VLS/03) and Shweta(2K21/VLS/18)

Department Of Electronics and Communication

Delhi Technical University

I. INTRODUCTION

In the paper, various fabrication processes are briefly explained and various
advanced lithography techniques are studied and explained in short. Nanoscience
and nanotechnology are related to nanofabrication. A fabrication method called
Grayscale electron beam lithography (g-EBL) in which tunable control of resist
structure is possible has been discussed.  For the same electron dose, the
development depth depends on time amongst exposure and development and this
dependency turns into more noticeable at greater exposure doses.

In Electron-beam lithography 2D patterns are possible up to a few nanometers, is

an important pillar for nanofabrication. In current time, noteworthy progress in 3D
electron-beam-based nanofabrication is possible, like ice lithography method,
which is for thin film patterning. Here, the history of ice lithography, its
applications in efficient 3D nanofabrication nanoscale 3D printing is studied. 

A lithography method combining UV exposure with electro hydrodynamic (EHD)

printing is a very promising and potential technique for micro- and nano-scale
electronic structures manufacture. This lithography technique allows a decrease of
fabrication steps from six to two comparing with conventional photolithography.
Constant prompt reduction of feature size requires alternative-patterning methods
as the traditional photolithography has resolution limit. 

In this regard, next-generation lithography (NGL) comes with the potential to

achieve both high-volume production and very high resolution. Extreme ultraviolet
lithography (EUVL) is used for sub-10- nm manufacturing. Maskless lithography
techniques are also used nowadays for patterning, mask fabrication and low-
volume chip design. Nanoimprint lithography is also attractive because of its easy
process steps, high throughput, high resolution and low cost. However, more
challenges will  also be there, and technological development is required for
significant and reliable technology to meet the industry demand.

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II. BODY

Basic Fabrication Processes

The fabrication process consists of the following steps:

(a) crystal growth and wafer preparation

(b) epitaxy
(c) dielectric and polysilicon film deposition
(d) Oxidation
(e) diffusion
(f) ion implantation
(g) lithography
(h) metallization
(i) etching.

Lithography

The process of transferring pattern from mask to a resist (radiation sensitive) is

known as lithography. The revolution in modern IC fabrication greatly depends on
lithography. Patterning process involves the mask design, mask fabrication and
wafer printing [4]. Wafer printing process consist of light source, wafer exposer
system and resist.

The photolithography requires high resolution, high PR sensitivity, precise

alignment, and low defect density. Photoresist are photosensitive material
temporarily coated on wafer surface to transfer design image. The two types of
photoresists used are, positive and negative photoresist. Positive photoresist
become soluble after exposer whereas negative photoresist become insoluble.

The mask making is also one of the important steps for lithography. The process
flow for the mask making exposer can be either scanning electron beam system or
optical system. Mask making process is almost same as the lithography process
except electron beam or scanning optical laser system. . The lithography is of many
types such as photolithography, X-ray and extreme UV lithography, electron beam

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lithography, nanoimprint lithography, scanning probe lithography etc. Some of the
advance lithographic process are explained briefly in the next section,

III. DISCUSSION

Advanced lithographic processes:

The various under research topics on lithographic processes are explained in this
part. Some of the advance lithography techniques are Lithography technique based
on electro hydrodynamic printing platform, Ice lithography for 3D nanofabrication,
Nanoimprint lithography and Grayscale e-beam lithography.

1. Lithography technique based on electro hydrodynamic printing

platform:

In this lithographic technique, the large-scale printing of BP212 photoresist based

on EHD printing technique studied analyze the influence of printing parameters on
the minimum line width of printed structures [5]. The minimum line width can be
42 μm, and the accuracy of printing straight lines is very high enough. The EHD
printing platform can be divided into four parts: high voltage source, microscope,
linear motion stage, and needle clamping device. A high electrical field is
generated by direct-current voltage source, which connects to the stainless steel
needle and the substrate. By utilizing a constant pressure pump, the photoresist is
supplied to the needle through a conduit at a fixed flow rate. The glass slide is
mounted on the linear motion stage with an accuracy of 80 nm and controlled by a
computer. Microscope with 200 times optical resolution and 100 times digital
resolution is used to observe and record the printing process and the printed
patterns.

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 Schematic diagram of the platform

2. Ice lithography for 3D nanofabrication:

The basic principle of ice lithography is simple. Provided by a gas injection system
(GIS) inside an electron microscope, a precursor gas condenses on a cold surface is
exposed by a focused electron beam. This brief description shows similarity to
FEBID (Focused electron/Ion Beam-induced Deposition). IL is an electron-solid-
surface interaction while FEBID is an electron-gas-surface interaction. During IL,
vaporized material firstly condenses onto the precooled sample (130 K) and forms
a uniform amorphous ice thin-film. Then the e-beam exposes the ice layer to
generate nano scale patterns. This is a subtractive patterning process for water ice,
where ice within exposure areas vanishes. The mechanism is yet unclear, but
probably due to electron-stimulated reactions at solid water. Final pattern transfer
is realized through metallization .

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IL Process flow. (a) Vaporized material is frozen onto the cold sample to form a layer of ice resist. (b and
f) Focused e-beam exposes ice resist for patterning. For water ice, (c) the exposed ice vanishes and
pattern transfer is realized after (d) metallization and (e) lift-off. For alkane ice, (g) only the exposed areas
remain after heating and pattern transfer done by (h) plasma etching and (i) oxygen plasma for resist
removal.

3. Nanoimprint lithography:

Nanoimprint lithography (NIL), in its original manifestation, positions a malleable

resist underneath rigid stamp, which has been etched (e-beam) with a nanoscale
surface topography. When heat and pressure are applied, the pattern is transferred
with excellent fidelity, in a technique known as thermal embossing NIL (TE-NIL),
Fi. Developed alongside this approach was step and flash imprint lithography (S-
FIL), where a liquid precursor fills a contacting mold, driven by a combination of
capillary forces and pressurization, and is subsequently flashed with, i.e., exposed
to, a light source to induce curing. Following these procedures, NIL has
demonstrated the ability to impart surface topographies with sub-10 nm size
features. General considerations regarding necessary Guo has discussed imprinting
pressures and temperatures, as well as the moduli and viscosities of molds and
resins in a previous review, but specific considerations for new materials
incorporated into NIL processes are discussed in depth. In particular, emergent
chemical and electrochemical-NIL techniques such as metal assisted chemical
imprinting (Mac-Imprint) and solid-state superionic stamping ,as well as laser
shock imprinting methodologies have facilitated imprinting of resist materials.

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 Overview of NIL processes and featured impacts.

4. Grayscale e-beam lithography:

The layout of a pie-chart shape with 15 slices , where each slice was defined as a
separate layer. The height difference for each layer was 250 nm. The TRACER
program (GenISys GmbH) was used to perform a Monte- Carlo simulation of the
electron-solid interaction to provide the point spread function (PSF), which
describes the deposited energy as a function of the distance of the incident beam
inside the PMMA layer. Subsequently, the BEAMER program (GenISys GmbH)
was used to perform a 3D proximity effect correction (3D PEC), which takes into
account the PSF information, the contrast curve of the resist material and the
layout. Thus, the EBL patterns were properly prepared by also encoding a
modulation of the dose within the patterns. After the exposure, two pie-chart
shapes were subject to different PEB conditions: one was heated at 45 °C for 5 min
and the other at 60 °C for 10 min. The samples were developed in the same way as
the square dose-response arrays.

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Schematic summary of the g-EBL procedure. (a) A contrast curve of PMMA 950 K in a pure developer
was used to correlate the desired 3D topography specified in the design (b) with the necessary exposure
dose. The dose-to-clear value of PMMA 950 K was found to be 300 μC/cm2. (a) and (b) were combined
with the PSF to perform a 3D-PEC in BEAMER. (c) PMMA 950 K was exposed with a spatially
modulated dose to achieve the required topography profile after development (d). The PEB at different
temperatures is performed after step c.

IV. CONCLUSIONS

The fabrication steps for VLSI chip design consist of sequential set of basic steps,
which are crystal growth and wafer preparation, epitaxy, dielectric and polysilicon
film deposition, oxidation, lithography, and dry etching. During the fabrication
process, the devices are created on the chip. When some fixed size material crosses
another material, devices are formed. While designing the devices, a set of design
rules has to be followed to ensure proper function of the circuit. Lithography
process is the main process of chip designing. Here various advanced lithographic
techniques are discussed The complete printing process in lithography technique
based on EHD printing was recorded through a microscope, and four different

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printing modes including droplet, fine jet, cone-jet, and multi-jet modes were
observed. By using stainless steel needle, the photoresist lines with line width of 42
μm can be pinted at printing speed of 80 nm/s, voltage of 1.6 kV, and the printing
height of 480 μm. The growth of flexible electronics industries provides a pathway
for NIL to improve low-voltage memory systems. Photovoltaic systems are poised
to benefit from NIL-enhanced charge carrier mobility in FETs through controlled
chain alignment, as well as from improved absorption imparted by surface patterns
on CQDs. Grayscale e-beam resist for 3D microstructures is also discussed. The
dose-response behavior of the material depends on the time between exposure and
development.

REFERENCES
A. Books Book Basic Format:
SILICON VLSI TECHNOLOGY Fundamentals, Practice and Modeling By Plummer, Deal &
Griffin  by Prentice Hall Upper Saddle River NJ ,2000 
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Xingtian Qu, Jinlai Li, Zhifu Yin,, Helin Zou, “New lithography technique based on

electrohydrodynamic printing platform” Organic Electronics 71 (2019) 279–283.

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C. Periodicals

Thomas Mortelmans, Dimitrios Kazazis, Vitaliy A. Guzenkoa, Celestino Padeste, Thomas

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Lewis M. Coxa, Alina M. Martinez, Adrienne K. Blevins, Nancy Sowan, Yifu Ding,Christopher

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