Exploration of next-generation lithography technology: the concept, technology and future of the sixth-generation dual-beam super-resolution.
Integrated circuits have been developed for more than 60 years, and the pursuit of more powerful chips has led to continuous iterative upgrades of chip manufacturing technology. For a long time, the chip manufacturing method based on ultraviolet light source projection exposure lithography is the only choice for large-scale integrated circuit manufacturing. However, with the entry of extreme ultraviolet lithography machines into production lines and continuous performance optimization, chip manufacturing has entered the 7nm and below nodes. Regarding whether Moore's Law can continue and whether extreme ultraviolet lithography can support future chip demand, the academic and industrial circles have not formed a consensus and a consensus next-generation lithography technology route. Compared with the fifth-generation lithography machine based on extreme ultraviolet projection exposure, this paper proposes the concept of the sixth-generation lithography machine based on dual-beam super-resolution technology, and discusses the sixth-generation lithography machine based on dual-beam super-resolution technology from multiple perspectives The advantages and potential of the technology are discussed, and the difficulties and possible solutions of the technology are also discussed. As an alternative technology route different from the ultraviolet lithography technology route, the dual-beam super-resolution lithography machine technology will most likely lead future chip manufacturing.
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8 Conclusion
The dual-beam super-resolution technology originated from the stimulated radiation microscopic imaging technology pioneered by Professor Stefan Hell in Germany. The core idea of this technology was applied to optical manufacturing. The first realization was the dual-beam super-resolution direct writing lithography technology. In the field of optical manufacturing, limited by the understanding of the optical diffraction limit, there has long been a problem of confusion between line width and line center spacing. Although the early research work of dual-beam super-resolution direct writing lithography technology has confirmed that this method can produce smaller line widths, the line width and line center spacing are obviously not the same thing in the field of lithography. The author's early work on dual-beam super-resolution direct writing lithography not only confirmed that the line width can reach below 10 nm, but more importantly, it confirmed for the first time that the center-to-line spacing can reach about 50 nm. This provides a key basis for the technology to truly break through the diffraction limit and manufacture high-density devices. However, although the author of this paper has first launched a commercial dual-beam super-resolution direct writing lithography equipment in the world, the key point of this direct writing technology is that it cannot be projected and exposed, so it is impossible to apply For industrial chip manufacturing, only proofing can be done at most. In order to improve the manufacturing speed, a multi-focus dual-beam super-resolution direct writing technology based on phase modulation was proposed [
], but such methods are still essentially based on direct writing. To catch up with the production speed of projection exposure, the number of multi-focus points will be more than tens of millions to achieve the production speed of GB data per single exposure. However, so far, there is no literature that shows that similar methods can be used to produce uniform and distortion-free multi-focals with a number of more than 10 million, and there is no data that discusses the influence of paraxial optical approximation on the calculation of patterns. Complex high-density pattern decomposition and other related problems. In order to completely solve the problem of speed, this paper proposes a projection-type dual-beam super-resolution lithography machine technology based on yin-yang complementary reticle. In this technology, the negative-yang complementary mask can be produced by the conventional method of etching a chrome-plated metal plate, or by using spatial light modulation to generate surface patterns. For various multi-focus patterns produced by phase modulation, etc., they are all a special case that can be compatible with complementary reticles of Yin and Yang characters, thus realizing the projection-type dual-beam super-resolution lithography machine technology proposed in this paper. Compatible with related technologies. The technology proposed in this paper solves the problem that the existing UV lithography technology must use short-wavelength light sources to achieve nanometer resolution, which can greatly reduce the manufacturing difficulty and cost of high-end lithography machines, and is fully compatible with existing UV lithography machines. technology. Compared with the existing UV lithography machine technology, although the dual-beam super-resolution lithography machine technology has correspondingly increased difficulties in the optical system and photoresist, the analysis in this paper shows that these increased difficulties can be solved in engineering , and its cost will be far less than the cost brought by the use of extreme ultraviolet light source for the development of lithography machine. This points out a new feasible route for the next-generation lithography machine technology that is independent of the UV lithography machine technology route. For developing countries such as China, due to restrictions such as the Wassenaar Agreement, the embargo of high-end lithography machines to China and other countries has become a reality. The new dual-beam super-resolution lithography machine technology is expected to make restricted countries On the premise of a new technical route and greatly reducing the difficulty of development, an independent high-end chip manufacturing production line has been developed.
