Apparatus and method for reactive ion etching

The invention relates to an apparatus for reactive ion etching of a substrate, comprising: a plasma etch zone including an etch gas supply and arranged with a plasma generating structure for igniting a plasma and comprising an electrode structure arranged to accelerate the etch plasma toward a substrate portion to have ions impinge on the surface of the substrate; a passivation zone including a cavity provided with a passivation gas supply; said supply arranged for providing a passivation gas flow from the supply to the cavity; the cavity in use being bounded by the injector head and the substrate surface; and a gas purge structure comprising a gas exhaust arranged between said etch zone and passivation zone; the gas purge structure thus forming a spatial division of the etch and passivation zones

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Contains fulltext : 89893.pdf (publisher's version ) (Open Access

Electrostatic clamp manufactured by novel method

Electrostatic clamps (ESCs), used in reticle and wafer handling, are presently manufactured using glass bonding and polishing technologies. We present a patented alternative concept to this process, relying on coating and etching processes rather than bonding. We manufactured a first prototype clamp based on a silicon-on-insulator wafer. The clamping operation was demonstrated, and the clamp’s performance was characterized. Clamping force, coating quality, and achieved morphology are characterized and understood

Holographic method for detecting amplitude and phase-shift errors and features in EUV ML reticle blanks

A method for actinic inspection of EUV mask blanks is described, in which EUV photoresist is applied to the blank, flood exposed with EUV, and developed. The effect of both phase and reflectivity defects on the reticle is described in terms of a variation in intensity and phase of the standing wave in the resist. Thin film simulations are performed to evaluate the contrast generating mechanism for various blank defects. The method was introduced earlier by others 3 and was shown in experiments to transfer reflectivity defects on the reticle to the developed resist. We propose to reevaluate the technique with current state-of-the-industry capabilities of resist processing, contamination control and inspection. Various possible development directions are described. © 2010 Copyright SPIE - The International Society for Optical Engineering

EBL2, a flexible, controlled EUV exposure and surface analysis facility

TNO is building EBL2 as a publicly accessible test facility for EUV lithography related development of photomasks, pellicles, optics, and other components. EBL2 will consist of a Beam Line, an XPS system, and sample handling infrastructure. EBL2 will accept a wide range of sample sizes, including EUV masks with or without pellicles. All types of samples will be loaded using a standard dual pod interface. EUV masks returned from EBL2 will retain their NXE compatibility. The Beam Line provides high intensity EUV irradiation from a Sn-fueled EUV source. EUV intensity, pupil, spectrum, and repetition rate are all adjustable. In-situ measurements by ellipsometry will enable real time monitoring of the sample condition. The XPS will be capable of analyzing the full surface area of EUV masks and pellicles, as well as performing angle resolved analysis on smaller samples. Sample transfer between the XPS and the Beam Line will be possible without breaking vacuum

TNO reticle handling test platform

Particle free handling of EUV reticles is a major concern in industry. For reaching economically feasible yield levels, it is reported that Particle-per-Reticle-Pass (PRP) levels should be better than 0.0001 for particles larger than 18 nm. Such cleanliness levels are yet to be reported for current reticle handling systems. A reticle handler was built based on a modular concept with three uniform linked base frames. In the first stage of the project a dual pod loading unit, two exchange units for opening inner pods and a reticle flip unit are installed on the base frames. In the near future improvements on cleanliness will be tested and particle detection equipment will be integrated. The system will act as a testing platform for clean handling technology for industry. © 2014 SPIE

Lab- and field-test results of MFIG, the first real-time vacuum-contamination sensor

To produce high-end products, clean vacuum is often required. Even small amounts of high-mass molecules can reduce product yield. The challenge is to timely detect the presence of relevant contaminants. Here is where MFIG can help1. The massfiltered ion gauge sensor (MFIG) continuously and selectively monitors the presence of high-mass contaminant molecules with a sensitivity down to 1E-13 mbar at total pressuresup to 1E-5mbar. This contribution presents field-test data to demonstrate the capabilities of the latest MFIG sensor in continuously and selectively detecting high-mass contaminant moleculesin (U)HVvacuum

Contamination control: removing small particles from increasingly large wafers

With the introduction of 450 mm wafers, which are considerably larger than the currently largest wafers of 300mm, handling with side grippers is no longer possible and backside grippers are required. Backside gripping increases the possible buildup of particles on the backside of the wafers with possible cross-contamination to the front-side. Therefore, regular backside cleaning is required. Three vacuum compatible cleaning methods were selected. Tacky rollers and highvoltage cleaning were selected for particles and plasma cleaning for molecular layers. A test-bench was designed and constructed implementing these three cleaning methods. The first experiments show promising results for the plasma cleaner and the tacky roller. © 2012 SPIE

Parallel, Miniaturized Scanning Probe Microscope for Defect Inspection and Review

With the device dimensions moving towards the 1X node, the semiconductor industry is rapidly approaching the point where 10 nm defects become critical. Therefore, new methods for improving the yield are emerging, including inspection and review methods with sufficient resolution and throughput. Existing industrial tools cannot anymore fulfill these requirements for upcoming smaller and 3D features, since they are performing at the edge of their performance. Scanning probe microscopy (SPM) has the ability to accurately measure dimensions in the micrometer to nanometer scale. Examples of applications are surface roughness, channel height and width measurement, defect inspection in wafers, masks and flat panel displays. In most of these applications, the target area is very large, and, therefore, the throughput of the measurement plays an important role in the final production cost. Single SPM has never been able to compete with other inspection systems in terms of measurement speed, thus has not fulfilled the industry needs in throughput and cost. Further increase of the speed of the single SPM helps, but it still is far from the required throughput and, therefore, insufficient for high-volume manufacturing. Over the past three years, we have developed a revolutionary concept for a multiple miniaturized SPM heads system, which can inspect and measure many sites in parallel. The very high speed of each miniaturized SPM unit allow the user to scan many areas, each with the size of tens of micrometers, in a few seconds. This paper presents an overview of the technical developments and experimental results of the parallel SPM system for wafer and mask inspection.Precision and Microsystems EngineeringMechanical, Maritime and Materials Engineerin