Determining the Resolution Limits of Electron-Beam Lithography: Direct Measurement of the Point-Spread Function

Journal Article · Mon Jun 30 00:00:00 EDT 2014 · Nano Letters

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1021/nl5013773· OSTI ID:1392321

Manfrinato, Vitor R. ^[1]; Wen, Jianguo ^[1]; Zhang, Lihua ^[1]; Yang, Yujia ^[1]; Hobbs, Richard G. ^[1]; Baker, Bowen ^[1]; Su, Dong ^[1]; Zakharov, Dmitri ^[1]; Zaluzec, Nestor J. ^[1]; Miller, Dean J. ^[1]; Stach, Eric A. ^[1]; Berggren, Karl K. ^[1]

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1. Electrical Engineering and Computer Science Department, MIT, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, United States; Electron Microscopy Center, Argonne National Laboratory, Lemont, Illinois 60439, United States; Center for Functional Nanomaterials, Brookhaven National Laboratory, Upton, New York 11973, United States

One challenge existing since the invention of electron-beam lithography (EBL) is understanding the exposure mechanisms that limit the resolution of EBL. To overcome this challenge, we need to understand the spatial distribution of energy density deposited in the resist, that is, the point-spread function (PSF). During EBL exposure, the processes of electron scattering, phonon, photon, plasmon, and electron emission in the resist are combined, which complicates the analysis of the EBL PSF. Here, we show the measurement of delocalized energy transfer in EBL exposure by using chromatic aberration-corrected energy-filtered transmission electron microscopy (EFTEM) at the sub-10 nm scale. We have defined the role of spot size, electron scattering, secondary electrons, and volume plasmons in the lithographic PSF by performing EFTEM, momentum-resolved electron energy loss spectroscopy (EELS), sub-10 nm EBL, and Monte Carlo simulations. We expect that these results will enable alternative ways to improve the resolution limit of EBL. Furthermore, our approach to study the resolution limits of EBL may be applied to other lithographic techniques where electrons also play a key role in resist exposure, such as ion-beam-, X-ray-, and extreme-ultraviolet lithography.

• Research Organization: Argonne National Lab. (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE Office of Science - Office of Basic Energy Sciences - Scientific User Facilities Division
• DOE Contract Number: AC02-06CH11357
• OSTI ID: 1392321
• Journal Information: Nano Letters, Vol. 14, Issue 8; ISSN 1530-6984
• Publisher: American Chemical Society
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English