Kinetic approach to defect reduction in directed self-assembly

Li, Jiajing; Rincon-Delgadillo, Paulina A.; Suh, Hyo Seon; Mannaert, Geert; Nealey, Paul F.

doi:10.1117/1.jmm.18.4.043502

Kinetic approach to defect reduction in directed self-assembly

Journal Article · Thu Oct 10 00:00:00 EDT 2019 · Journal of Micro/Nanolithography, MEMS, and MOEMS

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1117/1.jmm.18.4.043502· OSTI ID:1821117

Li, Jiajing ^[1]; Rincon-Delgadillo, Paulina A. ^[2]; Suh, Hyo Seon ^[2]; Mannaert, Geert ^[2]; Nealey, Paul F. ^[3]

Univ. of Chicago, IL (United States)
IMEC, Heverlee (Belgium)
Univ. of Chicago, IL (United States); Argonne National Lab. (ANL), Lemont, IL (United States)

As a potential solution to next-generation nanolithography, directed self-assembly (DSA) of block copolymers (BCPs) is still restrained in high-volume manufacturing primarily due to its defectivity issue. Though defects possess greater free energies than aligned morphologies and are highly energetically unfavorable, they can be kinetically trapped by the energy barriers and persist for a long time during annealing. Therefore, understanding the kinetics of defect annihilation is crucial in revealing the mechanism of defect formation and in further reducing defectivity in DSA. We focus on two types of predominant defects in DSA- dislocation and bridge. Furthermore, a kinetic model of each defect type is developed through statistical analysis of experimental data, providing insight into possible approaches of further defect reduction. We also investigate the impact of annealing temperature and film thickness on annihilation kinetics and discuss the reasons behind the observed results. By simply optimizing annealing conditions and film thickness, we have successfully reduced the total defect density by 1 order of magnitude. Though these findings are based on polystyrene-b-poly(methyl methacrylate) (PS-b-PMMA), we anticipate they could be readily applied to other BCP platforms as well.

View Accepted Manuscript (DOE)

Research Organization:: Argonne National Laboratory (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: National Science Foundation (NSF)

Grant/Contract Number:: AC02-06CH11357

OSTI ID:: 1821117

Journal Information:: Journal of Micro/Nanolithography, MEMS, and MOEMS, Journal Name: Journal of Micro/Nanolithography, MEMS, and MOEMS Journal Issue: 04 Vol. 18; ISSN 1932-5150

Publisher:: SPIECopyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

References (24)

Thermodynamics and Kinetics of Defect Motion and Annihilation in the Self-Assembly of Lamellar Diblock Copolymers Li, Weihua; Müller, Marcus Macromolecules, Vol. 49, Issue 16 https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.macromol.6b01088	journal	August 2016
Three-Tone Chemical Patterns for Block Copolymer Directed Self-Assembly Williamson, Lance D.; Seidel, Robert N.; Chen, Xuanxuan ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces, Vol. 8, Issue 4 https://doi.org/10.1021/acsami.5b10562	journal	January 2016
Engineering the Kinetics of Directed Self-Assembly of Block Copolymers toward Fast and Defect-Free Assembly Ren, Jiaxing; Zhou, Chun; Chen, Xuanxuan ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces, Vol. 10, Issue 27 https://doi.org/10.1021/acsami.8b05247	journal	June 2018
Defect Annihilation Pathways in Directed Assembly of Lamellar Block Copolymer Thin Films Hur, Su-Mi; Thapar, Vikram; Ramírez-Hernández, Abelardo ACS Nano, Vol. 12, Issue 10 https://doi.org/10.1021/acsnano.8b04202	journal	September 2018
Surface and interfacial tensions of polymer melts. II. Poly(methyl methacrylate), poly(n-butyl methacrylate), and polystyrene Wu, Souheng The Journal of Physical Chemistry, Vol. 74, Issue 3 https://doi.org/10.1021/j100698a026	journal	February 1970
Power-Law Kinetics in the Photoluminescence of Dye-Sensitized Nanoparticle Films: Implications for Electron Injection and Charge Transport McNeil, Ian J.; Ashford, Dennis L.; Luo, Hanlin The Journal of Physical Chemistry C, Vol. 116, Issue 30 https://doi.org/10.1021/jp3030717	journal	July 2012
Temperature dependence of the interaction parameter of polystyrene and poly(methyl methacrylate) Russell, Thomas P.; Hjelm, Rex P.; Seeger, Phil A. Macromolecules, Vol. 23, Issue 3 https://doi.org/10.1021/ma00205a033	journal	May 1990
Domain Orientation and Grain Coarsening in Cylinder-Forming Poly(styrene- b -methyl methacrylate) Films Ji, Shengxiang; Liu, Chi-Chun; Liao, Wen Macromolecules, Vol. 44, Issue 11 https://doi.org/10.1021/ma2005734	journal	June 2011
Rapid Directed Assembly of Block Copolymer Films at Elevated Temperatures Welander, Adam M.; Kang, Huiman; Stuen, Karl O. Macromolecules, Vol. 41, Issue 8 https://doi.org/10.1021/ma800056s	journal	April 2008
Epitaxial self-assembly of block copolymers on lithographically defined nanopatterned substrates Ouk Kim, Sang; Solak, Harun H.; Stoykovich, Mark P. Nature, Vol. 424, Issue 6947, p. 411-414 https://doi.org/10.1038/nature01775	journal	July 2003
Design of surface patterns with optimized thermodynamic driving forces for the directed self-assembly of block copolymers in lithographic applications Garner, Grant P.; Rincon Delgadillo, Paulina; Gronheid, Roel Molecular Systems Design & Engineering, Vol. 2, Issue 5 https://doi.org/10.1039/C7ME00028F	journal	January 2017
Thickness-dependence of block copolymer coarsening kinetics Black, Charles T.; Forrey, Christopher; Yager, Kevin G. Soft Matter, Vol. 13, Issue 18 https://doi.org/10.1039/C7SM00212B	journal	January 2017
Molecular pathways for defect annihilation in directed self-assembly Hur, Su-Mi; Thapar, Vikram; Ramírez-Hernández, Abelardo Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Vol. 112, Issue 46 https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1508225112	journal	October 2015
Dynamics of pattern coarsening in a two-dimensional smectic system Harrison, Christopher; Cheng, Zhengdong; Sethuraman, Srinivasan Physical Review E, Vol. 66, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevE.66.011706	journal	July 2002
Implementation of a chemo-epitaxy flow for directed self-assembly on 300-mm wafer processing equipment Delgadillo, Paulina A. Rincon Journal of Micro/Nanolithography, MEMS, and MOEMS, Vol. 11, Issue 3 https://doi.org/10.1117/1.JMM.11.3.031302	journal	July 2012
Defect source analysis of directed self-assembly process Delgadillo, Paulina Rincon; Suri, Mayur; Durant, Stephane Journal of Micro/Nanolithography, MEMS, and MOEMS, Vol. 12, Issue 3 https://doi.org/10.1117/1.JMM.12.3.031112	journal	July 2013
Defect mitigation and root cause studies in 14 nm half-pitch chemo-epitaxy directed self-assembly LiNe flow Pathangi, Hari; Chan, Boon Teik; Bayana, Hareen Journal of Micro/Nanolithography, MEMS, and MOEMS, Vol. 14, Issue 3 https://doi.org/10.1117/1.JMM.14.3.031204	journal	July 2015
Defect reduction and defect stability in IMEC's 14nm half-pitch chemo-epitaxy DSA flow Gronheid, Roel; Rincon Delgadillo, Paulina; Pathangi, Hari SPIE Advanced Lithography, SPIE Proceedings https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2047265	conference	March 2014
DSA materials contributions to the defectivity performance of 14nm half-pitch LiNe flow at IMEC Pathangi, Hari; Vaid, Varun; Chan, Boon Teik SPIE Advanced Lithography, SPIE Proceedings https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2219936	conference	March 2016
Kinetics of defect annihilation in chemo-epitaxy directed self-assembly Li, Jiajing; Rincon-Delgadillo, Paulina A.; Suh, Hyo Seon Advances in Patterning Materials and Processes XXXVI https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2514731	conference	March 2019
Density Multiplication and Improved Lithography by Directed Block Copolymer Assembly Ruiz, R.; Kang, H.; Detcheverry, F. A. Science, Vol. 321, Issue 5891 https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1157626	journal	August 2008
Mechanisms of Ordering in Striped Patterns Harrison, C. Science, Vol. 290, Issue 5496 https://doi.org/10.1126/science.290.5496.1558	journal	November 2000
Defects in the Self-Assembly of Block Copolymers and Their Relevance for Directed Self-Assembly Li, Weihua; Müller, Marcus Annual Review of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Vol. 6, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-chembioeng-061114-123209	journal	July 2015
Three Dimensional Assembly in Directed Self-assembly of Block Copolymers Segal-Peretz, Tamar; Zhou, Chun; Ren, Jiaxing Journal of Photopolymer Science and Technology, Vol. 29, Issue 5 https://doi.org/10.2494/photopolymer.29.653	journal	January 2016

Similar Records

Understanding kinetics of defect annihilation in chemoepitaxy-directed self-assembly.

Journal Article · Wed Jun 02 00:00:00 EDT 2021 · ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces · OSTI ID:1839996

Engineering the Kinetics of Directed Self-Assembly of Block Copolymers toward Fast and Defect-Free Assembly

Journal Article · Thu Jun 07 00:00:00 EDT 2018 · ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces · OSTI ID:1482100

Defect Annihilation in the Directed Self-Assembly of Block Copolymers in Films with Increasing Thickness.

Journal Article · Tue Oct 22 00:00:00 EDT 2019 · Macromolecules · OSTI ID:1821003

Related Subjects

42 ENGINEERING
block copolymer
defectivity
directed self-assembly
kinetics
lithography

Kinetic approach to defect reduction in directed self-assembly

Citation Formats

References (24)

Similar Records

Related Subjects