Mitigating challenges in aberration-corrected electron-beam lithography on electron-opaque substrates

Camino, Fernando E.; Tiwale, Nikhil; Hwang, Sooyeon; Du, Xu; Yang, Judith C.

doi:10.1088/1361-6528/ad0908

Mitigating challenges in aberration-corrected electron-beam lithography on electron-opaque substrates

Journal Article · Thu Nov 23 00:00:00 EST 2023 · Nanotechnology

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1088/1361-6528/ad0908· OSTI ID:2246882

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Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL), Upton, NY (United States). Center for Functional Nanomaterials (CFN)
Stony Brook Univ., NY (United States)

Aberration-corrected electron-beam lithography (AC-EBL) using ultra-thin electron transparent membranes has achieved single-digit nanometer resolution in two widely used electron-beam resists: poly (methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) and hydrogen silsesquioxane. On the other hand, AC-EBL implementation on thick, electron-opaque substrates is appealing for conventional top-down fabrication of quantum devices with nanometer-scale features. To investigate the performance of AC-EBL on thick substrates, we measured the lithographic point spread function of a 200 keV aberration-corrected scanning transmission electron microscope by defining both positive and negative patterns in PMMA thin films, spin-cast on thick SiO₂/Si substrates. We present the problems encountered during pre-exposure beam focusing and discuss methods to overcome them. In addition, applying some of these methods using commercial 50 nm thick SiN_X membranes with thick Si support frames, we printed arrays of holes in PMMA with pitches around 26 nm on SiN_X/Si substrates with increasing Si thickness. Here, our results show that proximity effects from even 50 nm thick SiN_X membranes limit hole arrays to 20 nm pitch; however, down to this limit, the effect of the substrate thickness on the pattern quality is minimal. These results highlight the need for novel resists less susceptible to proximity effects, or resists which can be used directly, after development, as the dielectric material in periodic gates in 2D quantum devices.

View Accepted Manuscript (DOE)

Research Organization:: Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL), Upton, NY (United States). Center for Functional Nanomaterials (CFN)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES)

Grant/Contract Number:: SC0012704

OSTI ID:: 2246882

Report Number(s):: BNL--225106-2023-JAAM

Journal Information:: Nanotechnology, Journal Name: Nanotechnology Journal Issue: 6 Vol. 35; ISSN 0957-4484

Publisher:: IOP PublishingCopyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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77 NANOSCIENCE AND NANOTECHNOLOGY
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Mitigating challenges in aberration-corrected electron-beam lithography on electron-opaque substrates

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