<title>SiOxNy:H, high-performance antireflective layer for current and future optical lithography</title>

Abstract

A new high performance anti-reflective layer (ARL) for the i-line, KrF, and even for the ArF excimer laser lithography has been developed. It makes the KrF excimer laser (248 nm) lithography into a robust mass production tool beyond 2nd generation of 64 MDRAM class devices, and simultaneously the ArF excimer laser (193 nm) into a promising candidate for a 1 GDRAM class lithography tool. This new ARL, whose material is a type of hydrogenated silicon oxynitride film (SiOxNy:H), can be applied to both the various high reflective substrates by controlling the deposition conditions and the chemically amplified photoresist without pattern degradation caused by film compositions. On the actual device structures, notching effects by halation are completely reduced with these SiOxNy:H films as an ARL. Moreover, these SiOxNy:H films can be left in the device structure.