Challenges for immersion lithography extension based on negative tone imaging (NTI) process

Negative tone imaging (NTI) process is a method for obtaining a negative-tone reversal pattern by developing with an organic solvent. As NTI process can break-through the resolution limit of a conventional positive tone development (PTD) process at specific pattern such as trenches and contact holes, it have been applied for a mass production in 20nm and 14nm nodes devices. In NTI system, because a developer is changed from a hydrophilic aqueous solution to a hydrophobic organic solvent, it is possible to review the common resist stack which is optimized for a PTD process. In this paper, we examined the possibility of a bi-layer process using a Si-containing NTI resist. Etching selectivity between the Si-NTI resist and a SOC improved by raising Si-content of the Si-NTI resist, but resolution deteriorates as a trade-off. By suppressing swelling behavior of the Si-NTI resist with a polymer structure control, we overcame this trade-off. As a result, in sub-90 nm pitch L/S and CH patterns, the resolution of the Si-NTI resist achieved comparable level to a conventional NTI resist. In addition, SOC etching was successfully carried out by using the Si-NTI resist pattern as an etching hard mask.