Detailed resist film modeling in stochastic lithography simulation for line-edge roughness quantification

Modeling the lithography process with stochastic principles enables the consideration of resist material and process effects variability on critical dimensions and line-edge or line-width roughness of printed features. These principles are applied for a resist system where polymer and photo-acid-generator (PAG) are blended, and for the same system with the PAG molecules bonded on the main polymer chain. Three-dimensional chain-like models of resist and PAG are considered and examples of their effect on critical dimensions and on resist edge roughness are presented. Comparison with experimental results from the literature proves the validity of the current approach and suggests that it can be used for the prediction of the resist resolution and low roughness capabilities.