Charge induced pattern distortion in low energy electron beam lithography

Charge induced pattern distortions in low voltage electron beam lithography in the energy range of 1 to 5 kV were investigated. Pattern distortion on conducting substrates such as silicon was found to be small, while significant pattern placement errors and pattern distortions were observed in the case of electrically insulating substrates caused by charge trapping and deflection of the incident electron beam. The nature and magnitude of pattern distortions were found to be influenced by the incident electron energy, pattern size, electrical conductivity, and secondary electron emission coefficient of the substrate. Theoretical modeling predicts the electron beam deflection to be directly proportional to the trapped surface charge density and inversely proportional to the accelerating voltage.

[1]  Roger Fabian W. Pease,et al.  Charging and discharging of electron beam resist films , 1999 .

[2]  H. Craighead,et al.  Low voltage electron beam lithography in PMMA , 1999 .

[3]  Roger Fabian W. Pease,et al.  Resist charging in electron-beam lithography , 1995, Photomask Technology.

[4]  S. Matsui,et al.  Nanometer-Scale Patterning of Polystyrene Resists in Low-Voltage Electron Beam Lithography , 1997 .

[5]  Michael Isaacson,et al.  Low energy electron beam top surface image processing using chemically amplified AXT resist , 1997 .

[6]  A. Forchel,et al.  Low voltage electron-beam lithography based InGaAs/GaAs quantum dot arrays with 1 meV luminescence linewidths , 1997 .

[7]  T. Hall,et al.  Low energy electron beam lithography: pattern distortion by charge trapped in the resist , 1997 .

[8]  M. Isaacson,et al.  High Resolution Electron Beam Lithography Using ZEP-520 and KRS Resists at Low Voltage , 1996 .

[9]  S. Hofmann,et al.  Dynamic double layer model: Description of time dependent charging phenomena in insulators under electron beam irradiation , 1995 .

[10]  E. Kratschmer,et al.  An electron‐beam microcolumn with improved resolution, beam current, and stability , 1995 .

[11]  W. K. Lo,et al.  Resists and processes for 1 kV electron beam microcolumn lithography , 1995 .

[12]  L. Bauch,et al.  Surface imaging by silylation for low voltage electron‐beam lithography , 1994 .

[13]  M. McCord,et al.  Low voltage, high resolution studies of electron beam resist exposure and proximity effect , 1992 .

[14]  K. D. Cummings,et al.  A study of deposited charge from electron beam lithography , 1990 .

[15]  M. Gautier,et al.  Charging phenomena on insulating materials: Mechanisms and applications , 1990 .

[16]  K. D. Cummings,et al.  Charging effects from electron beam lithography , 1989 .

[17]  Marie Angelopoulos,et al.  Conducting polyanilines: Discharge layers for electron‐beam lithography , 1989 .

[18]  J. Vigouroux,et al.  Radiation induced charges IN SiO2 , 1984 .

[19]  K. Kanaya,et al.  Secondary electron emission from insulators , 1978 .