Photon-beam lithography reaches 12.5nm half-pitch resolution

We have printed dense line/space patterns with half-pitches as small as 12.5nm in a negative-tone calixarene resist using extreme ultraviolet (EUV) interference lithography. The EUV interference setup which is based on transmission diffraction gratings is illuminated with spatially coherent radiation from a synchrotron source. The results show the extendibility of EUV lithography to printing features measuring less than 15nm in size. We discuss the potential impact of effects such as photoelectron blur and shot noise in high-resolution EUV lithography.

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