SIZES AND NUMBERS OF PARTICLES BEING CAPABLE OF CAUSING PATTERN DEFECTS IN SEMICONDUCTOR-DEVICE MANUFACTURING

The scaling laws between the design rules and the smallest sizes and n umbers of particles capable of causing pattern defects and scrapping d ies in semiconductor device manufacturing are described. Simulation wi th electromagnetic waveguide model indicates the possibility that part icles, the sizes of which are of comparable order or even smaller than the wavelength of the lithography irradiation sources, are capable of causing pattern defects. For example, in the future 0.25 mu m-design- rule era, the critical sizes of Si, Al, and SiO2 particles are simulat ed as 120 nm x 120 nm, 120 nm x 120 nm, and 560 nm x 560 nm, respectiv ely, in the case of 0.7 mu m-thick chemically-amplified positive photo resist with 47 nm-thick top anti-reflective coating films. Future giga -scale integration era is also predicted.