IMAGE PLACEMENT ERRORS IN X-RAY MASKS INDUCED BY CHANGES IN RESIST STRESS DURING ELECTRON-BEAM WRITING

Image placement demands for x-ray masks useable in sub-0.25 mu m appli cations have prompted a renewed effort to further reduce or eliminate sources of mask distortion. In this work we studied a phenomenon that so far had been overlooked among the contributors to poor image placem ent: the large change in stress of some resists upon exposure. For ins tance, it was found that the stress of PMMA films changes from similar or equal to 1x10(8) dyn/cm(2) in the unexposed state to similar or eq ual to 1x10(7) dyn/cm(2) after the exposure dose received during elect ron-beam (e-beam) writing. Because e-beam writing is a serial process, this stress change induces a dynamic distortion of the mask, since th e force applied on the membrane by the resist film varies continuously as writing of the pattern progresses. The stress of PMMA films was de termined as a function of dose for exposures using e-beams of 100, 75, and 25 keV energy, broadband UV light (from a Hg lamp), and to x rays from a synchrotron ring with lambda(charac.)=10 Angstrom. In all case s, the stress was found to be a very strong function of the exposure d ose at low doses with a slow decay in stress change at larger dose val ues. The stress changes upon exposure are attributable to changes in m olecular weight (MW) distribution, rather than to a reduction in MW on ly, since the stress of unexposed PMMA films was found to be the same for a wide range (25k to 920k) of initial MW resin. Model experiments demonstrated the correlation between the in-plane distortion (IPD) of membranes and the lowered resist stress. Because of the drastic stress drop at low doses, fogging prior to writing reduces the distortion pr oblem. Other methods thought to reduce resist stress (various annealin g cycles, different solvents, plasticizers) proved unsuccessful. The e ffect of fogging on IPD was measured for several model cases and found to correlate with the lowered resist stress. Initial evaluation of th e changes that fogging induces on the lithographic performance of the resist was performed. (C) 1996 American Vacuum Society.