The influence of the Coulomb interaction effect in the electron beam on the developed resist structure for the projection lithography

A series of simulations are introduced to express the processes of the elec tron projection lithography quantitatively. It consists of the following th ree major steps: (1) electron trajectory simulation in an electron beam pro jection lithography optical system considering the Coulomb interaction effe ct among electrons and the lens aberrations, (2) electron energy deposition simulation in a resist on Si substrate, and (3) time evolution three-dimen sional resist-development simulation. They are used to predict the error pr opagation characteristics in the sequence of lithography processes up to th e three-dimensional resist structure after development. The influence of a variation in the exposure intensity on the final resist structure is demons trated as an example. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.