Surface conditioning solutions for pattern collapse reduction

Recently, there has been a growing interest in using surface conditioning solutions to solve the pattern collapse challenge. In this study, we investigated both pattern collapse and defect performance of surface conditioning solutions on multiple 193 nm resist systems. While the surface conditioning solutions were able to reduce the pattern collapse with good defect control with a majority of resist systems, it can increase the defect level on certain resist. Shortening the surface treatment step and optimizing the formulation can reduce the defect counts to the control level without compromising pattern collapse performance. This study also demonstrated that the surface conditioning solution is compatible with 248 nm processing, enabling the patterning of 90 nm 1:1.2 pitch lines.