EUV defect reduction activities using coater/developer and etching technique

Extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography faces major challenges for smaller nodes due to the impact of stochastic and processing failures.1 One of the main challenges for pitch shrink at these nodes is the optimization of the trade-off between break type defects versus bridge type defects as the process window between these defect modes gets smaller.2 In this paper, we examine EUV defect reduction techniques for Chemically Amplified Resist (CAR) and Metal Oxide Resist (MOR) via coater/developer process development combined with optimized etching processes.