Non-chemical cleaning technology for sub-90nm design node photomask manufacturing

Cleaning chemistry residue in photomask manufacturing is one of root causes to generate HAZE over surface of photomask for 193nm and shorter wavelength exposure tools. In order to reduce the residue, chemical free process is one of targets in photomask industry. In this paper novel clean technology without sulfuric acid and ammonia chemical are shown to manufacture sub-90nm node photomask. Photo and E-beam resist were removed by plasma and ozone water clean instead of sulfuric acid. SPM and APM in final clean sequence before defect inspection were substituted with ozone water and hydrogen water respectively. The clean performance was demonstrated in real production of 193nm phase shift mask. Sulfate and Ammonia residue after final clean were controlled same as blank material level without any clean process.