This Small Business Innovation Research Phase I Project will investigate plasma polymerization as an alternative to spin coating of organic anti- reflective coatings (ARCs). In this method, the ARC will be formed directly on the substrate to alleviate the problems associated with spin coating. Phase I will focus on achieving defect-free, highly conformal coatings on semiconductor substrates using existing plasma-depositable polymer materials and processes. IC manufacturers have consistently pursued the use of larger wafer sizes and smaller device features to improve product yield, reduce unit cost, and increase on-chip computing power. Reducing substrate reflectivity to less than 1% during photoresist exposure will be critical for maintaining dimensional control at these feature sizes. Spin coated ARCs offer excellent reflectivity control but are limited by uniformity, defectivity, and conformality problems stemming form the spin coating process. The long term goal of this work is to introduce a turn-key ARC product package containing: (1) a dedicated deposition tool, (2) a set of plasma-depositable polymer materials designed specifically for ARC applications, and, (3) processes for depositing organic ARCs on a variety of key device structures. The availability of high performance organic ARCs is critical for the successful implementation of deep UV(248 and 193 nm) microlithographic processes by U.S. and foreign chip makers over the next 10 years. The international market for deep UV ARC materials is estimated to grow to $25 MM by 2005. The proposed effort will build a technology platform for assuring the availability of organic ARC processes after the usefulness of spin coated ARCs has been surpassed.
