Phase shift mask and method of fabricating the same

Abstract

Provided is a phase shift mask including a substrate, a phase shift layer, and a shielding layer. The phase shift layer is located on the substrate. A pattern of the phase shift layer includes a main pattern and sub-resolution assist features (SRAFs). The SRAFs are disposed around the main pattern. The phase shift layer has a transmission, and the transmission is larger than 6%. The shielding layer at least covers the SRAFs of the phase shift layer.

Claims

1. A phase shift mask, comprising: a substrate; a phase shift layer, located on the substrate, wherein patterns of the phase shift layer comprise: a main pattern; and a sub-resolution assist feature, disposed around the main pattern, wherein the phase shift layer has a transmission, and the transmission is higher than 6%; and a shielding layer, at least covering the sub-resolution assist feature of the phase shift layer, wherein a line width of the sub-resolution assist feature is in a range from 10 nm to 30 nm.

2. The phase shift mask as claimed in claim 1, wherein the transmission of the phase shift layer is in a range from 18% to 30%.

3. The phase shift mask as claimed in claim 1, wherein the phase shift layer has a phase shift, and the phase shift is 180 degrees.

4. The phase shift mask as claimed in claim 1, wherein a material of the phase shift layer comprises MoSi, TaSi, WSi, CrSi, NiSi, CoSi, ZrSi, NbSi, TiSi, or a combination thereof.

5. A method of fabricating a phase shift mask, comprising: forming a phase shift layer on a substrate, wherein patterns of the phase shift layer comprise a main pattern and a sub-resolution assist feature, and the sub-resolution assist feature is disposed around the main pattern, wherein a line width of the sub-resolution assist feature is in a range from 10 nm to 30 nm; forming a shielding layer on the phase shift layer; forming a mask layer on the substrate, wherein the mask layer at least covers the shielding layer on the sub-resolution assist feature; performing an etching process to remove a portion of the shielding layer and expose a surface of the phase shift layer not covered by the mask layer; and removing the mask layer.

6. The method of fabricating the phase shift mask as claimed in claim 5, wherein the phase shift layer has a transmission, and the transmission is higher than 6%.

7. The method of fabricating the phase shift mask as claimed in claim 6, wherein the transmission of the phase shift layer is in a range from 18% to 30%.

8. The method of fabricating the phase shift mask as claimed in claim 5, wherein a material of mask layer comprises a photoresist, an anti-reflection layer, or a combination thereof.

9. The method of fabricating the phase shift mask as claimed in claim 5, wherein after exposure and development processes, the sub-resolution assist feature is not imaged on a semiconductor substrate.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

(1) The accompanying drawings are included to provide a further understanding of the invention, and are incorporated in and constitute a part of this specification. The drawings illustrate embodiments of the invention and, together with the description, serve to explain the principles of the invention.

(2) FIGS. 1A to 1F are schematic cross-sectional views illustrating a method of fabricating a phase shift mask according to an embodiment of the invention.

DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS

(3) Reference will now be made in detail to the present preferred embodiments of the invention, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings. Wherever possible, the same reference numbers are used in the drawings and the description to refer to the same or like parts.

(4) FIGS. 1A to 1F are schematic cross-sectional views illustrating a method of fabricating a phase shift mask according to an embodiment of the invention.

(5) Referring to FIG. 1A, the invention provides a method of fabricating a phase shift mask 10 with the following steps. A phase shift layer 102 and a shielding layer 104 are sequentially formed on a substrate 100. The substrate 100 may be a transparent substrate, for example. A material of the transparent substrate may be quartz glass, polymer, or other suitable transparent material. In this embodiment, a size of patterns of the phase shift mask 10 is four times of a size of patterns to be transferred. Thus, a distance, pattern, and size of the phase shift mask 10 in the following are four times of a distance, pattern, and size of the patterns to be transferred. However, the invention is not limited thereto. In other embodiments, the distance, pattern, and size of the phase shift mask 10 may also be enlarged by one time, five times, or ten times, etc.

(6) The phase shift layer 102 has a transmission and a phase shift. The transmission of the phase shift layer 102 is higher than 6%, and the phase shift is 180 degrees. In other words, assuming that the substrate 100 is transparent, and incident light passes through the substrate 100 in transparent transmission with no phase shift generated, when the incident light passes through the phase shift layer 102 of the embodiment, more than 6% of the incident light may be transmitted and a phase shift of 180 degrees is provided. In this embodiment, the transmission may be in a range from 18% to 30%. A material of the phase shift layer 102 may be MoSi, TaSi, WSi, CrSi, NiSi, CoSi, ZrSi, NbSi, TiSi, or a combination thereof, for example, and a method of forming the phase shift layer 102 may include performing an electron beam (EB) evaporation process, laser evaporation process, atomic layer deposition process, or ion-assisted sputtering process, etc. In an embodiment, a thickness of the phase shift layer 102 is in a range from 40 nm to 100 nm, for example.

(7) A material of the shielding layer 104 includes chrome (Cr) or chromium compounds (also referred to as “chrome group material” in the following). However, the invention is not limited thereto. A method of forming the shielding layer 104 includes performing a chemical vapor deposition process or a physical vapor deposition process, etc. In an embodiment, a thickness of the shielding layer 104 is in a range from 2 nm to 100 nm, for example.

(8) Then, a patterned photoresist layer 106 is formed on the shielding layer 104. The patterned photoresist layer 106 may define patterns of the phase shift layer 102 formed in a subsequent process. The patterns of the phase shift layer 102 include a main pattern 102a and a sub-resolution assist feature 102b (as shown in FIG. 1C).

(9) Referring to FIG. 1B, using the patterned photoresist layer 106 as a mask, an etching process is performed to remove a portion of the phase shift layer 102 and a portion of the shielding layer 104, so as to expose a surface of the substrate 100. The etching process may be a dry etching process or a wet etching process, for example. In an embodiment, when the material of the shielding layer 104 is a chrome group material, an aqueous solution of ceric ammonium nitrate and perchloric acid may be used to perform the etching process.

(10) Then, referring to FIG. 1C, the patterned photoresist layer 106 is removed, so as to form patterned phase shift layers 102a and 102b and patterned shielding layers 104a and 104b on the substrate 100. In this embodiment, the patterned phase shift layer 102a may be considered as the main pattern (also referred to as the main pattern 102a in the following), and the patterned phase shift layer 102b may be considered as the sub-resolution assist feature (also referred to as the sub-resolution assist feature 102b in the following). The sub-resolution assist feature 102b is disposed around the main pattern 102a. The sub-resolution assist feature 102b refers to a pattern having an extremely small critical dimension. After an exposure process and a development process, the pattern is not imaged on the semiconductor substrate. In this embodiment, a line width of the sub-resolution assist feature 102b may be in a range from 10 nm to 30 nm. A line width of the main pattern 102a is in a range of three times to 20 times of the line width of the sub-resolution assist feature 102b. As shown in FIG. 1C, the shielding layer 104a covers the main pattern 102a, and the shielding layer 104b covers the sub-resolution assist feature 102b. Even though FIG. 1C only illustrates one sub-resolution assist feature 102b disposed between the main patterns 102a, the invention is not limited thereto. In other embodiments, the phase shift mask may also have a plurality of the sub-resolution assist features 102b respectively disposed around the main pattern 102a.

(11) Referring to FIGS. 1C and 1D, a mask layer 108 is formed on the substrate 100. The mask layer 108 at least covers the sub-resolution assist feature 102b. More specifically, a mask layer 108a covers a top surface and side surfaces of the shielding layer 104b, side surfaces of the sub-resolution assist feature 102b, and a portion of the surface of the substrate 100, and a mask layer 108b covers a portion of a top surface of the shielding layer 104a. In this way, the mask layer 108a may protect the shielding layer 104b on the sub-resolution assist feature 102b, so as to prevent a subsequent etching process from removing the shielding layer 104b. In this embodiment, a material of the mask layer is a photoresist, an anti-reflection layer, or a combination thereof, for example. A distanced from a sidewall of the mask layer 108a to a sidewall of the sub-resolution assist feature 102b may be in a range from 15 nm to 35 nm.

(12) Referring to FIGS. 1E and 1F, using the mask layer 108 as a mask, an etching process is performed to remove a portion of the shielding layer 104a, so as to expose a portion of a surface of the main pattern 102a. The etching process may be a dry etching process or a wet etching process, for example. In an embodiment, when the material of the shielding layer 104a is a chrome group material, an aqueous solution of ceric ammonium nitrate and perchloric acid may be used to perform the etching process. Then, the mask layer 108 is removed, so as to form the phase shift mask 10 of this embodiment.

(13) Referring to FIG. 1F, the phase shift mask 10 includes the substrate 100, the patterned phase shift layer 102a (i.e., the main pattern 102a), the patterned phase shift layer 102b (i.e., the sub-resolution assist feature 102b), and the shielding layers 104b and 104c. The patterned phase shift layers 102a and 102b are located on the substrate 100. Since the transmission of the patterned phase shift layer 102a is higher than 6%, and the phase shift thereof is 180 degrees, the phase shift mask 10 of this embodiment has preferable optical properties (as shown in Table 1 below). The shielding layer 104c covers a portion of the patterned phase shift layer 102a (also referred to as the main pattern 102a in the following), and the shielding layer 104b at least covers the patterned phase shift layer 102b (also referred to as the sub-resolution assist feature 102b). The sub-resolution assist feature 102b is disposed around the main pattern 102a, and is capable of increasing a process window of a photolithography process (as shown in Table 2 below). In addition, since the opaque shielding layer 104b of this embodiment at least covers the sub-resolution assist feature 102b, the sub-resolution assist feature 102b has a transmission close to zero, and a phase shift of the sub-resolution assist feature 102b is close to zero degrees. Thus, the incident light is unable to pass through the sub-resolution assist feature 102b, and does not generate any phase shift. Accordingly, after an exposure process and a development process, the sub-resolution assist feature 102b is not imaged on the semiconductor substrate (as shown in Table 2 and Table 3 in the following).

(14) (Optical Simulation Experiment)

(15) To provide proof to the practicality of the invention, examples are provided in the following to more specifically describe the invention. Even though the simulation experiment is described in the following, materials, proportions, details of processes, and procedure of the processes that are adopted may be suitably modified without exceeding the scope of the invention. Thus, no restrictive interpretation shall be made to the invention based on the following simulation experiment.

(16) Referring to Table 1, compared with the conventional attenuated phase shift mask (attPSM) with a transmission of 6%, an attenuated phase shift mask with a transmission of 20% has a preferable performance in contrast, mask error enhancement factor (MEEF) and depth of focus (DOF, which may also be construed as the process window). Based on the same rationale, since the transmission of the patterned phase shift layer 102a of this embodiment is higher than 6%, the contrast, MEEF and DOF of the patterned phase shift layer 102a of the embodiment are more preferable than those of the attPSM with a transmission of 6%.

(17) TABLE-US-00001 TABLE 1 attPSM attPSM (transmission = 6%) (transmission = 20%) Pitch P (nm) 90 90 Width of mask unit 24 24 block (nm) Height of mask unit 44.5 40.5 block (nm) Contrast 0.482 to 0.553 0.531 to 0.608 MEEF 3.21 3.05 DOF (μm) 0.21 0.23

Example 1

(18) In Example 1, a shielding layer covers sub-resolution assist features (SRAFs) of a mask thereof, such that a transmission of the SRAFs of Example 1 is close to zero, and a phase shift thereof is close to zero degrees. Then, the mask of Example 1 is used in simulated exposure and development processes.

Comparative Example 1

(19) In Comparative Example 1, SRAFs of a mask of Comparative Example 1 are not covered by a shielding layer, such that a transmission of the SRAFs of the Comparative Example 1 is approximately 20%, and a phase shift is approximately 180 degrees. Then, the mask of Comparative Example 1 is used in simulated exposure and development processes.

Comparative Example 2

(20) A mask of Comparative Example 2 does not have SRAFs. Then, the mask of Comparative Example 2 is used in simulated exposure and development processes.

(21) According to Table 2, it can be known that after the simulated exposure and development processes, the SRAFs of Comparative Example 1 are imaged on the semiconductor substrate, while the SRAFs of Example 1 are not imaged on the semiconductor substrate. Although Comparative Example 2 does not have the issue that the SRAFs are imaged on the semiconductor substrate, a DOF of Comparative Example 2 is smaller than a DOF of Example 1. In other words, a process window of Comparative Example 2 is smaller than a process window of Example 1.

(22) TABLE-US-00002 TABLE 2 Comparative Comparative Example 1 Example 1 Example 2 SRAFs transmission: 20%; transmission: 0%; NA phase shift: 180 degrees phase shift: 0 degrees Development imaged not imaged not imaged results of SRAFs DOF (μm) 0.1352 0.1236 0.0998 Decay of 0% 8.6% 26.2% DOF

Example 2

(23) In Example 2, a shielding layer covers SRAFs of a mask thereof, such that a transmission of the SRAFs of Example 2 is close to zero, a phase shift thereof is close to zero degrees, and a line width of the SRAFs of Example 2 is 20 nm. Then, the mask of Example 2 is used in simulated exposure and development processes with an optimal focus and a defocus of 0.06 respectively.

Comparative Example 3

(24) In Comparative Example 3, SRAFs of a mask thereof are not covered by a shielding layer, so a transmission of the SRAFs of Comparative Example 3 is approximately 20%, a phase shift thereof is approximately 180 degrees, and a line width of the SRAFs of Comparative Example 3 is 16 nm. Then, the mask of Comparative Example 3 is used in simulated exposure and development processes with an optimal focus and a defocus of 0.06 μm, respectively.

(25) According to Table 3, it can be known that after the exposure and development processes with the optimal focus, neither the SRAFs of Example 2 nor the SRAFs of Comparative Example 3 are imaged on the semiconductor substrate. However, after the exposure and development processes with the defocus of 0.06 μm (i.e., a state close to the actual exposure process), the SRAFs of Comparative Example 3 are imaged on the semiconductor substrate, while the SRAFs of Example 2 remain not imaged on the semiconductor substrate.

(26) TABLE-US-00003 TABLE 3 Comparative Example 2 Example 3 SRAFs transmission: 0%; transmission: 20%; phase shift: 0 degrees; phase shift: 180 degrees; line width: 20 nm line width: 16 nm Development results of not imaged not imaged SRAFs (optimal focus) Development results of not imaged imaged SRAFs (defocus at 0.06 μm)

(27) In view of the foregoing, the shielding layer at least covers the sub-resolution assist feature of the phase shift layer in the invention, making the transmission of the sub-resolution assist feature of the invention close to zero and the phase shift close to zero degrees. In this way, the invention keeps the function (i.e., increasing the process window of the photolithography process) of the sub-resolution assist feature, and the sub-resolution assist feature is not imaged on the semiconductor substrate after the exposure and development processes. Moreover, even if the exposure and development processes are performed in a defocus state (i.e., a state close to the actual exposure process), the sub-resolution assist feature of the invention is still not imaged on the semiconductor substrate. Moreover, since the transmission of the phase shift layer of the invention is higher than 6%, the contrast, mask error enhancement factor, and depth of focus of the phase shift mask of the embodiments of the invention are more preferable when compared with the conventional phase shift mask with a transmission of 6%.

(28) It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications and variations can be made to the structure of the present invention without departing from the scope or spirit of the invention. In view of the foregoing, it is intended that the present invention cover modifications and variations of this invention provided they fall within the scope of the following claims and their equivalents.