Dielectric antireflective coatings for DUV lithography

High performance plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) dielectric antireflective coatings (ARC) can be readily designed by combining theoretical models from photolithography simulators with the manufacturing capabilities of silane-based plasma deposition chambers. By following the three steps outlined, the design of these ARCs can be made available to any semiconductor manufacturer for numerous applications. This paper demonstrates how a dielectric ARC was designed for aluminum metallization at DW (248-nm) wavelengths. This ARC had <3% CD swing and <2% within-wafer linewidth uniformity variation.