Novel high refractive index fluids for 193-mn immersion lithography

Despite the early skepticism towards the use of 193-nm immersion lithography as the next step in satisfying Moore's law, it continuous to meet expectations on its feasibility in achieving 65-nm nodes and possibly beyond. And with implementation underway, interest in extending its capability for smaller pattern sizes such as the 32-nm node continues to grow. In this paper, we will discuss the optical, physical and lithographic properties of newly developed high index fluids of low absorption coefficient, 'Babylon' and 'Delphi'. As evaluated in a spectroscopic ellipsometer in the 193.39nm wavelenath, the 'Babylon' and 'Delphi' high index fluids were evaluated to have a refractive index of 1.64 and 1.63 with an absorption coefficient of 0.05/cm and 0.08/cm, respectively. Lithographic evaluation results using a 193-nm 2-beam interferometric exposure tool show the imaging capability of both high index fluids to be 32-nm half pitch lines and spaces.