Method and device for permanently repairing defects of absent material of a photolithographic mask

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2017248842-A1
Application number	US-201715441678-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Feb 24, 2017
Priority date	Feb 26, 2016
Publication date	Aug 31, 2017
Grant date	—

Abstract

The present application relates to a method for permanently repairing defects of absent material of a photolithographic mask, comprising the following steps: (a) providing at least one carbon-containing precursor gas and at least one oxidizing agent at a location to be repaired of the photolithographic mask; (b) initiating a reaction of the at least one carbon-containing precursor gas with the aid of at least one energy source at the location of absent material in order to deposit material at the location of absent material, wherein the deposited material comprises at least one reaction product of the reacted at least one carbon-containing precursor gas; and (c) controlling a gas volumetric flow rate of the at least one oxidizing agent in order to minimize a carbon proportion of the deposited material.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A method for repairing defects of absent material of a photolithographic mask, wherein the method comprises the following steps:
a. providing at least one carbon-containing precursor gas and at least one oxidizing agent at a location to be repaired of the photolithographic mask; b. initiating a reaction of the at least one carbon-containing precursor gas with the aid of at least one energy source at the location of absent material in order to deposit material at the location of absent material, wherein the deposited material comprises at least one reaction product of the reacted at least one carbon-containing precursor gas; and c. controlling a gas volumetric flow rate of the at least one oxidizing agent in order to minimize a carbon proportion of the deposited material, wherein the deposited material comprises a carbon proportion of <20 atom %.

2 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein the deposited material comprises a carbon proportion of <15 atom %.

3 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein the at least one carbon-containing precursor gas comprises at least one metal carbonyl and/or at least one main group element alkoxide.

4 . The method according to claim 3 , wherein the at least one metal carbonyl comprises at least one element from the group: chromium hexacarbonyl (Cr(CO) 6 ), molybdenum hexacarbonyl (Mo(CO) 6 ), tungsten hexacarbonyl (W(CO) 6 ), dicobalt octacarbonyl (Co 2 (CO 8 ), triruthenium dodecacarbonyl (Ru 3 (CO) 12 ), and iron pentacarbonyl (Fe(CO) 5 ).

5 . The method according to claim 3 , wherein the at least one main group element alkoxide comprises at least one element from the group: tetraethyl orthosilicate (Si(OC 2 H 5 ) 4 ), tetramethyl orthosilicate (Si(OCH 3 ) 4 ) and titanium tetraisopropoxide (Ti(OCH(CH 3 ) 2 ) 4 ).

6 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein the at least one oxidizing agent comprises at least one element from the group: oxygen (O 2 ), ozone (O 3 ), water vapor (H 2 O), hydrogen peroxide (H 2 O 2 ), dinitrogen monoxide (N 2 O), nitrogen monoxide (NO), nitrogen dioxide (NO 2 ) and nitric acid (HNO 3 ).

7 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein the at least one energy source comprises at least one particle beam.

8 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein the absent material comprises at least one element from the group: absent material of at least one structure element of a binary mask, absent material of at least one structure element of a phase mask, absent material of at least one structure element of a photomask for the extreme ultraviolet wavelength range, absent material of a substrate of a transmissive photolithographic mask, and absent material of at least one structure element of a nanoimprint lithography mask.

9 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein providing the at least one precursor gas and the at least one oxidizing agent at the location of absent material is carried out with a mixture ratio of 1:10.

10 . The method according to claim 3 , wherein providing the at least one metal carbonyl and the at least one main group element alkoxide is carried out with a mixture ratio of 1:5.

11 . The method according to claim 3 , wherein providing the at least one main group element alkoxide and the at least one oxidizing agent at the location of absent material is carried out with a mixture ratio of 1:10.

12 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein providing the at least one oxidizing agent is carried out with a gas volumetric flow rate in the range of 0.3 sccm to 10 sccm.

13 . The method according to claim 3 , wherein providing the at least one metal carbonyl at the location of absent material is carried out in a pressure range of 10 −6 mbar to 10 −4 mbar, providing the at least one main group element alkoxide is carried out in a pressure range of 10 −6 mbar to 10 −4 mbar, and/or providing the at least one oxidizing agent is carried out in a pressure range of 10 −5 mbar to 10 −2 mbar.

14 . The method according to claim 3 , wherein providing the at least one metal carbonyl at the location of absent material is carried out in a temperature range of −50° C. to +35° C.

15 . The method according to claim 3 , wherein providing the at least one main group element alkoxide at the location of absent material is carried out in a temperature range of −40° C. to +15° C.

16 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein material is deposited at a rate of 0.01 nm/s to 1.0 nm/s.

17 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein the photolithographic mask comprises a phase mask, and providing the at least one precursor gas comprises simultaneously providing chromium hexacarbonyl (Cr(CO 6 )) and tetraethyl orthosilicate (Si(OC 2 H 5 ) 4 ).

18 . A device for repairing defects of absent material of a photolithographic mask, comprising:
a. means for providing at least one carbon-containing precursor gas and at least one oxidizing agent at a location to be repaired of the photolithographic mask; b. at least one energy source for initiating a reaction of the at least one carbon-containing precursor gas at the location of absent material in order to deposit material at the location of absent material, wherein the deposited material comprises at least one reaction product of the reacted at least one carbon-containing precursor gas; and c. means for controlling a gas volumetric flow rate of the at least one oxidizing agent in order to minimize a carbon proportion of the deposited material, wherein the deposited material comprises a carbon proportion of <20 atom %.

19 . The device according to claim 18 , wherein the means for providing the at least one carbon-containing precursor gas and the at least one oxidizing agent comprises at least three supply containers each having at least one metering valve and at least one gas feed line system having at least one nozzle near the location to be repaired, in order to provide at least one first and one second carbon-containing precursor gas and at least one oxidizing agent.

20 . The device according to claim 18 , wherein the means for controlling the gas volumetric flow rate of the at least one oxidizing agent comprises a control unit configured to control the gas volumetric flow rates of the at least one carbon-containing precursor gas and of the at least one oxidizing agent.

Assignees

• Zeiss Carl Smt Gmbh

Inventors

• Oster Jens
• Kornilov Kinga
• Bret Tristan
• Schneider Horst
• Hofmann Thorsten

Classifications

• C23C16/402

  Silicon dioxide · CPC title

• C23C14/30

  by electron bombardment · CPC title

• C23C14/083

  of refractory metals or yttrium · CPC title

• C23C16/486

  using ion beam radiation · CPC title

• H01J2237/31744

  introducing gas in vicinity of workpiece · CPC title