Shin-Etsu Chemical Co., Ltd.

Kouhei Sasamoto

Yukio Inazuki

Souichi Fukaya

Hideo Nakagawa

Hideo Kaneko

Takuro Kosaka

Naoki Matsuhashi

Toyohisa Sakurada

Tsutomu Yuri

A photomask is manufactured from a photomask blank including a transparent substrate, a first inorganic film which comprises silicon and is free of chromium, and a second inorganic film which comprises chromium and is free of silicon, and is in contact with the first inorganic film by a method including steps of forming a pattern of the second inorganic film by fluorine-based dry etching with using a resist pattern, and forming a pattern of the first inorganic film by fluorine-based dry etching with using the pattern of the second inorganic film.

Manufacturing method of photomask, and photomask blank

The present invention provides a photomask blank which exhibits high adhesion of a resist film to a film containing chromium, and which is capable of achieving good resolution limit and good CD linearity during the formation of an assist pattern of a line pattern, said assist pattern supplementing the resolution of the main pattern of a photomask. A photomask blank () according to the present invention is provided, on a substrate, with: a film () to be processed; and, sequentially from the far side from the substrate, a first layer () which contains oxygen and nitrogen, while having a chromium content of 40% by atom or less, an oxygen content of 50% by atom or more, a nitrogen content of 10% by atom or less and a thickness of 6 nm or less, a second layer () which contains oxygen, nitrogen and carbon, while having a chromium content of 40% by atom or less, an oxygen content of 30% by atom or more, a nitrogen content of 17% by atom or more, a carbon content of 13% by atom or less and a thickness of 46 nm or more, and a third layer () which contains oxygen and nitrogen, while having a chromium content of 50% by atom or more, an oxygen content of 20% by atom or less and a nitrogen content of 30% by atom or more.

Photomask blank, method for producing photomask, and photomask

In a photomask blank including a transparent substrate and a first inorganic film containing either or both of a transition metal and silicon, and optional a second inorganic film containing either or both of a transition metal and silicon, when an intensity of secondary ions is measured in the thickness direction of the transparent substrate and the inorganic films by TOF-SIMS with using a primary ion source of Bi and a sputtering ion source of Cs, an intensity of secondary ions containing carbon detected at the interface of the transparent substrate and the inorganic film or the inorganic films is higher than both intensities of the secondary ions containing carbon detected, respectively, at the sides remote from the interface.

Photomask blank, and manufacturing method thereof

Provided is a photomask blank including, on a substrate, a processing film and a film made of a material containing chromium which is formed to be in contact with the processing film and has a three-layer structure of first, second and third layers, each of which contains chromium, oxygen, and nitrogen, wherein the first layer has a chromium content of 40 atomic % or less, an oxygen content of 50 atomic % or more, a nitrogen content of 10 atomic % or less, and a thickness of 20 nm or more, the second layer has a chromium content of 50 atomic % or more, an oxygen content of 20 atomic % or less, and a nitrogen content of 30 atomic % or more, and the third layer has a chromium content of 40 atomic % or less, an oxygen content of 50 atomic % or more, and a nitrogen content of 10 atomic % or less.

Photomask blank, method of manufacturing photomask, and photomask

A photomask blank for a material of a photomask used in pattern transfer by exposure light having a wavelength of up to 250 nm, including a transparent substrate, a chromium-containing film directly formed on the substrate or formed with an optical film intervened between the transparent substrate and the chromium-containing film. The chromium-containing film includes a region (A) composed of a chromium compound containing chromium, oxygen and carbon, wherein each of contents of the elements contained in the chromium compound is continuously varied in the thickness direction of the region (A), and toward the substrate, the content of chromium increases, and the content of carbon decreases.

Photomask blank, and method of manufacturing photomask

A halftone phase shift mask blank comprising a transparent substrate and a halftone phase shift film thereon is provided. The halftone phase shift film includes at least one layer composed of a silicon base material having a transition metal content &#x2264;3 at %, a Si+N+O content &#x2265;90 at %, a Si content of 30-70 at %, a N+O content of 30-60 at %, and an O content &#x2264;30 at %, and having a sheet resistance &#x2264;10/&#x3a9;/&#x25a1;. The halftone phase shift film undergoes minimal pattern size variation degradation upon exposure to sub-200 nm radiation, and has chemical resistance and improved processability.

Halftone phase shift mask blank and halftone phase shift mask

A photomask blank comprising a transparent substrate and a Cr-containing film is provided. The Cr-containing film includes a layer which is composed of a C-containing Cr compound and further contains O or O and N. The layer has a C/Cr atomic ratio of at least 0.3 and a N/Cr atomic ratio of up to 0.1, and has a Cr content of up to 50 at % and a C/O atomic ratio of at least 0.8, or a Cr content of up to 60 at % and a C/O atomic ratio of at least 1. The photomask blank is processed into a photomask by dry etching the Cr-containing film.

Photomask blank and method for producing photomask

A method for preparing a photomask blank comprising a transparent substrate and a chromium-containing film contiguous thereto involves the step of depositing the chromium-containing film by sputtering a metallic chromium target having an Ag content of up to 1 ppm. When a photomask prepared from the photomask blank is repeatedly used in patternwise exposure to ArF excimer laser radiation, the number of defects formed on the photomask is minimized.

Method for preparing photomask blank, photomask blank, method for preparing photomask, photomask, and metallic chromium target

A halftone phase shift mask blank comprising a transparent substrate and a halftone phase shift film thereon is provided. The halftone phase shift film includes at least one layer composed of a silicon base material having a transition metal content&#x2264;3 at %, a Si+N+O content&#x2265;90 at %, a Si content of 30-70 at %, a N+O content of 30-60 at %, and an O content&#x2264;30 at %, and having a sheet resistance&#x2264;10/&#x3a9;/&#x25a1;. The halftone phase shift film undergoes minimal pattern size variation degradation upon exposure to sub-200 nm radiation, and has chemical resistance and improved processability.

A halftone phase shift mask blank is provided comprising a transparent substrate and a halftone phase shift film which is composed of a silicon base material having a Si+N+O content of at least 90 at %, a Si content of 30-70 at %, a N+O content of 30-60 at %, and an O content of up to 30 at %, and has a thickness of up to 70 nm. The halftone phase shift film is thin enough for mask pattern processing, undergoes minimal pattern size variation degradation upon exposure to sub-200 nm radiation, and maintains a necessary phase shift and transmittance.

A hard mask filmprovided on substrateis formed by tin-containing chromium-containing material. In the chromium-containing material including tin, which forms the hard mask film, the etching resistance to fluorine-containing dry etching is equal to or higher than the etching resistance of the tin-free chromium-containing material, and it shows a significantly high etching rate as compared with a chromium-containing material free of tin under conditions for chlorine-containing dry etching. As a result, the time for chlorine-containing dry etching is shortened, and damage to a resist pattern is reduced. Thus, high-precision pattern transfer can be performed. The present invention provides a novel technique for increasing etching process-ability by increasing a dry-etching rate of a hard mask film made of a chromium-containing material while assuring a hard mask function of the hard mask film.

Blank for mold production and method for manufacturing mold

In a photomask blank comprising a transparent substrate, a resistance layer, and a conductive layer, the resistivity and thickness of the conductive layer and the resistivity and thickness of the resistance layer are selected so as to meet a specific equation (1). In EB lithography, a ground can be established at a necessary fully low resistance value, and EB writing be carried out at a high accuracy.

Photomask blank and method for preparing photomask

A photomask blank comprising a transparent substrate and a chromium-containing film is provided. The chromium-containing film is constructed by one or more chromium compound layers which are formed of a chromium compound containing Cr, N and optionally O, and have a composition having a Cr content &#x2267;30 at % and a total Cr+N+O content &#x2267;93 at %, and meeting the formula: 3Cr&#x2266;2O+3N. A chromium compound layer meeting a first composition having an N/Cr atomic ratio &#x2267;0.95, a Cr content &#x2267;40 at %, a total Cr+N content &#x2267;80 at %, and an O content &#x2266;10 at % is included to a thickness of more than 70% to 100% of the overall thickness of the chromium-containing film.

Photomask blank

A photomask blank comprising a transparent substrate and a chromium-containing film is provided. The chromium-containing film is formed of a chromium compound containing Cr, N, and optionally O, has a total Cr+N+O content&#x2267;93 at %, and meets the formula: 3Cr&#x2267;2O+3N. A chromium compound layer meeting a first composition having a N/Cr atomic ratio&#x2267;0.95, a Cr content &#x2267;40 at %, a Cr+N content&#x2267;80 at %, and an O content&#x2267;10 at % accounts for 10-70% of the overall thickness of the chromium-containing film.

An inorganic material film containing tin within the concentration range of 0.1 atomic percent or higher but no higher than 11.5 atomic percent eliminates the problem in which tin localizes and forms into particles, with the result that these particles turn into defects in an optical film. An inorganic material film for a photomask blank according to the present invention film-formed by sputtering and composed of a chromium-containing material includes a light-shielding layer having electrical conductivity, wherein the light-shielding layer contains 0.1 atomic percent or higher but no higher than 11.5 atomic percent of tin and no higher than 15 atomic percent of oxygen. The lower limit of oxygen concentration is, for example, 3 atomic percent. The inorganic material film has electrical conductivity, which is preferably no higher than 5000 &#x3a9;/cmwhen evaluated in terms of resistance values.

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Joetsu, Japan

Kouhei Sasamoto