Agc Inc.

Asahi Glass Company, Limited

Toshiyuki Uno

Hiroshi Hanekawa

Daijiro Akagi

Hirotomo Kawahara

Kazuyuki Hayashi

Ken Ebihara

Yoshiaki Ikuta

Hiroyoshi Tanabe

Keishi Tsukiyama

Kenichi Sasaki

Michinori Suehara

Kazunobu Maeshige

Hiroaki Iwaoka

Ichiro Ishikawa

Takuma Kato

Yasuhiko Akao

Mika Yokoyama

Sadatatsu Ikeda

Ryusuke Oishi

Masafumi Akita

Chikako Hanzawa

Yukihiro Iwata

The present invention relates to a reflective mask blank for EUV lithography, including: a substrate, a multilayer reflective film reflecting EUV light, and a phase shift film shifting a phase of the EUV light, in which the substrate, the multilayer reflective film, and the phase shift film are formed in this order, the phase shift film includes a layerincluding ruthenium (Ru) and nitrogen (N), and the layerhas an absolute value of a film stress of 1,000 MPa or less.

Reflective mask blank for EUV lithography, reflective mask for EUV lithography, and method for manufacturing same

A reflective mask blank includes a substrate and, on or above the substrate in order, a reflective layer for reflecting EUV light, a protective layer for protecting the reflective layer, and an absorbent layer for absorbing EUV light. The absorbent layer has a reflectance for a wavelength of 13.53 nm of from 2.5% to 10% and consists of a lower absorption layer and an upper absorption layer. A film thickness dof the absorbent layer satisfies a relationship of:−(×6+1) nm≤−(×6−1) nm

Reflective mask blank and reflective mask

A reflective mask blank for EUV lithography includes: a substrate; a multilayer reflective film for reflecting EUV light; and a phase shift film for shifting a phase of EUV light, the multilayer reflective film and the phase shift film formed on or above the substrate in this order. The phase shift film includes a layerincluding ruthenium (Ru) and at least one selected from the group consisting of oxygen (O) and nitrogen (N). Among diffraction peaks derived from the phase shift film observed at 2θ: from 20° to 50° by out-of-plane XRD method, a peak having the highest intensity has a half value width FWHM of 1.0° or more.

Reflective mask blank for EUV lithography, mask blank for EUV lithography, and manufacturing methods thereof

A reflective mask blank includes a substrate, a multilayered reflection film configured to reflect EUV rays, a protection film configured to protect the multilayered reflection film, and an absorption film configured to absorb the EUV rays in this order. The protection film contains Rh as a main component. The multilayered reflection film includes an uppermost layer that is closest to the protection film in the multilayered reflection film and contains Si and N. In the uppermost layer, an element ratio (N/Si) of N to Si is greater than 0.00 and less than 1.50, and an element ratio (O/Si) of O to Si is 0.00 or greater and less than 0.44.

A reflective mask blank for EUV lithography includes a substrate, a reflective layer for reflecting EUV light, and an absorption layer for absorbing EUV light. The reflective layer and the absorption layer are formed on or above the substrate in this order. The absorption layer contains tantalum (Ta) and niobium (Nb), and the absorption layer has a composition ratio Ta:Nb of Ta (at %) to Nb (at %) of from 4:1 to 1:4. Among diffraction peaks derived from the absorption layer observed at 2θ: from 20° to 50° by out-of-plane XRD method, a peak having the highest intensity has a half width FWHM of 1.0° or more.

Reflective mask blank for EUV lithography

A reflective mask blank for EUV lithography includes a substrate and, formed on or above the substrate in the following order, a reflective layer for reflecting EUV light, a protective layer for the reflective layer, an absorption layer for absorbing EUV light, and a hard mask layer. The protective layer contains ruthenium (Ru), the absorption layer contains tantalum (Ta), the hard mask layer contains chromium (Cr) and at least one of nitrogen (N) and oxygen (O), and the hard mask layer has a film density of from 3.00 g/cmto 5.40 g/cm.

A reflective mask blank includes a substrate and, on or above the substrate in order, a reflective layer for reflecting EUV light, a protective layer for protecting the reflective layer, and an absorbent layer for absorbing EUV light. The absorbent layer has a reflectance for a wavelength of 13.53 nm of from 2.5% to 10%. A film thickness d of the absorbent layer satisfies a relationship of: where the integer i is 0 or 1, and dis represented by: where n is a refractive index of the absorbent layer, k is an absorption coefficient of the absorbent layer, and INT(x) is a function of returning an integer value obtained by truncating a decimal part.

A reflective mask blank for EUV lithography includes: a substrate; a multilayer reflective film for reflecting EUV light; and a phase shift film for shifting a phase of EUV light, the multilayer reflective film and the phase shift film formed on or above the substrate in this order. The phase shift film includes a layer 1 including ruthenium (Ru) and at least one selected from the group consisting of oxygen (O) and nitrogen (N). Among diffraction peaks derived from the phase shift film observed at 2&#x3b8;: from 20&#xb0; to 50&#xb0; by out-of-plane XRD method, a peak having the highest intensity has a half value width FWHM of 1.0&#xb0; or more.

A reflective mask blank for EUV lithography includes a substrate, a reflective layer for reflecting EUV light, and an absorption layer for absorbing EUV light. The reflective layer and the absorption layer are formed on or above the substrate in this order. The absorption layer contains tantalum (Ta) and niobium (Nb), and the absorption layer has a composition ratio Ta:Nb of Ta (at %) to Nb (at %) of from 4:1 to 1:4. Among diffraction peaks derived from the absorption layer observed at 2&#x3b8;: from 20&#xb0; to 50&#xb0; by out-of-plane XRD method, a peak having the highest intensity has a half width FWHM of 1.0&#xb0; or more.

A reflective mask blank includes a backside conductive film on a back surface of a substrate. The backside conductive film has a laminated structure including a stress compensation layer and a conductive layer in this order from the substrate side. The conductive layer includes a metal nitride. The stress compensation layer has a compressive stress and the stress compensation layer includes at least one compound selected from the group consisting of oxides, oxynitrides, and nitrides, each having an absorption coefficient (k) over the wavelength range of 400 nm to 800 nm being 0.1 or less. The conductive layer has a thickness of 5 nm or more and 30 nm or less. The backside conductive film has a total thickness of 50 nm or more.

A process for producing a reflective element for a mask blank, of which a reflective layer is hardly damaged at the time of etching treatment of an absorber layer. A process for producing a reflective element for a mask blank, which comprises (1) a step of forming a reflective layer on a first surface of a substrate, (2) a step of forming a first protective layer on the reflective layer, (3) a step of cleaning the substrate to form an exposed part of the reflective layer, which is not covered with the first protective layer, and (4) a step of forming a second protective layer on the first surface of the substrate to cover the exposed part of the reflective layer with the second protective layer.

Reflective element for mask blank and process for producing reflective element for mask blank

To provide an EUV mask blank with which the etching selectivity under etching conditions for absorber layer is sufficiently high, line edge roughness after pattern formation will not be large, and a pattern with high resolution can be obtained. A reflective mask blank for EUV lithography comprising a substrate, and a reflective layer for reflecting EUV light, an absorber layer for absorbing EUV light and a hard mask layer formed in this order on the substrate;

To provide a substrate with a conductive film for an EUV mask blank, which has a conductive film having a low sheet resistance, excellent surface smoothness and excellent contact to an electrostatic chuck, and with which deformation of the substrate by the film stress in an EUV mask blank can be suppressed. A substrate with a conductive film to be used for producing a reflective mask blank for EUV lithography, comprising a conductive film formed on a substrate;

Substrate with conductive film, substrate with multilayer reflective film and reflective mask blank for EUV lithography

To provide an EUV mask blank provided with a low reflective layer, which has excellent properties as an EUV mask blank. A reflective mask blank for EUV lithography comprising a substrate, and a reflective layer for reflecting EUV light, an absorber layer for absorbing EUV light and a low reflective layer to an inspection light (wavelength: 190 to 260 nm) for a mask pattern, formed in this order on the substrate, wherein the low reflective layer has a stacked structure having a first layer containing at least 95 at % in total of silicon (Si) and nitrogen (N), and a second layer containing at least 95 at % in total of tantalum (Ta), oxygen (O) and nitrogen (N) or a second layer containing at least 95 at % in total of tantalum (Ta) and nitrogen (N), stacked in this order from the absorber layer side.

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Tokyo, Japan

Toshiyuki Uno