Applied Materials, Inc.

Agency for Science, Technology and Research

National University of Singapore

Autox Tech Pte. Ltd.

Wen Xiao

Vibhu Jindal

Sanjay Krupakar Bhat

Shuwei Liu

Azeddine Zerrade

Herng Yau Yoong

Weimin Li

Shiyu Liu

Huajun Liu

Binni Varghese

Chang Ke

Vinodh Ramachandran

Ribhu Gautam

Wendong Song

Jun Ding

Zhenyu Li

Ernult Franck Gerard

Extreme ultraviolet (EUV) mask blanks, production systems therefor, and methods of increasing multilayer film reflectance are disclosed. The EUV mask blanks comprise a bilayer film on a substrate. The bilayer film comprises a first film layer including silicon (Si), and a second film layer comprising an element selected from the group consisting of ruthenium (Ru), nickel (Ni), cobalt (Co), tungsten (W), iron (Fe), titanium (Ti) and silicides thereof. Some EUV mask blanks further comprise a multilayer reflective stack comprising alternating layers on the bilayer film and a capping layer on the multilayer reflective stack. Some EUV mask blanks include a smoothing layer selected from the group consisting of molybdenum silicide (MoSi), boron carbide (BC) and silicon nitride (SiN) on the multilayer reflective stack, a capping layer on the smoothing layer, and an absorber layer on the capping layer.

Multilayer extreme ultraviolet reflector materials

Extreme ultraviolet (EUV) mask blanks and methods for their manufacture, and production systems therefor are disclosed. The method for forming an EUV mask blank comprises smoothing out surface defects on a surface of a substrate.

Extreme ultraviolet mask blank defect reduction

Extreme ultraviolet (EUV) mask blanks, methods of forming EUV mask blanks and production systems therefor are disclosed. The EUV mask blanks comprise a multilayer reflective stack on a substrate. The multilayer reflective stack comprises a trilayer film including a first film, a second film, and a third film. Some EUV mask blanks include an interface layer on one or more of the first film, the second film and the third film. EUV mask blanks described herein have low Zand high reflectance over large bandwidth of reflection angle, thereby minimizing the M3D effect, especially for high-NA EUV scanners.

Multilayer extreme ultraviolet reflectors

Extreme ultraviolet (EUV) mask blanks, production systems therefor, and methods of reducing roughness are disclosed. The EUV mask blanks comprise a multilayer reflective stack on a substrate comprising a plurality of pairs of alternating layers comprising a first layer and a second layer, the first layer including a first element selected from the group consisting of Si, B, Al, Mg, Zr, Ba, Nb, Ti, Gd, Y, and Ca; and the second layer including a second element selected from the group consisting of Ru, Mo, Ta, Sb, Tc, Nb, Ir, Pt, and Pd. Some EUV mask blanks described herein include interface layer between the first layer and the second layer, the interface layer including an interface element selected from the group consisting of Si, B, C, Al, Mo, and Ru.

A multilayer stack in the form of a Bragg reflector comprising a graded interfacial layer and a method of manufacturing are disclosed. The graded interfacial layer eliminates the formation of low-reflectivity interfaces in a multilayer stack and reduces roughness of interfaces in a multilayer stack.

Graded interface in Bragg reflector

Methods for the manufacture of extreme ultraviolet (EUV) mask blanks and production systems therefor are disclosed. A method for forming an EUV mask blank comprises forming a bilayer on a portion of a multi-cathode PVD chamber interior and then forming a multilayer stack of Si/Mo on a substrate in the multi-cathode PVD chamber.

Extreme ultraviolet mask blank defect reduction methods

Various embodiments may provide a memory cell. The memory cell may include an active electrode including an active electrode material. The memory cell may also include a first noble electrode contact with the active electrode, the first noble electrode being a patterned electrode including a noble electrode material. The memory cell may further include a resistive switching layer in contact with the active electrode and the first noble electrode. The memory cell may additionally include a second noble electrode including a noble electrode material, the second noble electrode in contact with the resistive switching layer.

Memory cell and method of forming the same

A physical vapor deposition (PVD) chamber and a method of operation thereof are disclosed. Chambers and methods are described that provide a chamber comprising an upper shield with two holes that are positioned to permit alternate sputtering from two targets.

Physical vapor deposition system and processes

Extreme ultraviolet (EUV) mask blanks, methods for their manufacture and production systems therefor are disclosed. The EUV mask blanks comprise a substrate; a multilayer stack of reflective layers on the substrate; a capping layer on the multilayer stack of reflecting layers; and an absorber layer on the capping layer, the absorber layer made from tantalum and ruthenium.

Extreme ultraviolet mask absorber materials

Apparatus and methods for measuring surface topography are described. The analysis apparatus and methods detect light reflected from the reflective backside of a cantilever assembly including a tip, calculate a background level (BGL) value obtained from an optical scan of a reference sample using a power spectral density (PSD) value obtained from a topographical scan of a reference sample to generate a correlational coefficient between the BGL and the PSD values. The correlational coefficient between the BGL and PSD values is used to measure the BGL value of additional EUV mask blanks by a topographical scan of the EUV mask blanks using the same tip mounted to the cantilever.

Surface topography measurement apparatus and method

A physical vapor deposition (PVD) chamber and a method of operation thereof are disclosed. Chambers and methods are described that provide a chamber comprising an upper shield with two holes that are positioned to permit alternate sputtering from two targets. A process for improving reflectivity from a multilayer stack is also disclosed.

Extreme ultraviolet (EUV) mask blanks, methods for their manufacture and production systems therefor are disclosed. The EUV mask blanks comprise a substrate; a multilayer stack of reflective layers on the substrate; a capping layer on the multilayer stack of reflecting layers; an absorber layer on the capping layer, the absorber layer comprising an antimony-containing material; and a hard mask layer on the absorber layer, the hard mask layer comprising a hard mask material selected from the group consisting of CrO, CrON, TaNi, TaRu and TaCu.

Extreme ultraviolet mask blank hard mask materials

A physical vapor deposition chamber comprising a tilting substrate support is described. Methods of processing a substrate are also provided comprising tilting at least one of the substrate and the target to improve the uniformity of the layer on the substrate from the center of the substrate to the edge of the substrate. Process controllers are also described which comprise one or more process configurations causing the physical deposition chamber to perform the operations of rotating a substrate support within the physical deposition chamber and tilting the substrate support at a plurality of angles with respect to a horizontal axis.

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Singapore, Singapore

Wen Xiao