Underlayer Electrons Aggravate Stochastic Defectivity in EUV Lithography
CatAstro_Piyush · x · 2026-07-28
Recent findings reveal a key physical phenomenon in EUV lithography: the image formation in the resist layer is substantially driven by electrons backscattered from the underlayer, rather than just focused EUV light.
- Underlayer Electrons Dominate Exposure: Research from Tokyo Electron (TEL) shows that changing the underlayer can make its electron exposure dominate the overall resist process, potentially halving the required EUV dose to size.
- Aggravated Stochastic Defectivity: As an additional electron source, the underlayer introduces more electron dose variability and image blur. This exacerbates the already stochastic behavior of the EUV resist image, critically impacting the resist profile, critical dimension (CD), and defectivity rates.
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