Patterning Innovations in the High-NA EUV Era

The evolutionary milestone to demonstrate the potential of High NA Extreme ultraviolet lithography (EUVL) has been achieved in the ASML-imec High NA EUV Lab. The exposures show the first time ever 10nm dense lines (20nm pitch) printed on metal oxide resists (MORs) using the 0.55 NA EUV prototype scanner. At the same time, it represents a landmark to derisk the ecosystem challenges and hurdles in preparing High NA EUV for high-volume manufacturing anticipated to happen in the 2025~2026 timeframe.
The decisive solutions to enter the high-volume manufacturing of High NA EUVL reposes in the process integration and co-optimization of several key elements in terms of the scanner, resist, mask, OPC, and etch. In this presentation, we will characterize the High NA EUVL patterning and explore the innovations and novelties of patterning technology to push the resolution of the High NA EUV towards its ultimate limits.