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AMAT cuts EUV costs

A

Arthur Hanson

Well-known member
Any thoughts on how this process could change the semi ecosystem? Will this be enough to increase the penetration of AI/ML by lowering costs?

Applied Materials unveils a breakthrough in patterning technology
7:46 AM ET 2/28/23 | Briefing.com
Allows chipmakers to create high-performance transistors and interconnect wiring with fewer EUV lithography steps, thereby lowering the cost, complexity and environmental impact of advanced chipmaking.The new Centura Sculpta patterning system provides a simpler, faster and more cost-effective alternative to EUV double patterning.
 
Fred Chen said:
It sounds like a self-aligned double patterning (SADP) without spacers but using angled etch beams.
Click to expand...
I might be misunderstanding your meaning on this statement, but that is not how that technology works. It is a tool that can remove bridge defects or allow you to cheat out lower edge to edge placements. You can find more detail in this presentation AMAT put together. My understanding is the goal is to slightly extend how far EUV single patterning can go.
 
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Well if that's the case, then this sentence is very misleading:
"Applied Materials Inc. has begun selling a chipmaking machine designed to decrease the industry’s reliance on ASML Holding NV"
 
lefty said:
Well if that's the case, then this sentence is very misleading:
"Applied Materials Inc. has begun selling a chipmaking machine designed to decrease the industry’s reliance on ASML Holding NV"
Click to expand...
I mean it kind of does. If you can move a layer to have a process flow that goes litho > etch > ash > lateral etch, vs the two EUV and two DUV tool you would need for SALELE you don't need nearly as many ASML litho or inspection systems. Speaking of... AMAT's E-beam systems and other etch tool add-ins offer opportunities to either reduce the number of EUV systems required or compete with ASML's inspection tools. EUV is expensive, and process engineers will use all kinds of self-aligned techniques, architectural designs, and novel tools/resits to minimize EUV use.
 
I thought since it compensates for EUV stochastic errors, then it would make EUV more practical and therefore more widely used.
 
lefty said:
I thought since it compensates for EUV stochastic errors, then it would make EUV more practical and therefore more widely used.
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Not really. EUV single exposure layers still cost more than DUV SADP layers. This non free tool won't suddenly make EUV layers cheaper than DUV SADP layers. As it currently stands basically every layer that could benefit from a move to EUV on new nodes has already done so.
 
nghanayem said:
I might be misunderstanding your meaning on this statement, but that is not how that technology works. It is a tool that can remove bridge defects or allow you to cheat out lower edge to edge placements. You can find more detail in this presentation AMAT put together. My understanding is the goal is to slightly extend how far EUV single patterning can go.
Click to expand...
You/they might be referring to another application. The published statement appears to be exactly SADP: to replace the double patterning of two exposures with a single exposure.
 
Arthur Hanson said:
Do you feel this advance will have a significant impact or is just a single step?
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A similar concept, tilted ion implantation, was also published. There could be side effects from this type of SADP approach. Both tilted ion implanation and ribbon beam were published several years ago actually, so it wasn't a shoo-in.
 
Fred Chen said:
You/they might be referring to another application. The published statement appears to be exactly SADP: to replace the double patterning of two exposures with a single exposure.
Click to expand...
Oh I see what you mean by double patterning without a spacer! Yeah I guess it is pretty similar in concept, even if the mechanics of lateral etching vs spacer based pitch division is different. I never thought of thinking of it like that. I don't know how you would manage the more complex scenarios that would normally require block/cut masks, would work so I won't comment on that.
 
nghanayem said:
Oh I see what you mean by double patterning without a spacer! Yeah I guess it is pretty similar in concept, even if the mechanics of lateral etching vs spacer based pitch division is different. I never thought of thinking of it like that. I don't know how you would manage the more complex scenarios that would normally require block/cut masks, would work so I won't comment on that.
Click to expand...
If they're just elongating features, that's not eliminating LELE double patterning.
 
lefty said:
According to this video, that's what it is. An "angled reactive ribbon beam":
Click to expand...
Wow, that's a pretty bad misunderstanding of the purpose of double patterning, since their feature elongation doesn't change pitch, the way double patterning halves pitch.

That approach also has the sidewall profile issue, shown in the paper 8 years ago: https://avs.scitation.org/doi/10.1116/1.4932161

angled etching issue.png

The upper corners of the etch mask are being directly etched away.

A single conventional exposure with regular etching can always attempt the tighter tip-to-tip, it's just that the control is not satisfactory generally. It's unlikely their line elongation offers improved control, it's just a new technique with a different set of parameters.

Interestingly, in one of my pieces, The Challenge of Working with EUV Doses, I mentioned that TSMC had conceived using the same approach to smoothe line edges, but it's vulnerable to the same issue of breaking the line end sidewall.
 
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Fred Chen said:
Wow, that's a pretty bad misunderstanding of the purpose of double patterning, since their feature elongation doesn't change pitch, the way double patterning halves pitch.
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How would this not improve CDs? Isn't one of the areas that prevents a lowering of CDs edge to edge placement? Doesn't a smaller feature that then gets elongated give you improved CDs over what single patterning could offer? If shadowing is brought under control I don't see why this LEE scheme wouldn't be cheaper than LELE or maybe even SADP.
 
nghanayem said:
How would this not improve CDs? Isn't one of the areas that prevents a lowering of CDs edge to edge placement? Doesn't a smaller feature that then gets elongated give you improved CDs over what single patterning could offer? If shadowing is brought under control I don't see why this LEE scheme wouldn't be cheaper than LELE or maybe even SADP.
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The sidewall is ruined at the target area. SADP or LELE is for doublng features in same area.
 
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nghanayem said:
Doesn't a smaller feature that then gets elongated give you improved CDs over what single patterning could offer?
Click to expand...
Now that you mentioned it, a shorter starting line length (a typical cut segment) would most likely be rounder, unlike a very long straight line. This rounder feature has harder CD control.
 
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Fred Chen said:
The sidewall is ruined at the target area. SADP or LELE is for doublng features in same area.
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Have you looked at the portfolio of EM images of the result of the tool? They have a 20:1 directional etch and do not ruin the endwall when they extend. It also has some interesting side effects like 90% reduction in bridging, and they show a variety of other creative uses for the tool.

You should give them some credit for doing their homework, not just slam it as equivalent to some research papers of the past. Looks to me like they have added a new, useful tool to the toolbox in the fab, and they have got some pretty clean results to show.
 
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