Sub-30 nm pitch line-space patterning of semiconductor and dielectric materials using directed self-assembly

The authors demonstrate pattern transfer of 29-nm-pitch self-assembled line-space polystyrene-poly(methyl methacrylate) patterns generated by graphoepitaxy into three important materials for semiconductor device integration: silicon, silicon nitride, and silicon oxide. High fidelity plasma etch transfer with production-style reactors was achieved through co-optimization of multilayer masking film stacks and reactor conditions. The authors present a systematic study of the line edge roughness (LER) and line width roughness evolution during pattern transfer. Application of a postetch annealing process shows reduction of the LER of silicon features from around ∼3 nm to less than 1.5 nm. These results further demonstrate that directed self-assembly-based patterning may be a suitable technique for semiconductor device manufacturing. © 2012 American Vacuum Society.