Stochastic simulation studies of line-edge roughness in block copolymer lithography.
Because photoresist has the uncertain triangle relation among the higher resolution, the lower line-edge-roughness (LER) (or line-with-roughness (LWR)), and the improved sensitivity, for below 20-nm pattern formation, this relation makes hard to use the optical lithography. Directed self-assembly (DSA) has been considered as a potential candidate to extend the resolution limit of the optical lithography. The effects of DSA processing and DSA molecular geometry on LER should be well understood in order to meet the ITRS lithographic specifications. In this paper, for the optical lithography and the block copolymer (BCP) lithography such as graphoepitaxy, LER behavior is modeled by the stochastic methods such as the Monte Carlo method and the dissipative particle dynamics (DPD) method. Simulation results explain that the LER of the BCP lithography is smaller than that of the optical lithography because of a self-healing capability of block copolymers.
Sang-Kon
SK
Kim