In EUV lithography mask production, one source of contaminants originates from the targets used to sputter material onto the substrates. In particular, silicon appears to produce more contamination on rough regions of the silicon target. The features were found to be triangular hillocks pointing in the direction of the incident beam. The aim of this research is to prevent this particle formation on the target and thus eventually on the substrate. Both Si and Ru targets were sputtered using different ion beam conditions to understand particle formation mechanisms on the target and explore the ion beam conditions that can mitigate particles. Additionally, SRIM was used to calculate sputtering yields to better understand the mechanisms behind particle formation.

Date Published: 23 March 2012
PDF: 9 pages
Proc. SPIE 8322, Extreme Ultraviolet (EUV) Lithography III, 83221T (23 March 2012); doi: 10.1117/12.916481

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 8322:
Extreme Ultraviolet (EUV) Lithography III
Patrick P. Naulleau; Obert R. Wood II, Editor(s)