Development and commercialisation of dual resist technologies for fabrication in compound semi-conductors

用于复合半导体制造的双抗蚀剂技术的开发和商业化

• 批准号: 72472
• 金额: $ 36.39万
• 依托单位: SCI-TRON LIMITED
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Study
• 财政年份: 2020
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2020 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=72472
• 关键词: Development; commercialisation; dual; resist; technologies

Use of III-V compound semiconductors (CS) in a range of applications including high speed/power electronics, lasers, power amplifiers for mobile phones, RF/microwave, space-tech and photonics is on rise due to their superior light receiving/emitting functionality, very high frequency signal generation capacity, at-least 100-times more power than their silicon counterparts, high-speed signal processing, low voltage operation and magnetic/heat sensitivity.CS patterning utilises following two major lithographic tools followed by an etch step (where the written pattern is transferred into the CS substrate):* Photolithography(PL)--widely used, working at 365, 248 and 193nm for production of Integrated circuits (ICs); shorter wavelengths are only available for largest manufacturers (e.g. Intel/Samsung/TSMC/Global Foundries) but a large industry depends on fabrication at 365nm.* Electron Beam Lithography(EBL)--used for key steps in electronics (e.g. mask-making) and more widely in smaller foundries to produce micro/nano-structuresIII-V CS hardness presents significant technical challenges to etch thin deep features at high resolution (<100nm) and to etch through multilayer structures required for high-end future applications such as micro Lasers/LEDs, nanoscale spectrometers, sensors and wireless communications.State-of-the-art solutions include positive (ZEP520A-chloroacrylate/styrene copolymer) and negative (HSQ-hydrogensilsesquixoane) tone solutions. ZEP520A gives an etch selectivity of 5:1\. which is insufficient to write deep thin structures, or to etch through multilayers of CS. HSQ can achieve etch-sensitivity of 7:1 but has drawbacks of requiring skilled chemist/lithographer, limited shelf-life due to degradation over time and damage to CS surface through adhesion.Building upon outputs of Innovate-UK project (\#104747) and our expertise in making Heterometallic-Ring-Complexes as building blocks, we have already developed a lab-scale manufacturing process with a throughput of 0.5litres/day of resists which can be used with silicon nanostructures (9nm wide and 330nm high).Driven by global end-user manufacturers' (Jet Propulsion Laboratory, CST, Microsemi, NASA, Ryan Briggs, Hughes Research Labs) demand of etching thin deep features at higher resolution and to be able to etch through multilayer structures; we can produce proof-of-principle quantities of (ca. 0.3litres) high-etch resists to be used with CS.This 18months industrial-research project aims to design and build a flexible manufacturing facility producing high-etch resists (capacity=50 litres/annum @ production cost of <£400/litre) to enable fabrication of thinner deeper structures and multilayer structures of differing CS in many fewer write-develop-etch steps.Project success will generate a catalogue of resists, made in small batches by Sci-Tron but all ready for contract manufacture. Sci-Resists will offer competitive advantages to all adopters and help growth of UK's vital high-tech sector.

由于其卓越的光接收/发射性能，III-V 族化合物半导体 (CS) 在高速/功率电子、激光器、手机功率放大器、射频/微波、空间技术和光子学等一系列应用中的使用不断增加功能、甚高频信号生成能力、比其硅合作伙伴至少高 100 倍的功率、高速信号处理、低电压操作和磁/热敏感性。CS 图案化利用以下两种主要光刻工具蚀刻步骤（将写入的图案转移到 CS 基板上）：* 光刻 (PL) - 广泛使用，在 365、248 和 193 nm 下工作，用于生产集成电路 (IC)；较短的波长仅适用于最大的制造商； （例如 Intel/Samsung/TSMC/Global Foundries），但大型行业依赖 365nm 制造。* 电子束光刻 (EBL) - 用于电子领域的关键步骤（例如掩模制造），更广泛地用于小型铸造厂，用于生产微/纳米结构III-V CS 硬度对于以高分辨率（<100 nm）蚀刻薄深特征提出了重大技术挑战）并蚀刻未来高端应用所需的多层结构，例如微型激光器/LED、纳米级光谱仪、传感器和无线通信。最先进的解决方案包括正向（ZEP520A-氯代丙烯酸酯/苯乙烯共聚物）和负性（HSQ-氢硅倍半烷）色调溶液的蚀刻选择性为 5:1\，不足以写入深薄结构，或无法蚀刻多层 HSQ。 - 灵敏度为 7:1，但缺点是需要熟练的化学家/平版印刷师，由于降解过度而导致保质期有限时间和粘合对 CS 表面的损坏。基于 Innovate-UK 项目 (\#104747) 的成果以及我们在将异金属环配合物作为构建模块方面的专业知识，我们已经开发了一种实验室规模的制造工艺，吞吐量为0.5 升/天的抗蚀剂，可与硅纳米结构（9 纳米宽和 330 纳米高）一起使用。由全球最终用户制造商 (Jet推进实验室、CST、Microsemi、NASA、Ryan Briggs、Hughes 研究实验室）要求以更高分辨率蚀刻薄的深层特征，并能够蚀刻多层结构；我们可以生产原理验证量（约 0.3 升）； ) ) 高蚀刻抗蚀剂与 CS 一起使用。这个为期 18 个月的工业研究项目旨在设计和建造一个灵活的制造设施，生产高蚀刻抗蚀剂（产能 = 50升/年@生产成本<400英镑/升），能够以更少的写入-开发-蚀刻步骤制造更薄的更深结构和不同CS的多层结构。项目的成功将产生一个抗蚀剂目录，由小批量生产Sci-Tron 已准备好进行合同制造，将为所有采用者提供竞争优势，并有助于英国重要高科技行业的发展。