Chris's Papers on Line-Edge Roughness in Lithography

SEM image of line-edge roughnessLine-edge roughness (LER) - The deviation of a feature edge (as viewed top-down) from a smooth, ideal shape. That is, the edge deviations of a feature that occur on a dimensional scale smaller than the resolution limit of the imaging tool that was used to print the feature.

LER is, in my opinion, the ultimate limiter of resolution in lithography, at least the way lithography is currently practiced. It's also a fascinating topic, since it requires a stochastic view of the world rather than the continuum view more commonly employed in lithography modeling. It is the current focus of my personal research.

The papers listed below are available (in PDF format) by clicking on the titles.

  1. Chris A. Mack, “Uncertainty in roughness measurements: putting error bars on line-edge roughness”, J. Micro/Nanolith. MEMS MOEMS, 16(1), 010501 (2017).
  2. Chris A. Mack, "Biases and uncertainties in the use of autocovariance and height–height covariance functions to characterize roughness", Journal of Vacuum Science & Technology B, Vol. 34, No. 6 (Nov/Dec, 2016) p. 06K701.
  3. Chris A. Mack, "More systematic errors in the measurement of power spectral density", Journal of Micro/Nanolithography, MEMS, and MOEMS , Vol. 14, No. 3 (Jul-Sep, 2015) p. 033502.
  4. Chris A. Mack, "Understanding the efficacy of linewidth roughness post-processing", Journal of Micro/Nanolithography, MEMS, and MOEMS , Vol. 14, No. 3 (Jul-Sep, 2015) p. 033503.
  5. Chris A. Mack, "Line-Edge Roughness and the Impact of Stochastic Processes on Lithography Scaling for Moore’s Law", Photonic Innovations and Solutions for Complex Environments and Systems (PISCES) II, Proc., SPIE Vol. 9189, (2014) p. 91890D.
  6. Chris A. Mack, “Analytical Expression for Impact of Linewidth Roughness on Critical Dimension Uniformity”, Journal of Micro/Nanolithography, MEMS, and MOEMS, Vol. 13, No. 2 (Apr-Jun, 2014) p. 020501.
  7. Benjamin D. Bunday and Chris A. Mack, "Influence of Metrology Error in Measurement of Line Edge Roughness Power Spectral Density", Metrology, Inspection, and Process Control for Microlithography XXVIII, Proc., SPIE Vol. 9050 (2014) p. 90500G.
  8. Siddharth Chauhan, et al., “Mesoscale modeling: a study of particle generation and line-edge roughness”, Journal of Micro/Nanolithography, MEMS, and MOEMS, Vol. 13, No. 1 (Jan–Mar, 2014) p. 013012.
  9. Chris A. Mack, John J. Biafore, and Mark D. Smith, “Stochastic Exposure Kinetics of Extreme Utraviolet Photoresists: Trapping Model ”, Journal of Vacuum Science & Technology B, Vol. 31, No. 6 (Nov/Dec, 2013) p. 06F603-1.
  10. Chris A. Mack, “Defining and measuring development rates for a stochastic resist: a simulation study”, Journal of Micro/Nanolithography, MEMS, and MOEMS, Vol. 12, No. 3 (Jul-Sep, 2013) p. 033006.
  11. Chris A. Mack, "Systematic Errors in the Measurement of Power Spectral Density", Journal of Micro/Nanolithography, MEMS, and MOEMS, Vol. 12, No. 3 (Jul-Sep, 2013) p. 033016.
  12. Chris A. Mack, "Generating random rough edges, surfaces, and volumes", Applied Optics, Vol. 52, No. 7 (1 March 2013) pp. 1472-1480.
  13. Chris A. Mack, “Reaction-diffusion power spectral density” Journal of Micro/Nanolithography, MEMS, and MOEMS, Vol. 11, No. 4 (Oct-Dec, 2012) p. 043007.
  14. Chris A. Mack, “Correlated surface roughening during photoresist development”, Advances in Resist Technology and Processing XXIX, Proc., SPIE Vol. 8325 (2012) p. 83250I.
  15. Chris A. Mack, “Defining and measuring development rates for a stochastic resist”, Advances in Resist Technology and Processing XXIX, Proc., SPIE Vol. 8325 (2012) p. 83251K.
  16. Chris A. Mack, "Analytic form for the power spectral density in one, two, and three dimensions", Journal of Micro/Nanolithography, MEMS, and MOEMS, Vol. 10, No. 4 (Oct-Dec, 2011) p. 040501.
  17. Chris A. Mack, James W. Thackeray, John J. Biafore, and Mark D. Smith, “Stochastic Exposure Kinetics of EUV Photoresists: A Simulation Study”, Journal of Micro/Nanolithography, MEMS, and MOEMS, Vol. 10, No. 3 (Jul-Sep, 2011) p. 033019.
  18. Chris A. Mack, John J. Biafore, and Mark D. Smith, “Stochastic Acid-Base Quenching in Chemically Amplified Photoresists: A Simulation Study”, Advances in Resist Technology and Processing XXVIII, Proc., SPIE Vol. 7972 (2011) p. 79720V.
  19. Chris A. Mack, “Stochastic modeling of photoresist development in two and three dimensions”, Journal of Micro/Nanolithography, MEMS, and MOEMS, Vol. 9, No. 4 (Oct-Dec, 2010) p. 041202.
  20. Chris Mack, “A Simple Model of Line-Edge Roughness”, Future Fab International, Vol 34 (July 14, 2010).
  21. Chris A. Mack, “Line-Edge Roughness and the Ultimate Limits of Lithography”, Advances in Resist Technology and Processing XXVII, Proc., SPIE Vol. 7639 (2010) p. 763931.
  22. Chris A. Mack, “Impact of mask roughness on wafer line-edge roughness”, BACUS Symposium on Photomask Technology, Proc., SPIE Vol. 7488 (2009) p. 748828.
  23. Chris A. Mack, “Stochastic Modeling in Lithography: The Use of Dynamical Scaling in Photoresist Development”, Journal of Micro/Nanolithography, MEMS, and MOEMS, Vol. 8, No. 3 (Jul-Sep, 2009) p. 033001.
  24. Chris A. Mack, “Stochastic Modeling in Lithography: Autocorrelation Behavior of Catalytic Reaction-Diffusion Systems”, Journal of Micro/Nanolithography, MEMS, and MOEMS, Vol. 8, No. 2 (Apr-Jun, 2009) p. 029701.
  25. Chris A. Mack, “Stochastic approach to modeling photoresist development”, Journal of Vacuum Science & Technology, Vol. B27, No. 3 (May/Jun, 2009) pp. 1122-1128.

 

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