Tomorrow’s pitches on today’s 0.33 NA scanner: pupil and imaging conditions to print P24 L/S and P28 contact holes

We demonstrate P24 line/space and P28 contact hole printing on wafer using a NXE:3400B EUV scanner. The goal is to enable ecosystem development towards high-NA in a Fab-like environment. We allow for pupil fill ratios down to 6% (illumination efficiency ~35%) and use fading correction by induced lens aberrations. We show that the dose sensitivity for P24 L/S can be improved by more than 30% compared to a standard (leaf-shaped dipole) pupil. For contact holes, both single expose and double L/S expose schemes print contact holes at pitch 28nm in metal oxide resist (NTD), albeit at very different dose.