New developments in S-FIL technology

The Step and Flash™ Imprint Lithography (S-FIL™) process has been developed around a low viscosity, UV curable monomer that allows processing at pressures of < 0.5psi and room temperatures. This leads to a gentle process that has low defectivity and high throughput. We have processed in excess of 3000 imprints without needing a recoat of the template release layer. In this paper, we will show the latest defect density results on the Imprio 250. The defect detection was performed on a KLA 2132 defect inspection tool. This tool can detect defects down to approximately 150nm on bare silicon wafers. Low random defectivity (∼0.1 defects/cm²), and modest total defectivity (∼12 defects/cm²) that appears to remain constant were observed for a CMOS contact level. This result indicates that the imprint process is quite clean and free of detect adders. However, to minimize the high starting value of total defectivity, more work needs to be done to improve the defectivity of the template post-processing and preparation prior to imprinting.