UV curing technology for advanced device fabrication: challenges and solutions

UV-assisted processing has become an enabling technology in next-generation device development allowing chip manufacturers to build advanced transistor structures that deliver state-of-the-art device performance. The list of UV-based applications for advanced device fabrication continues to expand, with many new possibilities still being explored. In this paper we discuss the use of ultraviolet light for a wide variety of emerging curing applications critical to the development of sub-65nm devices in the IC manufacturing industry. These applications include using charge erase to remove stored electrons in advanced non-volatile memory (NVM) devices, UV curing to improve the mechanical and electrical properties of low-k dielectric films, SiN curing to improve transistor speed, and UV annealing for transistor repair. It is important to realize that successful implementation of these emerging UV applications is more complex than simply "exposing a dielectric film to UV light". Furthermore, UV light source development will also be discussed