Development and performance of EUV pellicles

Abstract In a lithography process, an image on a mask (reticle) is projected onto a wafer. Continuous decrease in feature sizes also led to a reduction in the wavelength used for exposing. The next step is the move from 193-nm light to extreme ultra-violet (EUV) at 13.5 nm. This poses a lot of challenges that have been overcome in the past years. One of these challenges is the protection of the reticle from front side defects. This protection can be achieved by the use of an EUV pellicle. This is a thin membrane that protects particles from landing on the reticle surface, as will be explained in more detail later. With multiple semiconductor manufacturers preparing for volume EUV manufacturing, the need for a volume production-ready pellicle solution is here today. This article gives an overview of the performance of the current EUV pellicle solution and the status of the development of future EUV pellicles.