Micro- and Nano-Structuration of Materials

A. Kostro

Photolithography and Sputtering

1. Photo-lithographic process. Photo-lithography using a contact mask allows to replicate a given 2D geometry on micrometric and nanometric scales. This 2D shape is extruded in a layer of light sensitive material (named photoresist or PR) of a chosen thickness. The six steps of a photolithographic process are:

Clean and prepare the substrate (the surface of the resist needs to be clean, dry and prone to good adhesion with the chosen resist). Deposit a thin layer of photoresist on the substrate using spincoating for example. In spincoating, the duration and rotation speed control the thickness of the PR. Bake the PR to evaporate remaining solvents, improve adhesion and free from the internal stress due to spinning. Expose the PR using some source of radiation (adapted to type of PR) and a mask to protect parts of the resist from the radiation. At CMI, we used a UV lamp with constant intensity and hard contact between wafer and mask. The contact method avoids any diffraction of the source and produces the best achievable resolution. The chemical properties of exposed parts will change depending on the type of used PR. In positive resists, photochemical reaction weaken the resist and brake chains, the exposed part will become more soluble in the developer and be removed. In negative resists, photochemical reaction harden the resist, crosslinking occurs and the exposed part will be insoluble in the developer. The right dose of exposure has to be found in order not to overexpose, nor underexpose the PR. Develop the PR to remove exposed (positive) or unexposed (negative) photoresist. The developer depends on the chemistry, it is an alkali for most positive resists. Again, the time of development has to be relatively precise since to short duration will leave unwanted resist and too long development will partially remove or at least weaken the resist. After suited development time, the substrate has to be thoroughly rinsed to stop the reaction. Inspect the result and check if the desired effect was obtained. Optically, one might check if the contrast is sufficiently high between regions were the resist was removed and region were it remained. The quality of the edges is also important.

The most critical and complex operation is exposure, especially in multilayer designs. For most devices, it is necessary to perform successive operations to obtain a number of different layers. In this case, the second and following masks need to be aligned with the result of the previous lithographic process. For alignment, reference marks are used on the series of masks. The quality of the mask and exposure parameters is determinant. In MEMS design, Photo-lithography is often followed by etching the areas unprotected by the resist. The remaining resist after this operation is removed (by dry or wet stripping).

2. Sputter deposition. Sputter deposition is a form of Physical Vapour Deposition (PVD) to deposit thin films on a substrate. Different processes exist: magnetron sputtering, high-power impulse magnetron sputtering, Ion-beam sputtering, reactive sputtering, gas flow sputtering... They are all vacuum processes (initiated at less than 10-6 mbar) usually working in an inert gas atmosphere (about 10-3 mbar, usually using Argon). A high electric field is then applied to attract ions from the gas or an ion source onto a bulk of the material to be deposited, this bulk is named target. When ions hit the target and if the energy is sufficient, an atom is ejected. Some atoms will hit the surface of the substrate and as more and more atoms coalesce on the substrate, binding to each other, first atomic layers are formed. Magnetron sputtering The ion bombardment of the target surface does not only sputter atoms, electrons are also freed. When a magnetic field is used (magnetron sputtering), the electrons collect near the target's surface and move along the magnetic field lines, these electrons collide with gaseous neutrals and form ions, thus enhancing the ionisation of the plasma. These ions then hit the target's surface and again release an atom of the target if the energy is sufficient, the deposition rate is thus increased. Resputtering The sputtered atoms are ejected from the target with a wide energy distribution. A small fraction of the ejected particles are ionized, in ultra high vacuum, they can fly freely and impact with the substrate or chamber with high energy and cause resputtering ( sputtering due tu sputtered elements). Under controlled gas pressure, they collide with the gas atoms and move more diffusely, thus taking longer, random paths before reaching the substrate (or chamber wall). Advantages The numerous parameters of sputtering allow a large degree of control over the growth and microstructure of layers. Almost any material can be sputtered: pure metals using DC, semiconductors and isolators with a RF power supply or pulsed DC. Reactive gases can be used to create different compounds for deposition. Multiple simultaneous targets open for even more possibilities. The film deposited by sputtering has a very high bond with the surface on the atomic level. Disadvantages
The diffuse transport makes full shadows impossible and thus it is difficult to do a lift-off process with sputtered films.