0.4-µm gate-length devices fabricated by contrast-enhanced lithography

This letter describes the fabrication of submicrometer polysilicon-gate MOS devices by an advanced optical process called contrast enhancement. Functional devices having gate lengths as small as 0.4 µm were fabricated with this process. Contrast-enhanced lithography (CEL) allows usable photoresist patterns to be fabricated at smaller dimensions than is possible with conventional resist. The simultaneous replication of mask dimensions for isolated lines at 0.35 µm and above was achieved in this work using a single exposure on an Optimetrix 10:1 DSW system. Contrast enhancement has been applied to the fabrication of n-channel MOS devices having gate lengths from 0.4 to 1.5 µm in steps of 0.1 µm. Long-channel devices were also fabricated. The transconductance of the 0.4-µm devices is 40 mS/mm at Vds= 5 V. Threshold voltages (Vds= 0) are nearly independent of gate length, ranging from 1.21 to 1.31 V over the 7.5- to 0.4-µm range in gate length. The effective mobility for long-channel devices is 430 cm²/V.s.