Process simulation of block copolymer lithography

Since the top-down approaches, such as the extremely ultraviolet (EUV) technique and the high-index fluid-based immersion ArF lithography, may be cover one or two generations, these lithography technologies are getting more severe for the feature size scaling down to sub-10-nm. The directed self-assembly technology of block copolymers is one of the candidates for next-generation lithography. The process simulation can help to solve the easy process, the low critical dimension (CD) variation, the high throughput, and the low number density of pattern defects for the directed self-assembly technology. In this paper, a directed self-assembly lithography process of block copolymers is modeled and simulated in molecular scale. The sub-10-nm patterns can be formed by using the precise pattern placement of conventional “top-down” lithography methods with the well-defined nanostructures and self-healing properties of “bottom-up” block copolymer self-assembly. Simulation results are similar with experiment results by using a self-consistent field theory (SCFT).