Electron beam lithography patterning of sub-10 nm line using hydrogen silsesquioxane for nanoscale device applications

We investigated novel patterning techniques to produce ultrafine patterns for nanoscale devices. Hydrogen silsesquioxane (HSQ) was employed as a high-resolution negative tone inorganic electron beam resist. The nanoscale patterns with sub-10 nm linewidth were successfully formed. A trimming process of HSQ by the reactive ion etcher (RIE) played an important role for the formation of 5 nm nanowire patterns. Additionally, hybrid lithography was used to produce various device patterns as well as to minimize proximity effects of electron beam lithography (EBL). Finally, we successfully fabricated triple-gate metal oxide semiconductor field effect transistor (MOSFET) with a gate length of 6 nm by using the proposed patterning process. (c) 2005 American Vacuum Society.