Evaluation of TiN hardmask films to prevent line wiggling due to plasma-induced film stress

The impact of both intrinsic and plasma-induced stress of a TiN hardmask on line wiggling was investigated via etching of p-SiOCH with 28 nm pitch, line and space (L/S) EUV resist patterning. Experimental stacks included crystalline PVD TiN with an intrinsic stress of +0.1 GPa and several PEALD TiN films with varying crystallinity and intrinsic stresses ranging from -3.6 GPa (compressive) to +0.2 GPa (tensile). Results confirmed that reduction of intrinsic TiN stress can prevent wiggling1 when the mask is not exposed to plasma during process flow. However, when TiN is exposed to plasma as in a typical back end of line (BEOL) process2-3, compressive stress increased in all films and resulted in wiggling even in the patterned PVD TiN sample with low intrinsic stress. This global increase in compressive stress due to plasma exposure did not correlate with intrinsic stress values, therefore, this work suggests a greater focus should be placed on plasma-induced stress to avoid line wiggling when selecting a TiN film. Further investigation found that increased surface roughness of the TiN mask can decrease the risk of wiggling, and that surface roughness is influenced by p-SiOCH etch selectivity, indicating mask surface roughness should also be considered when evaluating line wiggling in BEOL, p-SiOCH etching.