Abstract

Electron beam lithography (EBL) is one of the few “top-down” methods and EBL is becoming increasingly widespread in R&D and small volume production due to its flexibility and mask-less nature, very high (sub-10 nm) resolution and accuracy and in many cases EBL is the only possible alternative. In this paper, obtained experimental and simulation results for EBL nano-patterning using the high-resolution electron beam resist Hydrogen Silsesquioxane (HSQ) are presented and discussed. The influence of EBL process parameters such as exposure dose, resist thickness and development process conditions on the obtained developed images is studied. The applied simulation tool for the resists’ characteristics evaluation is suitable for a precise control of obtained image dimensions in the resist applied as a masking layer for nano-patterning. This investigation and simulation of the characteristics of the studied e-beam resist aim to improve the resolution of the nano-dimensioned electron beam lithography and results for nano-lithography applications are also presented.