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Walter F.Worth, International SEMATECH, Austin, Texas, USA

ABSTRACT

For the last three years, International SEMATECH has had an active program to identify potential environment, safety, and health (ESH) impacts associated with the development of advanced lithography technologies. The focus has mainly centered on 157-nm lithography, 193-nm immersion lithography, and extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography. Through close collaboration with the technologists in SEMATECH’s lithography division, it is hoped that ESH concerns can be identified and addressed during the early stages of the materials selection and process/tool development, well in advance of their introduction into high-volume manufacturing (HVM). To achieve this goal, SEMATECH’s ESH group has developed a methodology for ESH assessment that includes collecting ESH data, characterizing emissions, monitoring industrial hygiene during the spin-on application of new resists and anti-reflective coatings (ARCs), and understanding the new processes and tools. The results of the assessments are then periodically communicated to the technologists at SEMATECH and its member companies to allow them to address any ESH concerns as soon as they are uncovered. Greater emphasis on early ESH assessments has arisen from the fact that the next few generations of lithography will require the introduction of an increasing number of new, often novel, materials and technologies quite different from what the semiconductor industry uses today.