Photolithography Overview

Why?
● It is not possible to make a device with thin
films thus, layers of thin films have to be
patterned, etched and coated.
● This process combines these processes and
can create millions of devices in a batch.
 What is photolithography?

● Even before the concept of the transistor was first invented in 1928 by
Lilenfield, photolithography had been widely used to fabricate printing
plates.
● Every micro system has a layer with a unique pattern which is
transferred from a mask to photosensitive layer.
● In following step, this pattern is transferred from photosensitive layer
into an underlying layer.
● After this pattern is transferred, the resist is removed.
● In modern devices manufacturing, photolithography uses methods like
optical radiation, electron beam, scanning probe, and X-Ray to image
the mask.
 Three main steps of
Photolithography
● Coat
● Expose
● Develop

Image courtesy: Southwest Center for Microsystems Education (SCME)

Process of photolithography (Image courtesy: SCME)
 Spin coating
● A process in which solution is
spread over a surface using
centripetal force.
Process:
● Wafer is hold on the vacuum
chuck where the resist is
applied.
● Chuck accelerates for desired Image courtesy:SCME
resist thickness.
 Spin coating vs thickness
The thickness of a spin coated film is inversely proportional to the square root of spin speed. It
also depends on external factor such as material concentration and solvent evaporation rate.

A spin curve can be obtained from equation

Example spin curve for the solution (Image: Ossila material science)
 Soft bake
● This method is used to evaporate the coating
solvent for enhancing the adhesion to the substrate.
● The temperature of the soft-baking is 120°C and the
process lasts for 90 seconds.
● The evaporation will change a little bit the thickness
of the layer and prepare photo-resist to be exposed
to the UV.
 Photoresist
A photo-resist is a mixture of organic compounds in a solvent solution.

There are mainly two types of

photoresist:
1. Positive resist
2. Negative resist

Positive resist: Exposed

regions become more soluble.
A positive mask is left after
develop.

Negative resist: Exposed

materials harden. A negative
mask is left after develop.

Photoresist: positive vs negative (SCME)

 Mask Alignment and Exposure
● The photoresist coated wafer is fixed into a flat face of
mobile stage by air suction and brought under chrome
mask.
● Chrome mask is a 0.08 μm thick glass plate with
chromium deposition.
● The mask is aligned with the wafer with marker, so that
the pattern can be transferred onto the wafer surface.
● Once the mask has been accurately aligned with the
pattern on the wafer's surface, the photoresist is exposed
through the pattern on the mask with a high intensity
ultraviolet light.
 AZ1514H Positive photoresist
● Positive Thin Resists for Wet Etching
● Improved resist adhesion to all common substrate materials
● Broad process parameter window for stable and reproducible
litho-processes
● High development rate
● Compatible with all common developers (NaOH-, KOH- or
TMAH-based)
● Compatible with all common strippers (e. g. with AZ 100
Remover, organic solvents, or aqueous alkaline)
● g-, h- and i-line sensitive (approx. 320 - 440 nm)
● Resist film thickness range approx. 0.5 - 3 µm
 Development
● Portions of the photoresist
are developed by a chemical
developer.
● With positive resist, the
exposed resist is dissolved
while the unexposed resist
remains on the wafer.
● With negative resist, the
unexposed resist is dissolved
while the exposed resist
remains
● We used AZ 726MIF as a
developer.
Image courtesy: SCME
 Hard bake
● Hardens the photoresist
for the next process.
● Improve the adhesion to
the substrate and
resistance to etching
● The temperature of the
hardbake is 140°C for Hard bake (Image courtesy: SCME)
90 seconds.
 Etching
. Etching is used in microfabrication to chemically remove layers from the
●

surface of a wafer.

● Types of etching process:

1. Dry or wet etching
2. Isotropic or anisotropic
etching

● In wet etching technique, the

substrate is etched with an echant
solution while in dry etching, the
substrate is etched with Plasma or
reactive ion.
 Resist removal and Inspection
● After the etching process, the resist pattern on the
surface of the wafer is removed by wet(acetone) or
dry process.
● After the resist removal process is completed, the
substrate is taken into the optical microscope for
inspection and checked if the structure is aligned and
well patterned.
 Thin film transistor
● Special kind of FET with thin films of an
active semiconductor layer, dielectric
and metallic contacts over a substrate

● Applications: TFT LCD, color LCD, pixel switching Bottom-gate-bottom-contact

elements on flat panel displays (FPDs) configuration of a TFT with
passivation layer

● Photolithography provides method for creating

millions of TFTs in a batch.
 Transfer curve before and after
passivation (JK224)
Transfer curve after passivation
Transfer curve before passivation
1.60E-03
8.00E-04

7.00E-04 1.40E-03

6.00E-04 1.20E-03

5.00E-04
1.00E-03
4.00E-04
8.00E-04
I(d)

I(d)
3.00E-04
6.00E-04
2.00E-04
4.00E-04
1.00E-04

0.00E+00 2.00E-04
1 10 100
-1.00E-04 0.00E+00
1 10 100
log(V(gs))
log(V(gs))
Impedance curve before and after
passivation (JK224 sample)
 References
1. Introduction to Thin Film Transistors, S.D.
Brotherton, S. D. Brotherton, Springer
2.Photolithography, Dr. R. B. Darling, Wake forest
University
3.Anderson Janotti and Chris G Van de Walle
2009 Rep. Prog. Phys. 72 126501
4.Solid-State Electronic Devices,Christo
Papadopoulos, Springer 2013