Le but de ce travail est d’étudier l’effet de la vapeur d’eau contenue dans le plasma sur la composition et la vitesse de dépôt des couches minces d’oxynitrures de chrome déposées par pulvérisation cathodique magnétron réactive avec l’air contenant différentes teneurs en vapeur d’eau (humidité relative). Les techniques d’analyses par faisceau d’ions énergétiques : RBS et réactions nucléaires nous ont permis de déterminer les concentrations relatives des éléments déposés. Les profils d’hydrogène et d’azote ont été déterminés par RNRA et Tof- SIMS. La liaison chimique a été identifiée par LEEIXS et XPS. Les mesures XPS ont dévoilé la présence d’une phase autre que Cr, CrN, Cr2O3 et CrO2 ; cette nouvelle phase possède une stoechiométrie (CrO2)3-N. La teneur en Cr et ses composés varie en fonction du flux et de l’humidité relative de l’air. En mode métallique de la pulvérisation cathodique, la stoechiométrie Cr2O3 est majoritaire en coexistence avec de faibles teneurs et CrN, CrO2 et (CrO2)3-N alors qu’en mode composé, c’est la stoechiométrie CrO2 qui prédomine./ The aim of this work is to study the stoichiometry of chromium oxynitride thin films deposited by reactive magnetron sputtering in presence of air with various relative humidities. Ion Beam Analysis methods: RBS (Rutherford Backscattering Spectroscopy) and resonant nuclear reaction (RNRA) were used to determine the thickness and the composition of the films. Hydrogen and nitrogen profiles were obtained by RNRA and Tof-SIMS. The chemical bonds were investigated by XPS and LEEIXS. The chromium metallic and chromium compounds concentrations were measured versus the flow and relative humidity of the air. During sputtering in metallic mode, Cr2O3 stoichiometry is observed with low contents of CrN, CrO2 and (CrO2)3-N whereas in compound mode the CrO2 stoichiometry predominates.

With device scaling, the current optical lithography technique is reaching its technological limit to print small features. Extreme Ultra-Violet (EUV) lithography has shown promise to print extremely thin lines reliably and cost-effectively. Many challenges remain before introducing EUV to large scale manufacturing. The main challenge addressed in this study is particle removal from EUV mask surfaces (CrON1, CrON2, and fused silica) and thermal oxide (SiO₂). Effective pre-clean procedures were developed for each surface. As chemical cleaning methods fail to meet SEMATECH criteria, addition of megasonic energy to EUV mask cleaning baths is seen as a promising cleaning methodology. As the requirement to print fine lines needs to be met, all materials used in EUV mask fabrication either absorb the incident EUV wavelength light or reflect it. Therefore, the masks used in the industry will be reflective instead of the conventional transmissive masks. Also, for the same reason, no protective pellicle can be used leading to all the surfaces unprotected from particle contamination. To avoid the detrimental effect of the particle contamination, a cleaning study for nano-particle removal was performed. A dark field microscope was utilized to study the removal of gold nano-particles from surfaces. The cleaning procedures utilized H₂SO₄ and NH₄OH chemistries with and without megasonic irradiation. The cleaning variables were bath concentration, temperature, and megasonic power. The contamination variables were the gold nanoparticles charge and size, from 40nm to 100nm. For 100 nm negatively charged gold nano-particles deposited on a CrON1 surface, a 1:10 H₂SO₄:DI bath at boiling temperature (101°C) without megasonics gave high particle removal efficiency (PRE) values as did a 1:10 H₂SO₄:DI bath at 35°C with 100W megasonics. Comparison of removal of poly diallyl-dimethyl ammonium chloride (PDAC) coated and uncoated gold nano-particles deposited on a CrON1 surface using dilute H₂SO₄ baths indicated that the coated, positively charged nano-particles were more difficult to remove. PRE trends for different baths indicate surface dissolution (shown to be thermodynamically favorable) as the particle removal mechanism. However, experimental etch rates indicated minimal surface etching in a 10 minute bath. Increased surface roughness indicated possible local galvanic corrosion at particle sites. Low surface etching results meet SEMATECH requirements. During the fused silica surface cleaning study, particle charge (negative) and size (100 nm) of the contamination source and cleaning bath chemistry (NH₄OH) were kept constant. Low PREs were obtained at room temperature for all NH₄OH bath concentrations; however, high PREs were obtained at an elevated temperature (78°C) without megasonics and at room temperature in more dilute chemistries with megasonic power applied. Similar PRE trends were demonstrated for thermal SiO₂ surfaces. The experimental etch rates of the thermal SiO₂ agree with published values.