In this study nano-patterning was carried out using two different nano-optic devices namely- the NSOM and Fresnel zone plate. In the first study, NSOM was used to generate nano-patterns on selected semiconducting (Si and Ge) and metallic (Cr, Cu and Ag) targets under different laser pulse durations, laser energies and number of laser pulses. Based on the experimental results, femtosecond laser pulses, provided lower pattern generation thresholds on targets but higher damage thresholds to the NSOM probes at the wavelength (~400-410 nm) studied, compared with nanosecond laser pulses. Three different mechanisms were identified as the dominant processes for pattern generation under different conditions, namely nano-scale laser ablation, nano-scale thermal oxidation and nano-scale melting/recrystallization of the targets. Furthermore, the resulting nano-patterns also showed a significant dependence on the optical properties (i.e., absorption coefficient and surface reflectivity) of the target material. By comparing the obtained experimental results, it was concluded that the optical energy transport from the NSOM probe to the target dominates the pattern generation when femtosecond laser is applied to the NSOM system. When nanosecond laser is applied, both the thermal and optical energy transported from the NSOM probe to the targets attribute to the obtained morphology of nano-patterns on different targets under the experimental conditions studied. In the second study, a traditional Fresnel zone plate with a focus length of 3 micrometres was fabricated with a novel lift-off process in e-beam lithography. The fabrication process involved, using a HSQ/PMMA bi-layer in a negative tone lift-off process with a layer of conducting polyaniline for charge dissipation. HSQ was used as the high resolution negative resist for e-beam patterning and the PMMA under-layer was used to enable a HSQ lift-off process. The fabricated Fresnel zone plate was used to generate nano-patterns on a UV sensitive photoresist using nanosecond laser light with lamda~409nm. The smallest pattern sizes generated was close to the diffraction limit. Nano-pattern sizes generated on the photoresist were comparable with a numerically calculated intensity distribution at the focus spot of the designed Fresnel zone plate obtained from Scalar Diffraction Theory.

Unconventional nanofabrication techniques; both those which have been newly developed and those under development, had brought inexpensive, facile, yet high quality means to fabricate nanostructures that have feature sizes of less than 100 nm in industry and academia. This dissertation focuses on developing unconventional fabrication techniques, building studying platforms, and studying the mechanisms behind them. The studies are divided into two main facets and four chapters. The first facet, in Chapter II and Chapter III, deals with the research and development of different nanofabrication techniques and nanostructures. These techniques include litho-synthesis, colloidal lithography, and photolithography. The nanostructures that were fabricated by these techniques include the metal nanoparticle arrays, and the self-assembled CdSe nanoring arrays. At the same time, the dissertation provides mechanisms and models to describe the physical and chemical nature of these techniques. The second area of this study, in Chapter III to Chapter V, presents the applications of these nanostructures in fundamental studies, i.e. the mechanisms of plasmon enhanced fluorescence and photo-oxidation kinetics of CdSe quantum dots, and applications such as molecular sensing and material fabrication. More specifically, these applications include tuning the optical properties of CdSe quantum dots, biomodification of CdSe quantum dots, and copper ion detection using plasmon and photo enhanced CdSe quantum dots. We have successfully accomplished our research goals in this dissertation. Firstly, we were able to tune the emission wavelength of quantum dots, blue-shifted for up to 45 nm, and their surface functionalization with photo-oxidation. A kinetic model to calculate the photo-oxidation rates was established. Secondly, we established a simple mathematical model to explain the mechanism of plasmon enhanced fluoresce of quantum dots. Our calculation and experimental data support the fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET) mechanism between quantum dots and the metal nanoparticles. Thirdly, we successfully pattered the CdSe quantum dots (diameter ~4 nm) into nanorings with tunable diameters and annular sizes on different substrates. We also established a physical model to quantitatively explain the mechanism with the forces that involved in the formation of the nanorings.

In this thesis, theoretical investigation of nickel-like tin plasma is presented. X-ray production in a plasma medium produced by a laser beam is reviewed. Applications mostly, lithography are discussed. Two different schemes for x-ray lasing, namely, quasi-steady state and transient collisional excitation are explained and compared. The computer codes that are used for plasma, especially for laser produced plasma and x-ray laser including hydrodynamic codes, ray-trace codes and collisional radiative codes are discussed. The code used in this work, EHYBRID, is considered in more detail. An experimental setup which can allow x-ray lasing is designed for different plasma and laser parameters are analyzed by means of EHYBRID code. Results are briefly discussed and as a future work the realization of the related experiment is mentioned.

No description available.

In this thesis, we study three emerging applications of OR/MS, namely, (i) disease spread modeling, intervention strategies, and food supply chain management during an influenza pandemic, (ii) the practical applications of production planning and scheduling in the commercial lithographic printing industry, and (iii) packing/placement problems in chip design in the semiconductor industry. In the first part of the thesis, we study an emergency response planning problem motivated by discussions with the American Red Cross, which has taken on a responsibility to feed people in case of an influenza pandemic. During an emergency such as an influenza pandemic or a bioterror attack, regular distribution channels of critical products and services including food and water may be disrupted, or some of the infected individuals may not be able to go to grocery stores. We analyze the geographical spread of the disease and develop solution approaches for designing the food distribution supply chain network in case of an influenza pandemic. In addition, we investigate the effect of voluntary quarantine on the disease spread and food distribution supply chain network. Finally, we analyze the effect of influenza pandemic on the workforce level. In the second part, we study a real life scheduling/packing problem motivated by the practices in the commercial lithographic printing industry which make up the largest segment of the printing industry. We analyze the problem structure and develop efficient algorithms to form cost effective production schedules. In addition, we propose a new integer programming formulation, strengthen it by adding cuts and propose several preprocessing steps to solve the problem optimally. In the last part of the thesis, motivated by the chip design problem in the semiconductor industry, we study a rectangle packing/placement problem. We discuss the hardness of the problem, explore the structural properties, and discuss a special case which is polynomially solvable. Then, we develop an integer programming formulation and propose efficient algorithms to find a ``good' placement.

<p>Nanofabrication techniques were used to manufacture nanometer scale protein templates. The fabrication approach employs electron beam lithography (EBL) patterning on poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) thiol (CH3O(CH2CH2O)17NHCO(CH2)2SH) self-assembled monolayers (SAM) on Au. The PEG SAM prevented protein surface adhesion and binding sites for protein were created in the SAM by EBL. Subsequent to EBL, the patterns in the PEG SAM were backfilled with 40-nm NeutrAvidin-coated fluorescent spheres (FluoSpheres). The spontaneous and directed immobilization of the spheres from a solution to the patterns resulted in high resolution protein patterns. The FluoSpheres could be arranged in any arbitrary pattern with ultimately only one or a few FluoSpheres at each binding site.</p><p>Growth dynamics and SAM morphology of PEG on Au were studied by atomic force microscopy (AFM). PEG SAMs on three types of Au with different microstructure were examined: thermally evaporated granular Au and two types of Au films produced by hydrogen flame annealing of granular Au, Au(111) and "terraced" Au (crystal orientation unknown). The different Au surfaces' substructure affected the morphology and mechanical properties of the PEG SAM. On Au(111), AFM imaging revealed monolayer formation through three distinct steps: island nucleation, island growth, and coalescence. The fine-structure of the SAM revealed dendritic island formation - an observation which can be explained by attractive intermolecular interactions and diffusion-limited aggregation. Island growth was not observed on the "terraced" Au.</p><p>AFM studies of EBL patterned PEG SAMs on Au(111) revealed two different patterning mechanisms. At low doses, the pattern formation occurs by SAM ablation in a self-developing process where the feature depth is directly dose dependent. At higher doses electron beam induced deposition of material, so-called contamination writing, is seen in the ablated areas of the SAM. The balance between these two mechanisms is shown to depend on the geometry of the pattern.</p><p>In addition to PEG SAMs, fibronectin monolayers on SiO2 surfaces were patterned by EBL. The areas exposed with EBL lose their functionality and do not bind anti-fibronectin. With this approach we constructed fibronectin templates and used them for cell studies demonstrating pattern dependent cell geometries and cell adhesion.</p>

Ziele wie eine hohe Auflösung und ein hoher Durchsatz sind bisher in der Elektronenstrahllithografie nicht gleichzeitig erreichbar; es existieren daher die Belichtungskonzepte Gaussian-Beam und Variable-Shaped-Beam (VSB), die auf Hochauflösung respektive Durchsatz optimiert sind. In dieser Arbeit wird der experimentelle Kreuzvergleich beider Belichtungskonzepte mit Hilfe chemisch verstärkter und nicht verstärkter Lacksysteme präsentiert. Als quantitativer Parameter wurde die Gesamtunschärfe eingeführt, die sich durch quadratische Addition der auflösungslimitierenden Fehlerquellen, also Coulomb-Wechselwirkungen (Strahlunschärfe), Lackprozess (Prozessunschärfe) und Proximity-Effekt (Streuunschärfe), ergibt. Für den Vergleich wurden wohldefinierte Prozesse auf 300 mm Wafern entwickelt und umfassend charakterisiert. Weitere Grundlage ist die Anpassung oder Neuentwicklung spezieller Methoden wie Kontrast- und Basedosebestimmung, Doughnut-Test, Isofokal-Dosis-Methode für Linienbreiten und Linienrauheit sowie die Bestimmung der Gesamtunschärfe unter Variation des Fokus. Es wird demonstriert, dass sich mit einer kleineren Gesamtunschärfe die Auflösung dichter Linien verbessert. Der direkte Vergleich der Gesamtunschärfen beider Belichtungskonzepte wird durch die variable Strahlunschärfe bei VSB-Schreibern erschwert. Da für die Bestimmung der Gesamtunschärfe keine Hochauflösung nötig ist, wird das Testpattern mit größeren Shots belichtet und induziert somit eine größere Gesamtunschärfe. Es wird gezeigt, dass die Prozessunschärfe den größten Anteil der Gesamtunschärfe stellt. Außerdem spielt die Streuunschärfe bei Lackdicken kleiner 100 nm und Beschleunigungsspannungen von 50 kV oder größer keine Rolle. / Up to now, targets like high resolution and high throughput can not be achieved at the same time in electron beam lithography; therefore, the exposure concepts Gaussian-Beam and Variable-Shaped-Beam (VSB) exist, which are optimized for high resolution and throughput, respectively. In this work, the experimental cross-comparison of both exposure concepts is presented using chemically amplified and non-chemically amplified resist systems. For quantification the total blur parameter has been introduced, which is the result of the quadratic addition of the resolution limiting error sources, like Coulomb interactions (beam blur), resist process (process blur) and proximity-effect (scatter blur). For the comparison, well-defined processes have been developed on 300 mm wafers and were fully characterized. Further basis is the adaption or the new development of special methods like the determination of contrast and basedose, the doughnut-test, the isofocal-dose-method for line widths and line roughness as well as the determination of the total blur with variation of the focus. It is demonstrated, that the resolution of dense lines is improved with a smaller total blur. The direct comparison of the total blur values of both exposure concepts is complicated by the variable beam blur of VSB writers. Since high resolution is not needed for the determination of the total blur, the test pattern is exposed with larger shots on the VSB writer, which induces a larger total blur. It is shown that the process blur makes the largest fraction of the total blur. The scatter blur is irrelevant using resist thicknesses smaller than 100 nm and acceleration voltages of 50 kV or larger.

The continuing scaling of integrated circuits beyond 22nm technology node poses increasing challenges to Electromigration (EM) reliability for Cu on-chip interconnects. First, the width of Cu lines in advanced technology nodes is less than the electron mean free path which is 39nm in Cu at room temperature. This is a new size regime where any new scaling effect on EM is of basic interest. And second, the reduced line width necessitates the development of new methods to analyze the EM characteristics. Such studies will require the development of well controlled processes to fabricate suitable test structures for EM study and model verification. This dissertation is to address these critical issues for EM in Cu interconnects. The dissertation first studies the initial void growth under EM, which is critical for measurement of the EM lifetime and statistics. A method based on analyzing the resistance traces obtained from EM tests of multi-link structures has been developed. The results indicated that there are three stages in the resistance traces where the rate of the initial void growth in Stage I is lower than that in Stage III after interconnect failure and they are linearly correlated. An analysis extending the Korhonen model has been formulated to account for the initial void formation. In this analysis, the stress evolution in the line during void growth under EM was analyzed in two regions and an analytic solution was deduced for the void growth rate. A Monte Carlo grain growth simulation based on the Potts model was performed to obtain grain structures for void growth analysis. The results from this analysis agreed reasonably well with the EM experiments. The next part of the dissertation is to study the size effect on the electron wind force for a thin film and for a line with a rectangular cross section. The electron wind force was modeled by considering the momentum transfer during collision between electrons and an atom. The scaling effect on the electron wind force was found to be represented by a size factor depending on the film/line dimensions. In general, the electron wind force is enhanced with increasing dimensional confinement. Finally, a process for fabrication of Si nanotrenches was developed for deposition of Cu nanolines with well-defined profiles. A self-aligned sub-lithographic mask technique was developed using polymer residues formed on Si surfaces during reactive ion etching of Si dioxide in a fluorocarbon plasma. This method was capable to fabricate ultra-narrow Si nanotrenches down to 20nm range with rectangular profiles and smooth sidewalls, which are ideal for studying EM damage mechanisms and model verification for future technology nodes. / text

Block copolymers (BCPs) are an attractive alternative for patterning applications used to produce next-generation microelectronic devices. Advancements require the development of high interaction parameter χ BCPs that enable patterning at the sub-10 nm length scale. Several organosilicon BCPs were designed to both enhance χ and impart an inherent etch selectivity that facilitates pattern transfer processes. Increasing the BCP silicon content both increases χ and bolsters the etch resistance, providing a pathway to designing new high-χ materials. Unfortunately, the BCPs investigated are not amenable to thermal annealing because the organosilicon block preferentially segregates to an air/vacuum interface and drives orientation parallel to the surface. A series of spin-coatable, polarity-switching top coats (as well as other strategies) were developed to provide a “neutral” top interface and promote the perpendicular orientation of BCP domains. In addition, a methodology for evaluating the neutral condition, relying on thickness quantization and the corresponding wetting behavior (i.e. island/hole topography) of lamellae. The top coat strategy was demonstrated for several BCP systems, and perpendicular structures can successfully be etched on commercial tools and be transferred into underlying substrates. The interaction parameter χ was evaluated using two methods to compare the performance of several BCPs: the order-disorder transition (ODT) of symmetric diblock copolymers, and the absolute scattering profile of a disordered BCP melt. Both methods, while severely limited for quantitative comparison, indicate trends towards higher χ with additional appended polar and organosilicon functional groups. Furthermore, the pattern fidelity is shown to be a function of the overall BCP segregation strength. The free energy of confined lamella was modeled algebraically to produce response surface plots capable of identifying process conditions favorable for perpendicular orientation. Thickness independent perpendicular orientation is only favorable using two neutral interfaces. Incommensurate film thicknesses are the most favorable, with commensurability conditions dependent on the wetting behavior at each interface. The modeling was supplemented with an extensive body of thin film experimental work that qualitatively agrees well with the above conclusions.

Standard cells are fundamental circuit building blocks designed at very early design stages. Nanometer standard cells are prone to lithography proximity and process variations. How to design robust cells under variations plays a crucial role in the overall circuit performance and yield. This dissertation studies five related research topics in design and manufacturing co-optimization in nanometer standard cells. First, a comprehensive sensitivity metric, which seamlessly incorporates effects from device criticality, lithographic proximity, and process variations, is proposed. The dissertation develops first-order models to compute these sensitivities, and perform robust poly and active layout optimization by minimizing the total delay sensitivity to reduce the delay under the nominal process condition and by minimizing the performance gap between the fastest and the slowest delay corners. Second, a new equivalent source/drain (S/D) contact resistance model, which accurately calculates contact resistances from contact area, contact position, and contact shape, is proposed. Based on the impact of contact resistance on the saturation current, robust S/D contact layout optimization by minimizing the lithography variation as well as by maximizing the saturation current without any leakage penalty is performed. Third, this dissertation describes the first layout decomposition methods of spacer-type self-aligned double pattering (SADP) lithography for complex 2D layouts. The favored type of SADP for complex logic interconnects is a two-mask approach using a core mask and a trim mask. This dissertation describes methods for automatically choosing and optimizing the manufacturability of base core mask patterns, generating assist core patterns, and optimizing trim mask patterns to accomplish high quality layout decomposition in SADP process. Fourth, a new cell characterization methodology, which considers a random (line-edge roughness) LER variation to estimate the device performance of a sub-45nm design, is presented. The thesis systematically analyzes the random LER by taking the impact on circuit performance due to LER variation into consideration and suggests the maximum tolerance of LER to minimize the performance degradation. Finally, this dissertation proposes a design aware LER model which claims that LER is highly related to the lithographic aerial image fidelity and the neighboring geometric proximity. With a new LER model, robust LER aware poly layout optimization to minimize the leakage power is performed. / text