Hyper-NA EUV lithography: challenges and opportunities for advanced interconnect patterning
BackgroundContinued device scaling beyond high numerical aperture (NA) EUV (NA=0.55) resolution motivates the exploration of “hyper-NA” EUV lithography systems (NA≥0.75), which promise improved contrast and resolution but introduce stronger mask 3D effects, increased polarization sensitivity, and reduced depth of focus...