Towards a 1000W-compatible EUV pellicle

EUV lithography has been adopted worldwide for High-Volume Manufacturing (HVM) of sub-10nm node semiconductors. To support HVM, EUV pellicles were introduced by ASML in 2016. More recently, novel pellicle materials have successfully been developed and introduced to offer higher transmission and support higher source powers. With the EUV source power roadmap moving towards 800W and even 1000W, in combination with the stringent imaging requirements of upcoming nodes, these pellicles will be challenged to the extreme. This paper will give an overview of current status of EUV pellicles, and of options to achieve a 1000W-compatible EUV pellicle. Both Si-based composite pellicles and CNT-based pellicles will be presented. Robustness against high EUV power and EUV-induced hydrogen plasma will be discussed, as well as transmission, imaging, and overlay.