Holistic statistical models for stochastic behaviors in lithography processes

There is a question about whether the level of EUV resist processes has reached that of DUV regarding resolution capability and stochasticity. This paper introduces a directional graph network model to explain the statistical nature of lithography and the problems in EUVL. High-performance natures of lithography processes are explained as the characteristics of the network based on the multi-photon/multi-reaction induced molecular solubility-switching and collaborative molecular dissolution processes. However, they become dysfunctional due to inhomogeneous event generations and increasing ratios of molecular sizes to pattern sizes in EUVL. The network model also opens the path to full statistical probabilistic lithography simulations.