Effects of electron-beam lithography on thin gate oxide reliability

In view of the rapid downscaling of design rules in CMOS technologies, current optical lithography tools are expected to be replaced with shorter wavelength lithography tools in the near future. One of the strong candidates for the next generation lithography tools is electron-beam (e-beam) lithography, in order to achieve the required fine geometry definition. However, e-beam irradiation of MOS structures can induce radiation damage, especially to the thin gate oxide. In this paper, the effects of e-beam lithography on thin gate oxide reliability are studied.