Investigation of the Resistivity and Emissivity of a Pellicle Membrane for EUV Lithography

A pellicle is a thin membrane structure that protects an extreme ultraviolet (EUV) mask from contamination during the exposure process. However, its limited transmittance induces unwanted heating owing to the absorption of EUV photons. The rupture of the EUV pellicle can be avoided by improving its thermal stability, which is achieved by improving the emissivity of the film. However, the emissivity data for thin films are not easily available in the literature, and its value is very sensitive to thickness. Therefore, we investigated the dependence of emissivity on structural parameters, such as thickness, surface roughness, and grain size. We found a correlation between resistivity and emissivity using theoretical and experimental approaches. By changing the grain size of the Ru thin film, the relationship between resistivity and emissivity was experimentally verified and confirmed using the Lorentz–Drude model. Finally, we present a method to develop an EUV pellicle with better thermal stability that can withstand high-power EUV light sources.