TW202212984A - Substrate holder for use in a lithographic apparatus and a method of manufacturing a substrate holder - Google Patents

Abstract

Described herein is a method of producing a substrate holder for use in a lithographic apparatus, the substrate holder comprising a plurality of burls projecting from the substrate holder and each burl having a distal end surface configured to engage with a substrate. The method including applying, via a plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition, a coating of a wear-resistant material at the distal end surface of one or more burls of the plurality of burls. The applying of the coating includes adjusting radio frequency (RF) power of RF electrodes in a range 100 to 1000 W for creating plasma; and exposing, in a chamber, the one or more plurality of burls to a precursor gas at a gas flow rate between 20 to 300 sccm, the pre-cursor gas being Hexane.

Description

Substrate holder for use in lithography equipment and method of making substrate holder

The present disclosure relates to substrate holders for use in lithography equipment and methods of making substrate holders.

A lithography apparatus is a machine constructed to apply a desired pattern onto a substrate. Lithographic equipment can be used, for example, in the manufacture of integrated circuits (ICs). A lithography apparatus may, for example, project a pattern (also commonly referred to as a "design layout" or "design") of a patterned device (eg, a mask) onto a radiation-sensitive material (resist) disposed on a substrate (eg, a wafer). agent) layer.

As semiconductor manufacturing processes have continued to advance, the size of circuit elements has continued to shrink over the decades, while the amount of functional elements such as transistors per device has steadily increased, following what is commonly referred to as "Moore's Law" ( Moore's law)" trend. To satisfy Moore's Law, the semiconductor industry is seeking technologies that can produce smaller and smaller features. To project the pattern on the substrate, lithography equipment may use electromagnetic radiation. The wavelength of this radiation determines the minimum size of the features patterned on the substrate. Typical wavelengths currently in use are 365 nm (i-line), 248 nm (KrF), 193 nm (ArF) and 13.5 nm (EUV).

In a lithography apparatus, a substrate to be exposed (which may be referred to as a production substrate) is held on a substrate holder (sometimes referred to as a wafer table). The substrate holder is movable relative to the projection system. A substrate holder typically comprises a solid body made of rigid material and having dimensions in plane similar to the resulting substrate to be supported. The surface of the solid body facing the substrate is provided with a plurality of protrusions (called nodules). The distal surface of the nodule conforms to the plane and supports the substrate. Nodules offer several advantages: contaminant particles on the substrate holder or on the substrate may fall between the nodules and thus not cause deformation of the substrate; machining the nodules to have their ends conformed to the flat surface makes the solid body Flat surfaces are easier; and properties of nodules can be adjusted eg to control substrate clamping.

However, the nodules of the substrate holder wear out during use, eg, due to repeated loading and unloading of substrates. Uneven wear of the nodules can cause the substrate to be uneven during exposure, which can lead to reduced process windows and, in extreme cases, imaging and/or overlay errors. The manufacture of the substrate holder is expensive due to the extremely precise manufacturing specifications, thus requiring an extended working life of the substrate holder.

In embodiments, a method of fabricating a substrate holder for use in a lithography apparatus is provided. The substrate holder includes a plurality of nodules protruding from the substrate holder, and each nodule has a distal surface configured to engage a substrate. The method includes applying a coating of a wear resistant material to the distal surface of one or more of the plurality of nodules via a plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition. The applying of the coating includes adjusting radio frequency (RF) power of the RF electrodes in a range of 100 to 1000 W to generate plasma; and exposing the one or more plurality of nodules to a A precursor gas is hexane at a gas flow rate between 20 and 300 seem.

Furthermore, in embodiments, a method of fabricating a substrate holder for use in a lithography apparatus is provided. The substrate holder includes a plurality of nodules protruding from the substrate holder, and each nodule has a distal surface configured to engage a substrate. The method includes applying a coating of a wear resistant material to the distal surface of one or more of the plurality of nodules via a plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition. The coating of the coating includes adjusting radio frequency (RF) power of the RF electrodes in a range of 50 to 750 W to generate plasma; and exposing the one or more plurality of nodules to 10 in a chamber A precursor gas at a gas flow rate between 100 sccm, the precursor gas system acetylene.

Furthermore, in an embodiment, a substrate holder is provided for use in a lithography apparatus and configured to support a substrate. The substrate holder includes a main body having a main body surface and a plurality of nodules protruding from the main body surface. Each nodule has a distal surface configured to engage the substrate. The distal surfaces of the nodules are substantially coincident with a support plane and are configured to support the substrate; and the distal surfaces of one or more of the plurality of nodules are coated with a resistant An abrasive material having a hardness in a range of 20 to 27 GPa or 25 to 35 GPa and a corrosion rate in a range of 0.1 to 2 nm/hr. The corrosion rate was measured by chronoamperometry in a three-electrode electrochemical cell with a potential difference of approximately +2.5 V between the working electrode and the counter electrode and applied relative to the reference electrode in dilute NaCl solution.

Although the present disclosure describes features herein with reference to illustrative embodiments of specific applications, it should be understood that the invention is not limited thereto. Those skilled in the art having access to the teachings provided herein will recognize additional modifications, applications, and embodiments within their scope and additional fields in which the present invention will have significant utility.

In this disclosure, the terms "mask" or "patterning device" as used herein may be interpreted broadly to refer to a general patterning device that can be used to impart a patterned cross-section to an incident light beam, patterned The cross section corresponds to the pattern to be created in the target portion of the substrate; the term "light valve" can also be used in this context. In addition to classical masks (transmissive or reflective; binary, phase-shift, hybrid, etc.), examples of other such patterning devices include: - Programmable mirror array. An example of such a device is a matrix addressable surface with a viscoelastic control layer and a reflective surface. The underlying rationale for this device is, for example, that addressed regions of the reflective surface reflect incident radiation as diffracted radiation, while unaddressed regions reflect incident radiation as undiffracted radiation. With the use of suitable filters, this non-diffracted radiation can be filtered from the reflected beam, leaving only diffracted radiation; in this way, the beam becomes patterned according to the addressing pattern of the matrix addressable surface. The desired matrix addressing can be performed using suitable electronic means. More information on such mirror arrays can be gleaned, for example, from US Pat. Nos. 5,296,891 and 5,523,193, which are incorporated herein by reference. - Programmable LCD array. An example of this construction is given in US Patent No. 5,229,872, incorporated herein by reference.

As a brief introduction, FIG. 1 illustrates an exemplary lithographic projection apparatus 10A. The main components are radiation source 12A, which may be a deep ultraviolet excimer laser source or other types of sources including extreme ultraviolet (EUV) sources (as discussed above, the lithographic projection apparatus need not have a radiation source itself); illumination optics , which defines partial coherence (expressed as standard deviation) and may include optics 14A, 16Aa, and 16Ab that shape radiation from source 12A; patterning device 18A; and transmissive optics 16Ac that pattern an image of the device pattern Projected onto the substrate plane 22A. An adjustable filter or aperture 20A at the pupil plane of the projection optics can define a range of beam angles impinging on the substrate plane 22A, where the largest possible angle defines the numerical aperture of the projection optics NA=sin( _Θmax ).

In a lithographic projection apparatus, a source provides illumination (ie, light); projection optics direct and shape the illumination via a patterning device, and project the illumination onto a substrate. Here, the term "projection optics" is broadly defined to include any optical component that modifies the wavefront of a radiation beam. For example, projection optics may include at least some of components 14A, 16Aa, 16Ab, and 16Ac. The aerial image (AI) is the radiation intensity distribution at the substrate level. The resist layer on the substrate is exposed, and the aerial image is transferred to the resist layer as a latent "resist image" (RI) therein. The resist image (RI) can be defined as the spatial distribution of the solubility of the resist in the resist layer. Resist models can be used to calculate resist images from aerial images, an example of which can be found in commonly assigned US Patent Application No. 12/315,849, the disclosure of which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety. The resist model is only related to the properties of the resist layer (eg, effects of chemical processes that occur during exposure, PEB, and development). The optical properties of the lithographic projection apparatus (eg, properties of the source, patterning device, and projection optics) dictate the aerial image. Since the patterning device used in the lithographic projection apparatus can be varied, it is desirable to separate the optical properties of the patterning device from the optical properties of the rest of the lithographic projection apparatus including at least the source and projection optics.

In this document, the terms "radiation" and "beam" are used to encompass all types of electromagnetic radiation, including ultraviolet radiation (eg, having wavelengths of 365, 248, 193, 157 or 126 nm) and EUV (extreme ultraviolet radiation, For example with wavelengths in the range of 5 to 20 nm).

Furthermore, the lithographic projection apparatus may be of the type having one or more substrate holders, eg, two substrate holders (and/or one or more patterning device stages, eg, two patterning device tables). In such "multi-stage" devices, additional stages can be used in parallel, or the preparation steps can be performed on one or more stages while one or more other stages are used for exposure. A dual-stage lithography projection apparatus is described, for example, in US 5,969,441, which is incorporated herein by reference.

In a lithography apparatus (eg, FIG. 1 ), a substrate to be exposed (which may be referred to as a production substrate) is held on a substrate holder (sometimes referred to as a wafer table or substrate holder). The substrate holder WT is designed to precisely position the substrate during exposure. The substrate stage (eg, WT in Figures 2A and 3A) can be moved relative to the projection apparatus. A substrate holder typically comprises a solid body made of rigid material and having dimensions in plane XY similar to the production substrate to be supported. The surface of the solid body facing the substrate is provided with a plurality of protrusions or protrusions (called nodules). The distal surface of the nodule (see Figure 3B) conforms to the flat plane and supports the substrate. Nodules offer several advantages: contaminant particles on the substrate holder or on the substrate may fall between the nodules and thus not cause deformation of the substrate; machining the nodules to have their ends conformed to the flat surface makes the solid body Flat surfaces are easier; and properties of nodules can be adjusted eg to control substrate clamping. In embodiments, the nodules reduce the contact area, thereby reducing friction and adhesion between the substrate holder WT and the substrate W.

However, the nodules of the substrate holder wear out during use, eg, due to repeated loading and unloading of substrates. Uneven wear of the nodules results in unevenness of the substrate during exposure (e.g., out-of-spec surface profile in the z-direction), which can lead to reduced process windows and, in extreme cases, imaging and/or overlay errors . The manufacture of the substrate holder is expensive due to the extremely precise manufacturing specifications, thus requiring an extended working life of the substrate holder.

Some substrate holders may be provided with a diamond-like carbon coating (DLC) on the body, which is typically SiC or SiSiC. However, wear, oxidation and unstable friction of DLC-coated nodules are believed to be significant problems causing degradation of the substrate holder.

Therefore, there is a need to coat the substrate holder, or at least the nodules of the substrate holder, with a coating such as diamond or other superhard material. However, available manufacturing CVD techniques such as those used for diamond growth require higher deposition temperatures (400 to 1200° C.), which may generate higher thermal stress and thus lead to bending of the substrate holder. This in turn would require additional time-consuming manufacturing steps to make the substrate holder meet flatness specifications.

2A and 2B illustrate the loading and unloading of substrates W onto and from substrate holder WT by means of wafer handler WH. The substrate holder WT generally has a plurality of knobs for supporting the substrate W. For example, over 10,000 nodules are provided on top of the substrate holder WT, which are in contact with the substrate W. When the substrate W is first loaded onto the substrate holder WT in preparation for exposure, the substrate W is held by three or more ejector pins (e-pins) of the substrate W (eg, two pins are labeled PI1 and PI2) support. When the substrate is positioned on the e-pin, the wafer handler WH re-tracks. To hold and support the substrate W on the substrate holder WT during stepping and scanning, the substrate W is clamped on a nodule (eg, see FIGS. 2A and 3A ). The clamping mechanism may include, for example, vacuum forces in DUV or electrostatic forces in EUV.

Although the substrate W is held by the e-pins, the substrate's own weight and the stress of the treated layer and backside coating will cause the substrate W to deform, eg, become convex or concave. To load the substrate W onto the substrate holder WT, the e-pins are retracted so that the substrate W is supported by the nodules of the substrate holder WT. As the substrate W is lowered onto the nodules of the substrate holder WT, the substrate W will contact at some locations (eg, near the edge) before other locations (eg, near the center). Any friction between the nodules (see Figures 2C-2F) and the lower surface of the substrate W can prevent the substrate from fully relaxing into a flat, unstressed state. This can lead to focus and overlay errors during exposure of substrate W.

Thicker layers on the wafer create curved wafers, e.g. wafers that are bent to 400 µm. These deviations lead to stack-up defects on the wafer due to misalignment and deformed patterns. When the arcuate wafer is loaded and clamped on the substrate holder WT, in-plane stress is introduced. 2C-2F illustrate an example loading sequence of substrates W and friction between nodules and substrates W. FIG. Sequence of loading wafers from the e-pins to the substrate holder WT or Electrostatic Chuck (ESC). For example, wafer W on e-pin travels down to substrate table WT (see FIG. 2C ), curved wafer W′ touches substrate holder WT on the edge (see FIG. 2D ), wafer W is clamped in onto the substrate holder WT (see FIG. 2E ) and stress-locked into the wafer ( FIG. 2F ). In this case, the combination of wafer shape, coefficient of friction, and normal force causes WLG problems, such as positioning errors relative to the reference grid.

The substrate holder WT is usually made of a ceramic material, such as silicon carbide (SiC) or SiSiC (a material with SiC particles in a silicon matrix). This ceramic material can be easily processed into the desired shape using conventional manufacturing methods. When loading and unloading substrates from the substrate holder WT, the ceramic material can wear out rapidly. The relatively high coefficient of friction of the ceramic material also prevents the substrate W from relaxing into a flat, unstressed state when loaded onto the substrate holder WT.

3A and 3B, in an embodiment, one or more nodules 310 of the substrate holder WT include a nodule body 312 coated with a coating 311 of a wear resistant material (eg, diamond-like carbon (DLC)) . This coating 311 is resistant to wear and reduces friction between the substrate holder and the substrate W. In one example, the DLC can be deposited directly onto the nodules of the substrate holder WT. In one example, DLC can be deposited directly onto the entire substrate holder WT. Deposition of DLC is possible at temperatures below 300°C. Temperatures over 300°C risk damage to the substrate holder.

In an embodiment, the coating 311 may include a first coating and a second coating of a wear resistant material (eg, DLC). The first coating and the second coating may include features similar to those of coating 311 . The first coating can be deposited directly onto the substrate holder such that the substrate holder will be coated by the first coating. The second coating can be deposited onto the first coating. The second coating may comprise a different composition and/or different properties than the first coating as described herein.

The inventors have recognized that the performance of such DLC-coated substrate holders does not meet substrate performance specifications (eg, flatness, focus, and alignment) using existing coating techniques (wear and corrosion of the substrate holder at the substrate the underlying factors of the focus and overlay problems). The DLC deposited on the substrate holder WT (those areas configured to contact the substrate) wear out about 10 times faster than required, thus requiring regrinding and readjustment of the substrate holder earlier than the required operating period. In an embodiment, the performance of the substrate holder WT is measured by parameters such as wafer loading grid (WLG) and flatness.

Deterioration of the substrate holder WT results in a limited life, so it may be necessary to replace the substrate holder WT or trim the surface in advance. The substrate retainer can be worn in the flatness and smoothness of the top of the nodule, eg, a flower pattern. This source of degradation can be chemical wear, mechanical wear, or a combination thereof. Current substrate holder WT designs with DLC coatings exhibit significant WLG drift and flatness degradation. For example, due to wear, the WLG drift rate is 20 nm/1 million substrate passes, and the flatness is degraded to 10 nm/1 million. In the examples, wear refers to the combination of all wear.

In an embodiment, the coating 311 is configured to improve substrate holder performance by reducing mechanical and chemical wear through high coating hardness and corrosion inertness. An improved DLC coating process or improved DLC coating as described in this disclosure reduces WLG drift from current values such as 20 nm/1 million substrate passes to below 15 nm/1 million substrate passes . The DLC coatings described herein can also improve flatness degradation such as from mechanical wear. For example, flatness degradation can also be reduced from 10 nm/1 megasubstrate pass to less than 7 nm/1 megasubstrate pass.

According to an embodiment, flatness degradation occurs due to non-uniform wear of the DLC coating due to clamping and de-clamping of a larger number of substrates. The mechanics of the process impose higher lateral displacements on the periphery of the substrate holder WT, thus causing higher edge wear. Such non-uniform wear of the coating is responsible for the degradation and flatness of the substrate holder, reducing process yield and resulting in the need for early substrate holder replacement and machine downtime. Therefore, the coating process should be tailored to produce coating compositions with high hardness and wear properties to minimize edge wear and maximize substrate holder WT life.

According to an embodiment, a low coefficient of friction is required to minimize WLG. Most commercially available coatings (eg, DLC coatings) can meet specifications during the early stages of their use on WT nodules. However, increasing the number of substrate passes removes the top surface roughness of the nodules, thus allowing the substrate to adhere to the substrate WT via, for example, Van der Waals and capillary forces. This chemical adhesion of the substrate to the top surface of the nodule causes an increase in the coefficient of friction and WLG. The increase in WLG translates directly into a stack-up problem, which reduces process yield and forces an early replacement of the substrate holder WT in the field.

The present disclosure describes an improved coating composition and manner of coating a substrate holder. For example, the coating can be performed using a parallel-plate plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PE-CVD) reactor. The discharge setting for PE-CVD was that the RF power of the RF electrode was about 1500 W and the hexane gas flow was 300 seem or more. However, using such processes, existing a-c:H DLC coatings have hardnesses of about 21 GPa or less and corrosion rates of 2.7 nm/h or more. According to this example, an improved coating hardness of 23 GPa or more and a corrosion rate of 1.1 nm/h or less were obtained.

In an embodiment, referring to FIG. 4 , a fabrication process for coating a substrate is described in further detail below. Through a series of experiments, it has been found that when hexane is used as the source gas, reducing the RF power increases the corrosion resistance of the membrane for a given gas flow rate. Furthermore, when this reduction in RF power is coupled with a reduction in gas flow rate, the resulting films will have excellent corrosion resistance as well as high hardness values. As discussed herein, the substrate holder WT includes a plurality of nodules protruding from the substrate holder (eg, see FIG. 3B ) and each nodule has a distal surface configured to engage the substrate.

In an embodiment, operation P401 includes applying, via plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition, a coating of a wear resistant material at a distal surface of one or more of the plurality of nodules. In an embodiment, operation P401 includes several sub-operations, such as P403 and P405.

In an embodiment, operation P403 includes adjusting the radio frequency (RF) power of the RF electrodes in the range of 100 to 1000 W to generate plasma. In an embodiment, operation P403 includes exposing the one or more plurality of nodules in the chamber to a precursor gas at a gas flow rate between 20 and 300 sccm (eg, 20 to 200 sccm), the precursor gas Department of hexane. In an embodiment, the chamber has a geometry described with respect to the distance between the different components inside the chamber. For example, the distance or diameter inside the chamber (eg, see D1 in Figure 5), the distance between the top of the chamber and the turntable TT (eg, see D2 in Figure 5), the substrate holder and gas distribution Distance between lines (see D3 in Figure 5) or other suitable geometric measurement. In one example, in FIG. 5, distance D1 may be approximately 23 inches, distance D2 may be approximately 6 inches, and distance D3 may be approximately 5.25 inches. It will be appreciated that the geometry of the chamber is presented by example and other geometries of the chamber may be used.

In an embodiment, the operation P401 of applying the coating further includes adjusting one or more process parameters, including at least one of the following: a vacuum level of the chamber in which the substrate holder is placed, the vacuum level being 1 x 10 ^-3 to 5 x 10 ^-2 mbar; or the turntable speed of the table on which the substrate holder is placed, the turntable speed being in the range of 5 to 100 rpm.

In an embodiment, the coating with the wear resistant material is such that the distal surface of the one or more plurality of nodules further has at least one of the following properties: a coefficient of friction of the resulting coating, which is in the range of 0.05 to 0.5; The surface of the resulting coating, which has a spot of light less than 10 nm and thickness uniformity across a plurality of nodules of the substrate holder within 10% of the coating thickness with a diameter of 300 mm or less; or wafer Loading grid, which is in the range of 0.1 to 1.5 nm, the wafer loading grid is the relative positioning error of the substrate with respect to the reference.

In an embodiment, the wear resistant material is one of diamond-like carbon (DLC). In an embodiment, the DLC comprises: (i) B, N, Si, O-, F, S doped DLC, and/or (ii) metal doped DLC doped with Ti, Ta, Cr, W, Fe, Cu, Nb, Zr, Mo, Co, Ni, Ru, Al, Au or Ag. In embodiments, combinations of DLC materials may be used to form wear resistant materials.

In an embodiment, the coating of the wear resistant material is such that the distal surface of the one or more nodules has hardness properties in the range of 20 GPa to 27 GPa and a hardness in the range of 0.1 nm/hr to 1.5 nm/hr Corrosion rate properties characterized by chronoamperometry measured in a three-electrode electrochemical cell with a potential difference of approximately +2.5 V between the working and counter electrodes and applied in dilute NaCl solution versus a reference electrode. Coatings using hexane can include 50 to 65% ^sp3 and 25 to 35% hydrogen.

In an embodiment, hardness is measured by the nanoindentation method, wherein the measurements are performed using a nano-DMA transducer using a diamond berkovich tip and the indentation depth is maintained below 10% of the coating thickness. In an embodiment, the thickness of the coating is between 200 nm and 3 microns.

In an embodiment, method 400 further includes operation P410, which includes cleaning the plurality of nodules with argon (Ar) gas prior to applying the coating. In an embodiment, the cleaning step includes generating a plasma using Ar gas at approximately 1000 W RF power; the Ar gas flow rate is adjusted between 75 seem for 100 seconds. In an embodiment, the method 400 further includes gradually decreasing the Ar flow rate while simultaneously increasing the hexane flow rate; and gradually tuning the RF power between 100 and 1000 W to apply the coating.

In embodiments, method 400 may be performed for different precursor gases (eg, acetylene gases) and process settings, as discussed below. For example, method 400 may be modified as follows. Operation P401 includes applying, via plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition, a coating of a wear resistant material at a distal surface of one or more of the plurality of nodules. The application of the coating includes (eg, as modified at operation P403) adjusting the radio frequency (RF) power of the RF electrodes in the range of 50 to 750 W to generate the plasma; and placing one or more of the plurality of tumors in the chamber. The nodes are exposed to a precursor gas, which is acetylene, at a gas flow rate between 10 and 100 seem (eg, as modified at run P405). In embodiments, coatings using acetylene produce coatings with relatively high hardness (compared to hexane), eg, greater than 25 to 35 GPa, and can achieve corrosion resistance between 0.1 to 2 nm/hr sex. Coatings using acetylene may include 60 to 80% ^sp3 and 20 to 30% hydrogen.

In embodiments, applying the coating may further include adjusting one or more process parameters including at least one of the following: a vacuum level of the chamber in which the substrate holder is placed, the vacuum level being at 1× In the range of 10 ^-3 to 5 x 10 ^-2 mbar; or the turntable speed of the table on which the substrate holder is placed, which is in the range of 5 to 100 rpm. In an embodiment, the coating with the wear resistant material is such that the distal surface of the one or more plurality of nodules further has at least one of the following properties: a coefficient of friction of the resulting coating, which is in the range of 0.05 to 0.5; The surface of the resulting coating, which has a spot of light less than 10 nm and thickness uniformity across a plurality of nodules of the substrate holder within 10% of the coating thickness with a diameter of 300 mm or less; or wafer Loading grid, which is in the range of 0.1 to 1.5 nm, the wafer loading grid is the relative positioning error of the substrate with respect to the reference.

In an embodiment, method 400 may be modified such that a first coating using hexane as a precursor gas as previously described and a second coating using acetylene as a precursor gas as previously described are applied to a plurality of tumors at the distal surface of one or more of the nodules. For example, referring to FIG. 3B, the first coating may comprise a coating using hexane and the second coating may comprise a coating using acetylene. A coating using hexane as a precursor gas can be applied to the distal surface of one or more of the plurality of nodules and a second coating using hexane as a precursor gas can be applied to the first on the coating. In one example, method 400 may include applying a first coating of wear resistant material via plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition at a distal surface of one or more of the plurality of nodules. Applying the first coating may include adjusting the radio frequency (RF) power of the RF electrodes in the range of 100 to 1000 W to generate the plasma; and exposing the one or more plurality of nodules to 20 to 300 in the chamber The precursor gas was hexane at a gas flow rate between sccm. The first layer may include features similar to those of the previously described coatings using hexane. Method 400 may further include applying a second coating of wear resistant material via plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition to the distal surface of one or more of the plurality of nodules (eg, to the first a coating). Applying the second coating may include adjusting the radio frequency (RF) power of the RF electrodes in the range of 50 to 750 W to generate the plasma; and exposing the one or more plurality of nodules to 10 to 100 in a chamber A precursor gas, which is acetylene, is at a gas flow rate between sccm. The second coating may include features similar to those of the previously described coatings using acetylene.

In an embodiment, method 400 may be modified to provide a precursor gas selected from the group consisting of cyclohexane, n-hexane, or a mixture of carbon and hydrogen rich gases. For example, the mixture of carbon-rich and hydrogen-rich gases includes at least one of acetylene and methane, acetylene and hexane, acetylene and cyclohexane, or acetylene and hydrogen. Depending on the precursor gas, the process parameters of PE-CVD can be adjusted so that nodules with coatings with hardness greater than 21 GPa and corrosion resistance between 0.1 and 2 nm/hr can be achieved.

In embodiments, the coating of wear resistant material includes, but is not limited to, diamond, WC, CrN, and TiN. The above coatings can be deposited on various types of ceramic or glass substrates, including but not limited to Si, CVD, by depositing thinner adhesion layers such as Cr, CrN and other coatings with known good adhesion to DLC coatings -Si SiC, SiSiC, CVD-SiC, zerodur, ULE, fused silica, BK-7 and Corning XG glass substrates.

5 illustrates an example reactor 500 for performing a plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition process to apply a coating on a substrate holder. The PE-CVD process requires tight control of a large number of parameters to achieve the desired coating properties. By way of example, control parameters include, but are not limited to, pressure p , airflow, emission excitation frequency f , power P . During deposition, overall plasma parameters generally control the rate at which chemically active molecular fragments - radicals and energetic species such as electrons and ions are generated and accelerated under electrical potential towards the surface of the substrate exposed to the plasma. Even for relatively simple gas mixtures, several plasmonic reactions take place and several new coating species are produced. However, most reaction rates are not readily available, making theoretical simulations of the process inefficient and inaccurate. Therefore, experimental methods of process optimization are used to determine process recipes that yield desired material properties.

In Figure 5, a PE-CVD reactor 500 contains a chamber CBR in which PE-CVD is performed on a substrate holder WT. Place the substrate holder WT on the turntable TT. The speed of the turntable TT is controlled during the coating process of the substrate holder WT. The chamber CBR also contains the plasma generated therein. In an embodiment, the plasma is generated by controlling the radio frequency (RF) power of the RF electrodes. For example, the RF power may be between 100 to 1000 W or 50 to 750 W.

The chamber CBR comprises a gas distribution line GD via which the precursor gas is supplied in the chamber CBR. In embodiments, the gas is hexane, acetylene, or other gas discussed herein. In one example, the gas flow rate of hexane is controlled between 20 and 300 sccm, while the RF power is controlled between 100 and 1000 W. In another example, the gas flow rate of acetylene is controlled between 10 and 100 seem and the RF power may be between 50 and 750 W.

In an embodiment, the reactor 500 may be connected to a vacuum system VS to control the vacuum level of the chamber CBR. In an embodiment, the reactor 500 is connected to a gas inlet through which gases such as argon (Ar) and oxygen (O) can be supplied to the chamber CBR. In an embodiment, a gas may be supplied to clean the substrate holder WT prior to applying the coating on the substrate holder WT.

In an embodiment, PE-CVD reactor 500 includes optical modulation spectroscopy (OMS) that can be used to study CVD growth on substrate holder WT. In an embodiment, the reactor 500 is water-cooled to control the temperature of the turntable TT.

In an embodiment, the chamber has the geometry described with respect to the different components inside the chamber. For example, the geometry can be characterized as the distance D1 or diameter D1 inside the chamber, the distance D2 between the top of the chamber and the turntable TT, the distance D3 between the substrate or turntable and the gas distribution line (see FIG. 5 ). D3) or other suitable geometric measurements. In an example, in FIG. 5, distance D1 may be approximately 23 inches, distance D2 may be approximately 6 inches, and distance D3 may be approximately 5.25 inches. It will be appreciated that the geometry of the chamber is presented by example and other geometries of the chamber may be used.

Supporting Examples 1, 2, and 3 of the process parameters used in the PE-CVD process and resulting coatings are discussed below.

In Example 1, Si and SiSiC substrates (eg, nodules) were coated with an approximately 650 nm DLC film using hexane as the source gas. This coating run was performed using a hexane flow rate of 150 seem and an RF power of 750 W. The resulting coating was uniform and dense. The hardness of these coatings was measured between 23±1.5 GPa using a hysitron nano-indenter equipped with a diamond Berkovich tip at a maximum contact depth of <50 nm. In addition, the corrosion characteristics of these coatings were characterized using chronoamperometry measured in a dilute NaCl solution in a three-electrode electrochemical cell with a +2.5 V potential difference between the working and opposing electrodes and applied relative to the reference electrode. The calculated corrosion rate was determined to be 1.1 nm/hr. These values indicate an approximately 15% and 250% increase in hardness and corrosion resistance, respectively, when compared to standard DLC coatings deposited using factory-set power and airflow parameters of approximately 1500 W and 300 seem, respectively.

In Example 2, Si and SiSiC substrates (eg, nodules) were coated with an approximately 650 nm DLC film using acetylene as the source gas. This coating run was performed using an acetylene flow rate of 50 seem and an RF power of 300 W. The resulting coating was uniform and dense. The hardness of these coatings was measured between 28±1.5 GPa using a hysitron nano-indenter equipped with a diamond Berkovich tip at a maximum contact depth of <50 nm. In addition, the corrosion characteristics of these coatings were characterized using chronoamperometry measured in a dilute NaCl solution in a three-electrode electrochemical cell with a +2.5 V potential difference between the working and opposing electrodes and applied relative to the reference electrode. The calculated corrosion rate was determined to be 1.6 nm/hr. These values indicate an approximately 40% and 250% increase in hardness and corrosion resistance, respectively, when compared to standard DLC films deposited using factory-set power and airflow parameters of approximately 1500 W and 300 seem, respectively.

In Example 3, Si and SiSiC substrates (eg, nodules) were coated with an approximately 650 nm DLC film using acetylene as the source gas. This coating run was performed using an acetylene flow rate of 30 seem and an RF power of 150 W. The resulting coating was uniform and dense. The hardness of these coatings was measured between 31±1.5 GPa using a hysitron nano-indenter equipped with a diamond Berkovich tip at a maximum contact depth of <50 nm. In addition, the corrosion characteristics of these coatings were characterized using chronoamperometry measured in a dilute NaCl solution in a three-electrode electrochemical cell with a +2.5 V potential difference between the working and opposing electrodes and applied relative to the reference electrode. The calculated corrosion rate was determined to be 1.6 nm/hr. These values indicate an approximately 40% and 250% increase in hardness and corrosion resistance, respectively, when compared to standard DLC films deposited using factory-set power and airflow parameters of approximately 1500 W and 300 seem, respectively.

In an embodiment, a substrate holder fabricated according to the method of FIG. 4 is provided (see, eg, FIGS. 3A and 3B ). A substrate holder for use in a lithography apparatus and configured to support a substrate, the substrate holder including a body (eg, SiSiC) having a body surface and a plurality of nodules protruding from the body surface. In an embodiment, each nodule has a distal surface configured to engage the substrate; the distal surface of the nodule is substantially congruent with the support plane and configured to support the substrate; and a plurality of wear resistant materials are coated The distal surface of one or more of the nodules has a hardness in the range of 20 to 27 GPa or 25 to 35 GPa and a corrosion rate in the range of 0.1 to 2 nm/hr, the corrosion rate being determined by Chronoamperometry measurements as measured in a three-electrode electrochemical cell with a +2.5 V potential difference between the working electrode and the counter electrode and applied against the reference electrode in dilute NaCl solution. In an embodiment, the distal surface has a hardness in the range of 20 to 27 GPa and a corrosion rate in the range of 0.1 to 2 nm/hr.

As previously discussed, the distal surface has a hardness in the range of 25 to 35 GPa and a corrosion rate in the range of 0.1 to 1.5 nm/hr. As discussed previously, hardness is measured by, for example, nanoindentation. Measurements were performed using a nano-DMA transducer using a diamond berkovich tip and the indentation depth was kept below 10% of the coating thickness. In an embodiment, the thickness of the coating is between 200 nm and 3 microns. In an embodiment, the wear resistant material is one of diamond-like carbon (DLC). In an embodiment, the DLC comprises: (i) B, N, Si, O-, F, S doped DLC, and/or (ii) metal doped DLC doped with Ti, Ta, Cr, W, Fe, Cu, Nb, Zr, Mo, Co, Ni, Ru, Al, Au or Ag.

In embodiments, the distal surface further has at least one of the following properties: a coefficient of friction of the resulting coating, which is in the range of 0.05 to 0.5; a surface of the resulting coating, which has nano-bumps less than 10 nm, and Thickness uniformity across a plurality of nodules of a substrate holder within 10% of the coating thickness for diameters of 300 nm or less; or wafer loading grids within the range of 0.1 to 1.5 nm The circular loading grid is the relative positioning error of the substrate with respect to the reference.

Although the concepts disclosed herein can be used for imaging on substrates such as silicon wafers, it should be understood that the disclosed concepts can be used with any type of lithographic imaging system, such as for use on substrates other than silicon wafers lithography imaging systems for imaging on the

Embodiments may be further described using the following clauses. 1. A method of producing a substrate holder for use in a lithography apparatus, the substrate holder comprising a plurality of nodules protruding from the substrate holder, and each nodule has a distal surface configured to engage with a substrate, the Methods include: applying a coating of wear-resistant material to the distal surface of one or more of the plurality of nodules via plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition, The application of the coating includes: Adjusting the radio frequency (RF) power of the RF electrodes in the range of 100 to 1000 W to generate plasma; and One or more plural nodules are exposed in the chamber to a precursor gas, which is hexane, at a gas flow rate between 20 and 300 seem. 2. The method of clause 1, wherein applying the coating further comprises: Adjust one or more process parameters, including at least one of the following: The vacuum of the chamber in which the substrate holder is placed, which is in the range of 1 x 10-3 to 5 x 10-2 mbar; or The turntable speed of the stage on which the substrate holder is placed, the turntable speed being in the range of 5 to 100 rpm. 3. The method of any one of clauses 1 to 2, wherein the coating with wear-resistant material causes the distal surface of the one or more plurality of nodules to further have at least one of the following properties: the coefficient of friction of the resulting coating, which is in the range of 0.05 to 0.5; The surface of the resulting coating having a spot of light less than 10 nm and a thickness uniformity across the plurality of nodules of the substrate holder within 10% of the coating thickness with a diameter of 300 nm or less; or The wafer loading grid, which is in the range of 0.1 to 1.5 nm, is the relative positioning error of the substrate with respect to the reference. 4. The method of any of clauses 1 to 3, wherein the wear resistant material is diamond-like carbon (DLC). 5. The method of clause 4, wherein the DLC comprises: (i) a B, N, Si, O, F, S doped DLC, and/or (ii) a metal doped DLC doped with Ti, Ta, Cr, W, Fe, Cu, Nb, Zr, Mo, Co, Ni, Ru, Al, Au or Ag. 6. The method of any one of clauses 1 to 5, wherein the coating of wear-resistant material is such that the distal surface of the one or more nodules has a hardness property in the range of 20 GPa to 27 GPa and a hardness of 0.1 Corrosion rate properties in the range of nm/hr to 2 nm/hr measured by potentiostat chronoamperometry in dilute NaCl solution at approximately +2.5 V. 7. The method of any one of clauses 1 to 6, wherein hardness is measured by nanoindentation, wherein the measurement is performed using a diamond berkovich tip using a nanoDMA transducer and the indentation depth is maintained at the coating thickness 10% or less. 8. The method of any one of clauses 1 to 7, wherein the thickness of the coating is between 200 nm and 3 microns. 9. The method of any one of clauses 1 to 8, further comprising: The multiple nodules were cleaned with argon (Ar) gas prior to applying the coating. 10. The method of clause 9, wherein cleaning further comprises: Plasma generation using Ar gas at approximately 1000 W RF power; Adjust the Ar gas flow rate between 75 sccm for 100 seconds. 11. The method of clause 10, further comprising: gradually decreasing the Ar flow rate while simultaneously increasing the hexane flow rate; and The RF power was gradually tuned between 100 W and 1000 W to apply the coating. 12. The method of any one of clauses 1 to 11, wherein the chamber has a geometric shape characterized by: the diameter of the interior of the chamber; the distance between the top of the chamber and the turntable; and/or The distance between the substrate or turntable and the gas distribution line. 13. A method of producing a substrate holder for use in a lithography apparatus, the substrate holder comprising a plurality of nodules protruding from the substrate holder, each nodule having a distal end surface configured to engage a substrate, the Methods include: applying a coating of wear-resistant material to the distal surface of one or more of the plurality of nodules via plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition, The application of the coating includes: Adjusting the radio frequency (RF) power of the RF electrodes in the range of 50 to 750 W to generate plasma; and One or more plural nodules are exposed in the chamber to a precursor gas, which is acetylene, at a gas flow rate between 10 and 100 seem. 14. The method of clause 13, wherein the applying of the coating further comprises: Adjust one or more process parameters, including at least one of the following: The vacuum of the chamber in which the substrate holder is placed, which is in the range of 1 x 10-3 to 5 x 10-2 mbar; or The turntable speed of the stage on which the substrate holder is placed, the turntable speed being in the range of 5 to 100 rpm. 15. The method of any one of clauses 13 to 14, wherein the coating with a wear-resistant material causes the distal surface of the one or more plurality of nodules to further have at least one of the following properties: the coefficient of friction of the resulting coating, which is in the range of 0.05 to 0.5; The surface of the resulting coating having nano-bumps of less than 10 nm and thickness uniformity across the plurality of nodules of the substrate holder within 10% of the coating thickness with a diameter of 300 nm or less; or The wafer loading grid, which is in the range of 0.1 to 1.5 nm, is the relative positioning error of the substrate with respect to the reference. 16. The method of any one of clauses 13 to 15, wherein the wear resistant material is diamond-like carbon (DLC). 17. The method of clause 16, wherein the DLC comprises: (i) B, N, Si, O, F, S doped DLC, and/or (ii) metal doped DLC doped with Ti, Ta, Cr, W, Fe, Cu, Nb, Zr, Mo, Co, Ni, Ru, Al, Au or Ag. 18. The method of any one of clauses 13 to 17, wherein the coating of the wear resistant material is such that the distal surface of the one or more nodules has hardness properties in the range of 25 GPa to 35 GPa and at 0.1 nm Corrosion rate properties in the range of /hr to 2 nm/hr measured by chronoamperometry in a three-electrode electrochemical cell with a potential difference of approximately +2.5 V between the working and counter electrodes and in dilute NaCl solutions applied relative to the reference electrode. 19. The method of any one of clauses 13 to 18, wherein hardness is measured by nanoindentation, wherein the measurement is performed using a diamond berkovich tip using a nanoDMA transducer and the indentation depth is maintained at the coating thickness 10% or less. 20. The method of any one of clauses 13 to 19, wherein the thickness of the coating is between 200 nm and 3 microns. 21. The method of any one of clauses 13 to 20, further comprising: The multiple nodules were cleaned with argon (Ar) gas prior to applying the coating. 22. The method of clause 21, wherein cleaning further comprises: Plasma generation using Ar gas at approximately 1000 W RF power; Adjust the Ar gas flow rate between 75 sccm for 100 seconds. 23. The method of clause 22, further comprising: gradually decreasing the Ar flow rate while simultaneously increasing the hexane flow rate; and The RF power was gradually tuned between 100 W and 1000 W to apply the coating. 24. The method of any one of clauses 13 to 23, wherein the chamber has a geometric shape characterized by: the diameter of the interior of the chamber; the distance between the top of the chamber and the turntable; and/or The distance between the substrate or turntable and the gas distribution line. 25. A substrate holder for use in a lithography apparatus and configured to support a substrate, the substrate holder comprising: a body having a body surface; A plurality of nodules projecting from the surface of the body, wherein: each nodule has a distal surface configured to engage the substrate; The distal surface of the nodule is substantially coincident with the support plane and is configured to support the substrate; and The distal surface of one or more of the plurality of nodules coated with wear-resistant material has a hardness in the range of 20 to 27 GPa or 25 to 35 GPa and in the range of 0.1 to 2 nm/hr The corrosion rate was measured by chronoamperometry in a three-electrode electrochemical cell with a potential difference of approximately +2.5 V between the working electrode and the counter electrode and applied against the reference electrode in dilute NaCl solution. 26. The substrate holder of any of clause 25, wherein the distal surface has a hardness in the range of 20 to 27 GPa and a corrosion rate in the range of 0.1 to 2 nm/hr. 27. The substrate holder of any of clause 26, wherein the distal surface has a hardness in the range of 25 to 35 GPa and a corrosion rate in the range of 0.1 to 1.5 nm/hr. 28. The substrate holder of any of clauses 25 to 27, wherein the distal surface further has at least one of the following properties: the coefficient of friction of the resulting coating, which is in the range of 0.05 to 0.5; The surface of the resulting coating having nano-bumps of less than 10 nm and thickness uniformity across the plurality of nodules of the substrate holder within 10% of the coating thickness with a diameter of 300 nm or less; or The wafer loading grid, which is in the range of 0.1 to 1.5, is the relative positioning error of the substrate with respect to the reference. 29. The substrate holder of any one of clauses 25 to 28, wherein the hardness is measured by nanoindentation, wherein the measurement is performed using a diamond berkovich tip using a nanoDMA transducer and the indentation depth is maintained within the coating less than 10% of the layer thickness. 30. The method of any one of clauses 25 to 29, wherein the thickness of the coating is between 200 nm and 3 microns. 31. The substrate holder of any one of clauses 25 to 30, wherein the wear resistant material is one of diamond-like carbon (DLC). 32. The substrate holder of clause 31, wherein the DLC comprises: (i) B, N, Si, O, F, S doped DLC, and/or (ii) metal doped DLC doped with Ti, Ta, Cr, W, Fe, Cu, Nb, Zr, Mo, Co, Ni, Ru, Al, Au or Ag. 33. A method of producing a substrate holder for use in a lithography apparatus, the substrate holder comprising a plurality of nodules protruding from the substrate holder, each nodule having a distal end surface configured to engage a substrate, the Methods include: applying a first coating of wear resistant material to the distal surface of one or more of the plurality of nodules via plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition, The application of the first coat includes: Adjusting the radio frequency (RF) power of the RF electrodes in the range of 100 to 1000 W to generate plasma; and exposing the one or more plurality of nodules in the chamber to a precursor gas, which is hexane, at a gas flow rate between 20 and 300 seem; applying a second coating of wear-resistant material to the distal surface of one or more of the plurality of nodules via plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition, The application of the second coat includes: Adjusting the radio frequency (RF) power of the RF electrodes in the range of 50 to 750 W to generate plasma; and One or more plural nodules are exposed in the chamber to a precursor gas, which is acetylene, at a gas flow rate between 10 and 100 seem.

The above description is intended to be illustrative, not restrictive. Accordingly, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that modifications as described may be made without departing from the scope of the claimed scope as set forth below.

10A: lithography projection equipment 12A: Radiation source 14A: Optics 16Aa: Optics 16Ab: Optics 16Ac: Transmission Optics 18A: Patterning device 20A: Adjustable filter/aperture 22A: Substrate plane 310: Nodules 311: Coating 312: main body of nodules 400: Method 500: Reactor CBR: Chamber D1: Distance D2: Distance D3: Distance GD: Gas distribution line P401: Operation P403: Sub-operation P405: Sub-operation P410: Operation PI1: pin PI2: pin TT: Turntable VS: Vacuum System W: substrate/wafer W': Arc Wafer WH: Wafer Processor WT: Substrate Holder

Embodiments will now be described, by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:

1 is a block diagram of various subsystems of a lithography system according to an embodiment.

2A illustrates a substrate or wafer loaded via an electrostatic clamp (ESC) on a substrate holder, also known as a wafer table (WT), supported on e-pins in an unloaded position, according to an embodiment;

2B illustrates a substrate in a loading position on a substrate holder, according to an embodiment;

2C-2F illustrate the sequence of loading a substrate onto a substrate holder according to an embodiment;

3A illustrates a substrate loaded on a substrate holder, the surface of which includes a roughened nodule on which the substrate is placed, according to an embodiment;

3B is an example nodule of the substrate holder of FIG. 3A according to an embodiment;

4 is a flowchart of a method for fabricating a substrate holder according to an embodiment;

5 illustrates an example plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition setup according to one embodiment;

Embodiments will now be described in detail with reference to the drawings, which are provided as illustrative examples to enable those skilled in the art to practice the embodiments. Notably, the figures and examples below are not intended to limit the scope to a single embodiment, but other embodiments are possible by way of interchange of some or all of the described or illustrated elements. Wherever possible, the same reference numbers will be used throughout the drawings to refer to the same or like parts. Where certain elements of these embodiments may be partially or fully implemented using known components, only those parts of such known components necessary to understand the embodiments will be described and will be omitted other parts of known components are described in detail so as not to obscure the description of the embodiments. In this specification, embodiments showing a singular element should not be considered limiting; rather, unless expressly stated otherwise herein, the scope is intended to encompass other embodiments including a plurality of the same element, and vice versa. Furthermore, applicants do not intend to ascribe uncommon or special meanings to any term in this specification or the scope of the claim, unless expressly set forth as such. Additionally, the scope encompasses present and future known equivalents of the components mentioned herein by way of description.

400: Method

P401: Operation

P403: Sub-operation

P405: Sub-operation

P410: Operation

Claims (20)

A method of producing a substrate holder for use in a lithography apparatus, the substrate holder comprising a plurality of nodules protruding from the substrate holder, and each nodule has a distal end configured to engage a substrate end surface, the method includes: applying a coating of a wear-resistant material to the distal surface of one or more of the plurality of nodules via a plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition, The coating of the coating comprises: Adjust the radio frequency (RF) power of the RF electrodes in a range of 100 to 1000 W to generate plasma; and The one or more plurality of nodules are exposed in a chamber to a precursor gas, which is hexane, at a gas flow rate between 20 and 300 seem. The method of claim 1, wherein the coating of the coating further comprises: Adjust one or more process parameters, including at least one of the following: a vacuum of the chamber in which the substrate holder is placed, the vacuum being in a range of 1 x 10-3 to 5 x 10-2 mbar; or A turntable speed of the one on which the substrate holder is placed, the turntable speed being in a range of 5 to 100 rpm. The method of any one of claims 1 to 2, wherein the coating with the wear-resistant material causes the distal surface of the one or more nodules to further have at least one of the following properties: a coefficient of friction of the resulting coating in the range of 0.05 to 0.5; A surface of the resulting coating having a spot of light less than 10 nm and a thickness of the plurality of nodules across the substrate holder within 10% of a coating thickness of a diameter of 300 nm or less a thickness uniformity; or A wafer loading grid, which is in a range of 0.1 to 1.5 nm, is a relative positioning error of the substrate with respect to a reference. The method of any one of claims 1 to 2, wherein the wear resistant material is a type of diamond carbon (DLC). The method of claim 4, wherein the DLC comprises: (i) B, N, Si, O, F, S doped DLC, and/or (ii) metal doped DLC doped with Ti, Ta , Cr, W, Fe, Cu, Nb, Zr, Mo, Co, Ni, Ru, Al, Au or Ag. The method of any one of claims 1 to 2, wherein the coating of the wear resistant material causes the distal surfaces of the one or more nodules to have a hardness in the range of 20 GPa to 27 GPa Properties and a corrosion rate property in the range of 0.1 nm/hr to 2 nm/hr measured by a potentiostat chronoamperometry in dilute NaCl solution at approximately +2.5 V Measurement. The method of any one of claims 1 to 2, wherein the hardness is measured by a nanoindentation, wherein the measurements are performed using a diamond berkovich tip using a nanoDMA transducer and a The indentation depth was kept below 10% of the coating thickness. The method of any one of claims 1 to 2, further comprising: The plurality of nodules are cleaned with argon (Ar) gas prior to applying the coating, wherein the cleaning further comprises using the Ar gas to generate a plasma at about 1000 W RF power and adjusting the Ar gas flow rate between 75 sccm , hold for 100 seconds. The method of claim 8, further comprising: gradually decreasing the Ar flow rate while simultaneously increasing the hexane flow rate; and The RF power was gradually tuned between 100 W and 1000 W to apply the coating. The method of any one of claims 1 to 2, wherein the chamber has a geometry characterized by: a diameter inside one of the chambers; a distance between a top of the chamber and a turntable; and/or A distance between a substrate or turntable and the gas distribution line. A method of producing a substrate holder for use in a lithography apparatus, the substrate holder comprising a plurality of nodules protruding from the substrate holder, and each nodule has a distal end configured to engage a substrate end surface, the method includes: applying a coating of a wear-resistant material to the distal surface of one or more of the plurality of nodules via a plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition, The coating of the coating comprises: Adjust the radio frequency (RF) power of the RF electrodes in a range of 50 to 750 W to generate plasma; and The one or more plurality of nodules are exposed in a chamber to a precursor gas, which is acetylene, at a gas flow rate between 10 and 100 seem. The method of claim 11, wherein the coating of the coating further comprises: Adjust one or more process parameters, including at least one of the following: a vacuum of the chamber in which the substrate holder is placed, the vacuum being in a range of 1 x 10-3 to 5 x 10-2 mbar; or A turntable speed of the one on which the substrate holder is placed, the turntable speed being in a range of 5 to 100 rpm. The method of any one of claims 11 to 12, wherein the coating with the wear-resistant material causes the distal surface of the one or more nodules to further have at least one of the following properties: a coefficient of friction of the resulting coating in the range of 0.05 to 0.5; A surface of the resulting coating having nano-bumps less than 10 nm and the plurality of nodules across the substrate holder within 10% of a coating thickness of a diameter of 300 nm or less a thickness uniformity of the section; or A wafer loading grid, which is in a range of 0.1 to 1.5 nm, is a relative positioning error of the substrate with respect to a reference. The method of any one of claims 11 to 12, wherein the wear resistant material is diamond-like carbon (DLC), wherein the DLC comprises: (i) DLC doped with B, N, Si, O, F, S, and/or (ii) metal-doped DLC doped with Ti, Ta, Cr, W, Fe, Cu, Nb, Zr, Mo, Co, Ni, Ru, Al, Au or Ag. The method of any one of claims 11 to 12, wherein the coating of the wear resistant material causes the distal surfaces of the one or more nodules to have a hardness in a range of 25 GPa to 35 GPa properties and a corrosion rate property in the range of 0.1 nm/hr to 2 nm/hr by chronoamperometry in a three-electrode electrochemical cell with a potential difference of approximately +2.5 V between the working electrode and the opposing electrode The method of measurement is applied against a reference electrode in dilute NaCl solution. The method of any one of claims 11 to 12, wherein the hardness is measured by a nanoindentation, wherein the measurements are performed using a diamond berkovich tip using a nanoDMA transducer and an indentation The depth is kept below 10% of the coating thickness. The method of any one of claims 11 to 12, further comprising: The plurality of nodules are cleaned with argon (Ar) gas prior to applying the coating, wherein the cleaning further comprises using the Ar gas to generate a plasma at about 1000 W RF power and adjusting the Ar gas flow rate between 75 sccm , hold for 100 seconds. The method of claim 17, further comprising: gradually decreasing the Ar flow rate while simultaneously increasing the hexane flow rate; and The RF power was gradually tuned between 100 W and 1000 W to apply the coating. The method of any one of claims 11 to 12, wherein the chamber has a geometry characterized by: a diameter inside one of the chambers; a distance between a top of the chamber and a turntable; and/or A distance between a substrate or turntable and the gas distribution line. A substrate holder for use in a lithography apparatus and configured to support a substrate, the substrate holder comprising: a body having a body surface; a plurality of nodules projecting from the body surface, wherein: each nodule has a distal surface configured to engage the substrate; The distal surfaces of the nodules are substantially coincident with a support plane and are configured to support the substrate; and The distal surfaces of one or more of the plurality of nodules coated with wear-resistant material have a hardness in a range of 20 to 27 GPa or 25 to 35 GPa and a hardness of 0.1 to 2 nm A corrosion rate in the range of /hr measured by chronoamperometry in a three-electrode electrochemical cell with a potential difference of approximately +2.5 V between the working and counter electrodes and in dilute NaCl solution relative to A reference electrode is applied.

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