Spin coating in semiconductor lithography: Advances in modeling and future prospects

With the development of advanced integrated circuit technologies, semiconductor manufacturing processes have become increasingly important. Photolithography is one of the most critical and costly steps in chip manufacturing, and the quality of the photoresist film formed during the subprocess of spin-coating significantly impacts photolithography performance. The thickness of photoresist films ranges from several hundred nanometers to tens of micrometers, with uniformity requirements typically within ±1 %. These stringent specifications pose significant challenges to the stability and precision of the spin coating process. This review outlines the research progress on spin-coating and discusses various model-building methods, including theoretical analysis, experimentation, simulation, and machine learning. The paper highlights new experimental approaches and recent advancements aimed at optimizing the spin-coating process under different conditions.