A commercial electron beam machine has been used in conjunction with high contrast resists to define patterns with dimensions close to the minimum beam diameter of 0.1 μ on a range of solid substrates. This has required a detailed knowledge of the beam-substrate interactions in order to control linewidth. The electron scattering profiles in thin resist layers have been experimentally determined for substrates of Si, GaAs, InP, and Au on Si, and for beam voltages between 10 and 50 kV. These experimental results have been correlated with empirical models of electron scattering. It has been found that the simple double Gaussian model is inadequate at these dimensions, and the addition of an exponential term is necessary to fit data adjacent to the primary beam. Exposures have been modeled using this three term approximation, and the resultant lithography predicted by taking account of resist contrast. Routine fabrication of asymmetric 0.46 μm period gratings on InGaAsP substrates, used in the manufacture of distributed feedback lasers, has been possible, while experimental nonperiodic structures of 0.1–0.2 μ dimensions have been made on Si and InP. The reduction of backscattering by a multilevel resist system on Si has been studied with planarizing layer thicknesses up to 2 μm, and beam voltages of 20 and 30 kV.
Synthesis and lithographic characterization of a series of negative acting electron sensitive resists based on poly(4-methylstyrenexo-chloromethylstyrene) are reported. The sensitivity and contrast of these resists were found to depend on the chloroniethylstyrcnc (CMS) content and an optimum value of 5wt% was determined from consideration of parameters associated with the reproducibility of the synthetic method and also the lithographic performance. Both the sensitivity and resolution were found to depend on the molecular weight and CMS content of the copolymer. Several methods of scale up for the synthesis were explored, the route having a very significant influence on the film formation characteristics of the resists. The reactivity ratios of the monomers were measured in order that the compositional drift, which occurs during the synthesis, could be quantified. The effect of solvent composition and molecular weight of the copolymer were explored in relation to the quality of the resulting lithography. These studies have indicated that the copolymer has the potential of being used as a VLSI sub-micron resist with good plasma etch resistance.
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