We report the preparation of discrete nanometer-scale zinc-based clusters and use them to form sub-15 nm structures by means of extreme ultraviolet lithography. By taking advantage of a metal-containing building unit derived by a metal–organic frameworkMOF-2, we found the 3-methyl-phenyl-modified Zn-mTA cluster that formed is well-defined with controlled size and structure and demonstrates extremely high solubility. Progress in recent years in metal–organic frameworks has created a rich variety of metal-containing structures that are useful for numerous applications. Substitution of the bridging ligands with monovalent ligands produces a discrete metal–organic cluster that strongly interacts with soft X-rays at a wavelength of 13 nm. Here we describe the design, preparation, computational modeling, and physical characterization of these new materials. Such metal-containing structures may form the basis of photoresists that enable the next generation of microelectronic devices.

The first catalytic intermolecular [2 + 2] cycloaddition of terminal alkynes with electron-deficient alkenes is reported. The reaction proceeds with an 8-quinolinolato rhodium/phosphine catalyst system to give cyclobutenes from various substrates having polar functional groups in high yields with complete regioselectivity.

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An efficient method for synthesis of E-enamines by the anti-Markovnikov addition of secondary amines to terminal alkynes is described. The reaction of a variety of aryl- and heteroarylacetylenes proceeded at room temperature using a combination of a 8-quinolinolato rhodium complex and P(p-MeOC(6)H(4))(3) as a catalyst. The products were obtained as enamines by simple bulb-to-bulb distillation.

Most advanced microelectronic devices are made by using 193 nm immersion lithography systems, but it is difficult to follow the rapid development of semiconductors due to their approaching physical limits. Extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography which uses a shorter wavelength (i.e., 13.5 nm) light source can offer a way to print features under a 20 nm HP. EUV lithography requires photoresists that utilize EUV photons because photons generated by EUV exposure are fewer than photons generated by 193 nm light exposure. In this paper, our recent progress in metal oxide photoresist research will be discussed.

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A prerequisite for good photoresists is high sensitivity, but unfortunately highly sensitive resists are usually accompanied by line roughness. Even if understanding what is causing roughness in resists were not completely in its infancy, we still have not achieved complete answers and effective solutions to these issues. Our group has been working with Zr-based and Hf-based resists almost one decade now and has shown that these resists have incredibly high sensitivity. At the same time, we have shown that these resists after development possess scumming issues and increased roughness. And while we have managed to deal with these scumming issues by employing a variety of strategies, we did not succeed in improving roughness; we have changed our processing method and decreased our size distribution to get a material with more well-defined structure compared to the starting material, but roughness remains. What we are investigating now, is whether a well-defined Zr-monocrystal cluster could be the answer to our problem.