Recent advances in the single-layer resist for forming finer patterns have led us to a search for new resist materials for the ArF excimer laser. We describe a novel, environmentally friendly, single-layer resist based on a menthyl methacrylate terpolymer which has good dry etch resistance and high transparency in the wavelength region of ArF emission.
This paper concerns the acid evaporation caused by the baking treatment of chemically amplified resists. The evaporation of photogenerated acid during the post-exposure-baking (PEB) process was measured as a spectral change of indicator film that consisted of polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) and tetrabromophenol blue sodium salt (TBPB). Using this method, it was observed that the amount of evaporated acid depended on the pre-baking and PEB conditions. A high temperature pre-baking before exposure reduced the amount of evaporated acid. By contrast, a high temperature PEB accelerated the acid evaporation, and the thickness of the insoluble layer increases with increasing PEB temperature. These results suggest that acid evaporation is concerned with the formation of the insoluble layer.
Naphthalene-containing chemically amplified resists for ArF excimer laser exposure
are proposed, based on the concept of the absorption band shift by conjugation extension.
Newly developed ArF excimer resists show a high transparency at 193 nm wavelength, a
high sensitivity and a high contrast. The sensitivity of the resist is 150 mJ/cm2,
which is 20 times greater than that of poly(methylmethacrylate) (PMMA). Furthermore, a 0.16 µ m
pattern could be successfully fabricated by an ArF excimer laser stepper with 0.55 numerical
aperture (N
A) projection lens.
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