International audienceA chemically amplified resist based on a hyperbranched polymer resin is demonstrated for the first time. The hyperbranched polymer is synthesized using the atom-transfer radical polymerization (ATRP) technique, and resists prepared from this hyperbranched polymer present good pattern profiles and line-edge roughness (3 sigma) values comparable to those of the reference (commercial) resist

Next generations of microelectronic devices request further miniaturized systems. In this context, photolithography is a key step and many efforts have been paid to develop new irradiation setup and materials compatible with sub-100 nm resolution. Among other resist platforms, chemically amplified photoresists (CAR) are widely used because of their excellent properties in terms of resolution, sensitivity, and etching resistance. However, low information on the impact of the polymer structure on the lithography performance is available. CAR with well-controlled polymer structures were thus prepared and investigated. In particular, the impact of the polymer structure on the lithographic performance was evaluated. Linear and branched polymers with various molecular weights and polydispersities were compared. We focused on the dependency of the photosensitivity of the resist with the structural parameters. These results allow further understanding the fundamental phenomena involved by 193-nm irradiation.