Acid-breakable Resin-based Resist for Nanofabrication Electron-beam Lithography.

Abstract

A new chemical amplification positive resist system designed for nanofabrication electron-beam lithography is described. The positive resist system consists of an acidgenerator and an acid-breakable (AB) resin that can be converted to polyphenol fragments by an acid-catalyzed reaction. The AB resin is synthesized through a co-condensation reaction between polyphenol and aromatic multi-functional vinylether compounds (bisvinylether and trisvinylether compounds). Molecular weight (MW) of the AB resin increases with an increase in the vinylether feed ratio. A condensation reaction with a polyphenol/vinylether feed ratio of 100/50 results in a high MW (Mw>5000) AB resin which is insoluble in an alkali developer (tetramethylammonium hydroxide: 2.38 wt%). The acid-catalyzed fragmentation of the AB resin in the resist film was confirmed through gel permeation chromatography. The resist with the AB resin showed the high resolution of 80-nm line-and-space patterns with high sensitivity (5.0 µC/cm2 at 30 kV).

Acid-breakable-resin-based chemical amplification positive resist for 0.1-μm-rule reticle fabrication: design and lithographic performance

“…An AB resin (AB-1 ; Mw=185600, Mn=12600) was synthesized through a co-condensation reaction between alkali-soluble polyphenol and aromatic multi-functional vinyl ether compounds, as described in a previous paper [9]. The synthesis scheme of the AB resin is shown in Fig.…”

“…These factors suggest that using the novolak resin as a resist matrix limits the resist resolution in conjunction with the MWD and large-molecular-weight components. In order to obtain nanometer-scale resolution with suppression of LER, we have designed a new CA positive resist utilizing acid-breakable (AB) resin [9]. In this article, we describe AB resin-based CA positive resist (AB resist) suitable for mask fabrication.…”

Fundamental Studies of Acid-Breakable Resins for Chemical-Amplification Positive Resist Matrices.

“…An AB resin was synthesized through a cocondensation reaction between an alkali-soluble polyphenol and an aromatic multi-functional vinylether compound, as described in a previous paper [9]. In this experiment, we used an aromatic The AB resin was fractionated by the precipitation method [7].…”

“…For the previous paper [9], we measured the MWD of a model resist film consisting of TPPA-based AB resin (TPPA-ABR) before and after exposure.…”

“…To obtain nanometer-scale resolution while suppressing of LER, we have designed a new CA positive resist utilizing an acid-breakable (AB) resin [9]. The AB resin was synthesized by a cocondensation reaction between an alkali-soluble polyphenol and an aromatic mulri-functional vinylether (VE) compound.…”