Dewetting of resist/metal bilayers in resist stripping processes

Abstract

We report the observations of dewetting of resist/metal bilayers in a resist stripping process of nanofabrication in O2 plasma. The initiation of the dewetting process is tentatively associated with local heating caused by surface plasmon induced in metallic nanoparticles or nanowires. The surface patterns thus formed differ substantially from all the dewetting patterns reported so far, and they resemble trees at micrometer scale. The possible mechanism for the formation of this kind striking patterns is discussed and its implication to future nanoelectronics manufacturing is addressed.

Effects of Localized Electric Field on the Growth of Carbon Nanowalls

“…In fact, we could only find two of them after a rough search over the whole sample surface, which has a size of about 1 cm × 1 cm. This pattern is very similar to the one that we have observed in the dewetting processes of resist/metal bilayers in O 2 plasmas, which was also attributed to the surface plasmon effect . In most of the other circular regions the orientation of the nanowalls just ended in the circumference direction.…”

“…This pattern is very similar to the one that we have observed in the dewetting processes of resist/metal bilayers in O 2 plasmas, which was also attributed to the surface plasmon effect. 20 In most of the other circular regions the orientation of the nanowalls just ended in the circumference direction. It is interesting to note that the reorientation of nanowalls in an extremely localized region is possible when the surface plasmon encountered a defect.…”

Pattern Formation in Dewetting Poly(tert-butyl acrylate)/Polyhedral Oligomeric Silsesquioxane (POSS) Bilayer Films

“…36 Barnes et al have suggested the formation of fractal-like nanoparticle aggregates that suppress dewetting via contact line pinning in fullerene (C 60 )-filled polymer films; 21,22 however, the morphology of such aggregates has not been observed experimentally. The formation of localized "microtree" patterns has been reported for the dewetting of metal/resist bilayers during resist stripping processes, 43 but the mechanism of pattern formation in these systems is different from the formation of nanoparticle aggregates in the PtBA/TPP bilayers. In the metal/ resist bilayers, the dendritic structures arise from the simultaneous dewetting of both the metal and resist layers initiated by elevated temperatures at extremely localized areas in the absence of dewetting in the rest of the film.…”