Improved Lithographic Performance for EUV Resists Based on Polymers having a Photoacid Generator (PAG) in the Backbone

Thiyagarajan, Muthiah; Dean, Kim; Consalves, Kenneth E.

doi:10.2494/photopolymer.18.737

Cited by 56 publications

(30 citation statements)

References 19 publications

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“…These properties, however, have been found to be inversely related, a relationship commonly referred to as the RLS trade-off [1]. To overcome the RLS trade-off, the lithographic community is investigating alternative resist platforms such as molecular glasses [2][3][4], polymer-bound photoacid generators (PAGs) [5][6][7], and chain-scission polymers [8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Chain-Scission Polyethers for EUV Lithography

Cardineau

Garczynski

Earley

et al. 2013

J. Photopol. Sci. Technol.

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This paper describes the synthesis of acid-catalyzed chain-scission polymers and the lithographic results of these polymers in extreme ultraviolet (EUV) resist formulations. These platforms incorporate acid-catalyzed cleavable groups into the polymer backbone. Upon exposure to EUV light and bake, the polymer is transformed from high to low molecular weight segments in the exposed regions. Two polymers were made into resist formulations and tested at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratories. One of these resists appeared to have highresolution capabilities with modulation down to 14 nm h/p lines.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Chain-Scission Polyethers for EUV Lithography

Cardineau

Garczynski

Earley

et al. 2013

J. Photopol. Sci. Technol.

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“…These polymer-bound PAGs were shown to be efficient acid generators. 19 Further work on both hydroxystyrene 20 and methacrylate 21 based terpolymers showed high resolution imaging with the promise of reduced LWR. This promise of reduced LWR led us to investigate several different cation-bound and anion-bound PAGs by our resist deconstruction methodology whereby film IMR was determined at various depths into developed resist for both monomeric and polymer-bound PAGs.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

PAG segregation during exposure affecting innate material roughness

Fedynyshyn

Astolfi

Cabral

et al. 2009

Advances in Resist Materials and Processing Technology XXVI

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We have developed an improved AFM-based technique to measure intrinsic material roughness (IMR) after base development. We have investigated the contribution of different polymeric PAGs to IMR. These polymeric PAGs include copolymers of several styrenic PAGs with hydroxystyrene. The IMR of these polymer-bound PAGs is reduced relative to that of their nonpolymeric counterparts with DUV exposure. Theses results represent further evidence for PAG segregation during the bake steps as being responsible for increased IMR in exposed resists, presumably by increasing the dissolution rate inhomogeneity on a nano-scale level. The work also shows that the effects of PAG segregation can be mitigated by employing polymer-bound PAGs.

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“…[13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20] These polymerbound PAGs are designed to improve lithographic performance in two ways:…”

Section: Pag Attachmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

LER Limitations of Resist Thin Films

Cardineau

Early

Fujisawa³

et al. 2012

J. Photopol. Sci. Technol.

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This paper describes fundamental studies of the degradation of LER in EUV resists as a function of film thickness. This research focused on the influence of three variables on this LER film thickness problem:  Substrate interaction (primed silicon vs. organic underlayer)  Changes in optical density (variations in fluorine content)  PAG attachment (bound and unbound)Our experimental approach struck a balance between using resists prepared by commercial resist vendors and using open-source resists with custom-designed polymers to address specific variables listed above. One key feature of this research was our development of a mathematical method for evaluation of the extent of the LER deviation in thin films, called φ LER .Our results showed that the effect of substrate was not significant for two different resists (one commercial and one open source). Additionally, we found that increasing optical density actually made the LER degradation (φ LER ) worse-which was contrary to what was predicted by other researchers. Most significant was our demonstration that PAG attachment plays the most important role in the degradation of LER in thinner resist films; polymer-bound PAGs showed a dramatic 3X improvement in φ LER over a similar blended system.

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Improved Lithographic Performance for EUV Resists Based on Polymers having a Photoacid Generator (PAG) in the Backbone

Cited by 56 publications

References 19 publications

Chain-Scission Polyethers for EUV Lithography

Chain-Scission Polyethers for EUV Lithography

PAG segregation during exposure affecting innate material roughness

LER Limitations of Resist Thin Films

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