Polymer Engineering Faculty Research

Title

Exposure Dose Effects on the Reaction-Diffusion Process in Model EUV Photoresists

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

Fall 2006

Abstract

The effect of exposure dose on the latent image deprotection profile in a model extreme ultraviolet(EUV)photoresistpolymer, poly(hydroxystyrene-co-d9-tert-butyl acrylate), is measured with neutron reflectometry. As the photoacid concentration is increased by exposure dose, the spatial extent of propagation increases but eventually becomes self-limited by the products of the reaction. A long-range deprotection path occurs with diffusion length between 10 and 100Å, while an additional subnanometer short-range deprotection length scale proceeds monotonically with dose. These measurements show that the photoacid diffusion length into unexposed regions of a photoresist is limited even in the absence of base quencher additives. These fundamental data can be used to highlight materials effects on photoresist processing and to improve quantitative models for EUVphotoresists needed at the sub-32‐nm half pitch lithography.

Volume

24

First Page

3044

Last Page

3047

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