US EPA

2866264 

Journal Article 

Depth profile and line-edge roughness of low-molecular-weight amorphous electron beam resists 

Hirayama, T; Shiono, D; Matsumaru, S; Ogata, T; Hada, H; Onodera, J; Arai, T; Sakamizu, T; Yamaguchi, A; Shiraishi, H; Fukuda, H; Ueda, M 

2005 

Yes 

Japanese Journal of Applied Physics
ISSN: 0021-4922
EISSN: 1347-4065 

44 

7B 

5484-5488 

English 

10.1143/JJAP.44.5484 

WOS:000232029300041 

We have investigated the possibility of using amorphous low-molecular-weight polyphenols as chemically amplified positive-tone electron-beam, (EB) resists. Low-molecular-weight polyphenol, 4,4 '-methylenebis[2-[di(2-methyl-4-hydroxy-5-cyclohexylphenyl)]methyl] phenol,(3M6C-MBSA) as a base matrix, was protected by I-ethoxyethyl (EE) groups to control the dissolution rate in aqueous 0.26 N tetramethylammonium hydroxide developer. The film distribution in the depth direction for resist components determined with time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectometry (TOF-SIMS) and the Fourier amplitude spectra of line-edge roughness (LER) have been investigated to understand the relationship between them for the resists formulated with 3M6C-MBSA and two photo-acid generators (PAG), triphenylsulfoniurn perfluoro-l-butanesulfonate (TPS-PFBS) and triphenylsulfonilum n-octanesulfonate (TPS-nOS). From these results, it was found that the resist film consisting of TPS-nOS showed more homogeneity in the depth direction of the film than did TPS-PFBS, which showed low surface energy and diffused easily to the resist surface through the matrix during a coating and post-applied bake step. The resist with TPSnOS indicated a lower LER value of 5.1 nm in the wide frequency range, especially in the lower frequency region below 10 mu m(-1). Therefore, the homogeneity of the film is one of important factors for LER control. 

chemically amplified positive-tone resist; amorphous polyphenol; low molecular weight; line-edge roughness; homogeneous; depth profile