Optimizing performance in cross-linking negative-tone molecular resists

摘要

Many different types of non-traditional resist designs have shown promise for future generations of patterning, but there is a greater need for understanding and developing additives and ancillary materials for these novel resists compared to traditional polymeric positive tone systems which are quite mature. With the goal of meeting some of these needs, we carried out multiple different studies of negative tone molecular resists based on epoxide cross-linking. We have developed methods for controlling cross-linking in these materials using photo-decomposable nucleophiles (PDNs) which have shown resolution improvements in one resist from 26 nm down to 18 nm so far. Aqueous base developed systems have been made by introducing phenol groups to these resists. Although the first molecule designed successfully patterns in aqueous base, its performance is limited compared to organic solvent development. A series of di-functional epoxide molecular resists have been made and generally show much worse sensitivity than a four-functional epoxide resist. Underlayers (ULs) have been designed specifically to leverage the high reactivity of epoxides to create ULs that can cross-link to the resist. These ULs improve the adhesion of some of these molecular resists, but also show significant sensitivity improvements compared to imaging on bare silicon. Sensitivity in one resist was improved by 5-12 mJ/cm~2 simply by using the UL.