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Studies on chemically-amplified resist (CAR) UVIII by X-ray lithography and Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy
Author
Teo, Sheryl Geok Hon
Supervisor
Tan, Augustine Tuck Lee
Abstract
Microelectronic devices for future applications demand lithographic performance that fall within the 100 nm region and below. Chemically amplified resists (CARS) such as the positive tone commercial UVIII resist offer a substantial gain in sensitivity, resolution, and process efficiency in deep ultraviolet, e-beam, and X-ray lithography. In this work, the UVIII resist is characterized for X-ray lithographic applications by studying the "deprotection" or acid generation-diffusion process of the resist under different conditions of post-exposure bake temperature and time, and of X-ray exposure time. The X-ray irradiation from a copper anode at the wavelength of 1.33 nm was at an intensity of 30 μW/cm2. The deprotection process of the resist during post-exposure bake was accurately monitored using Fourier Transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy. The infrared absorption peaks at 1151 cm-1, 1369 cm-1 and 2977 cm-1 in the spectrum of the UVIII resist were found to be useful indicators for the completion of acid generation-diffusion process. Results of the experiments showed that the performance of UVIII could be optimized at the post exposure bake (PEB) temperature of 140OC and time of 2 minutes, and X-ray exposure of 10 minutes. The results were confirmed by scanning electron microscopic (SEM) studies on UVIII structures, which were processed using the optimized conditions. Test structure as small as 120 nm was obtained in 1 p thick UVIII resist layer.
A paper titled " Characterisation of a Positive Tone Chemically Amplified Resist for Micromachining using X-ray lithography" by T. L. Tan, V. A. Kudryashov, S. Lee, B. L. Tan, G. H. Teo and P. Lee has been submitted recently to the International MEMS Workshop 2001, Singapore for publication.
A paper titled " Characterisation of a Positive Tone Chemically Amplified Resist for Micromachining using X-ray lithography" by T. L. Tan, V. A. Kudryashov, S. Lee, B. L. Tan, G. H. Teo and P. Lee has been submitted recently to the International MEMS Workshop 2001, Singapore for publication.
Date Issued
2001
Call Number
QD96.I5 Teo
Date Submitted
2001