Role of counter-anion chemistry, free volume, and reaction byproducts in chemically amplified resists

Christopher M. Bottoms; Grant E. Bauman; Gila E. Stein; Manolis Doxastakis

doi:10.1117/1.JMM.22.3.034601

30 August 2023 Role of counter-anion chemistry, free volume, and reaction byproducts in chemically amplified resists

Christopher M. Bottoms, Grant E. Bauman, Gila E. Stein, Manolis Doxastakis

Journal of Micro/Nanopatterning, Materials, and Metrology, Vol. 22, Issue 3, 034601 (August 2023). https://doi.org/10.1117/1.JMM.22.3.034601

Abstract

Background

A fundamental understanding of the physical processes controlling deprotection in chemical amplified resists (CARs) is critical to improve their utility for high-resolution lithography.

Aim/Approach

We employ a combined experimental and computational approach to examine the impacts of excess free volume generation, reaction byproducts, catalyst clustering, and catalyst counter-anion chemistry/size on deprotection rates in a model terpolymer CAR.

Results

These studies demonstrate that catalyst diffusion can be enhanced by a combination of excess free volume and reaction byproducts, and that differences in the rotational mobility of the catalyst (controlled by counter-anion chemistry/size) play a key role in local reaction rates.

Conclusions

Our results highlight that while many top-down models may capture experimental deprotection kinetics in chemically amplified resists, these models may not capture the underlying physics of the system. This further supports the necessity of incorporating experimental or atomistic data in the development of such models and in their extension to models of lithography.

Citation Download Citation

Christopher M. Bottoms, Grant E. Bauman, Gila E. Stein, and Manolis Doxastakis "Role of counter-anion chemistry, free volume, and reaction byproducts in chemically amplified resists," Journal of Micro/Nanopatterning, Materials, and Metrology 22(3), 034601 (30 August 2023). https://doi.org/10.1117/1.JMM.22.3.034601

Received: 30 April 2023; Accepted: 2 August 2023; Published: 30 August 2023

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