Novel polymeric anionic photo-acid generators (PAGs) and photoresists for sub-100-nm patterning by 193-nm lithography

A series of new anionic PAGs, as well as PAG bound polymers designed for use in 193 nm photoresist materials have been synthesized and characterized. These novel materials provide optical transparency at 193 nm and also etch resistance. The fluorine substituted PAG bound polymer and PAG blend resist provided 110 nm (220 nm pitch) line/space at 11.5, 13.0 mJ/cm², and 80 nm isolated features at 3, 1 mJ/cm², respectively. The LER (3&sgr;) results showed the fluorinated PAG bound polymer have LER values 6.7 nm and 6.8 nm for isolated 80 nm and dense 110 nm lines respectively, which were lower than the PAG Blend polymers