New Directions in the Design of Chemically Amplified Resists

The design of a robust, manufacturable, deep-UV resist requires a fundamental understanding of the interactions between the varied components of such a material at a molecular level. Two factors that have a critical impact on the ability of a given resin to be used in a chemically amplified resist formulation are polymer/additive miscibility and inter- and intra-chain hydrogen bonding interactions. Experiments with trimethylsilyloxystyrene containing materials suggest that efficient chemically amplified resist systems should consist of a polar PAG and polar matrix in order to maximize the interaction between the photogenerated acid and the polymer. Similarly, intra- and intermolecular interactions between polymer chains may be important in determining the solubility characteristics of a matrix. For instance, the substitution pattern on a given chain will be shown to perturb hydrogen bonding interactions and concomitantly, dissolution characteristics. It will be demonstrated how issues such as those described above will affect resist performance and the groundwork will be laid for the design of resist chemistry through understanding and manipulation of polymer structure, molecular properties and synthetic methods.