Initial Stage of Nanoscale Imaging in Positive Tone Extreme UV Photoresists: The Influence of the Polymer Sequence
Frances A. Houle, William Hinsberg, Jacob R. Milton, Qi Zhang, Cheng Wang, Samuel M. Blau
TL;DR
This paper studies how polymer chain structures in EUV photoresists affect early nanoscale imaging processes, finding that polymer sequence has little impact on initial radiolytic reactions.
Contribution
The study introduces a computational model to evaluate the influence of polymer sequence on radiolytic spur formation in EUV photoresists.
Findings
Polymer sequence has no significant effect on the composition of radiolytic spurs.
Electron thermalization predictions align with existing literature, validating the computational approach.
Potential imaging improvements likely arise from postimaging steps rather than initial polymer structure.
Abstract
Photolithographic patterning using extreme ultraviolet (EUV, 92.5 eV) light is a radiolytic process that initially forms electrons, radical cations, anions, and neutral radicals in the polymeric photoresist matrix. These species may participate in the chemical reactions that define the ultimate resolution of the printed image, and their concentrations and nanometer-scale stochastic variations in their formation influence printed image quality. Proposals have been made that polymer chain uniformity may be advantageous in reducing stochastics due to spatial inhomogeneities, and this aspect of radiolysis is examined in this work. We have simulated the initial subpicosecond stages of the imaging process for a series of photoresist films that are identical in composition but vary in their polymer chain structures. We use detailed, physically accurate stochastic reaction-diffusion…
Genes, proteins, chemicals, diseases, species, mutations and cell lines named across the full text — each resolved to its canonical identifier and authoritative record.
Click any figure to enlarge with its caption.
Figure 1
Figure 2
Figure 3
Figure 4
Figure 5
Figure 6
Figure 7
Figure 8
Figure 9
Figure 10
Figure 11
Figure 12
Figure 13
Figure 14
Figure 15
Figure 16
Figure 17
Figure 18Peer Reviews
No public reviews on file for this paper yet. If you reviewed it on a platform where reviews are public (OpenReview, ICLR, NeurIPS, ICML), you can paste yours below so the community can read it here.
Videos
No videos yet. Explain this paper in a talk, walkthrough, or lecture? Add one.
Taxonomy
TopicsAdvancements in Photolithography Techniques · Photopolymerization techniques and applications · Electron and X-Ray Spectroscopy Techniques