Architectural effects on acid reaction-diffusion kinetics in molecular glass photoresists

Jing Sha, Jin Kyun Lee, Shuhui Kang, Vivek M. Prabhu, Christopher L. Soles, Peter V. Bonnesen, Christopher K. Ober

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

24 Scopus citations

Abstract

Understanding acid reaction-diffusion kinetics is crucial for controlling the lithographic performance of chemically amplified photoresists. In this work, we study how the molecular architectures of positive-tone chemically amplified molecular glass resists affect the acid reaction-diffusion kinetics during the post-expose bake (PEB) or annealing step. We compare the acid reaction-diffusion kinetics of a common photoacid generator in molecular glass resists with chemical similarity to poly(4-hydroxystyrene), and that are designed with branched and ring architectures. In situ Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy methods are used to measure reaction rate, acid trapping behavior, and acid diffusivity as a function of PEB temperature. We find that the acid reaction-diffusion kinetics in molecular glass resists is correlated to the film molar density that in turn depends on the architecture of the molecular glass molecules. These results allow modeling of the latent image formation in molecular glass resists that is critical for pattern feature resolution and line edge roughness. A comparison between experimentally measured and theoretically predicted diffusion lengths in one molecular glass resist system was made. Because little is understood of the fundamentals of acid diffusion in this class of molecular glass resists, this paper provides critical insight into the molecular design of next-generation photoresists for high-resolution lithography.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)3093-3098
Number of pages6
JournalChemistry of Materials
Volume22
Issue number10
DOIs
StatePublished - May 25 2010

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