Managing waste solvent is the most cost effective and environmentally friendly method. To reduce waste solvent, this investigation focused on the effect of the solvent ratio on the diameter of the spheres and on the structure of the photonic crystal by using recycled solvent. The sphere diameter reduced with the reduction of the NH4OH ratio. To investigate the effect of the recycled solvent on the structure of the silica spheres, the recycled solvent was repeatedly used five times. The diameter and shape of the silica spheres were similar when the solvent was used twice. However, the shape and structure of the spheres became more irregular with the increase of the recycling time. The FTIR spectra of all spheres are identical. To identify the cause of the irregular structure of the spheres, the solvent recycled five times was evaporated, and the residual compound was analyzed. As a result, the residual compound was composed of Si-O-Si and Si-OH. This residual silica compound may cause the connected and irregular structure of the spheres.
A simple lithographic process in conjunction with a novel biocompatible nonchemically amplified photoresist material
was successfully used for the patterning of biomolecules such as cells and proteins. UV light irradiation on selected
regions of the nonchemically amplified resist film renders the exposed regions hydrophilic by the formation of
carboxylic groups. Mouse fibroblast cells were found to be preferentially aligned and proliferated on the UV light
exposed regions of the nonchemically amplified resist film, where carboxylic groups were present. For streptavidin
patterning, amine-terminated biotin was linked to the carboxylic groups of the UV light exposed regions, which was
further used to bind streptavidin to the UV light exposed regions.
A novel nanomolecular resist based on POSS substituted with diazodiketo-functionalized cholate derivatives was successfully synthesized as a candidate for 193-nm lithography. The diazodiketo group was introduced into the cholate derivatives to provide the solubility change and to eliminate the problems of chemically amplified resists. The decomposition temperature of the resist was found to be 130°C. The initial lithographic studies showed the feasibility of the resist to be used as a candidate for 193-nm lithography.
Novel water-developable negative resists were designed to induce both cross-linking and polarity change upon exposure and bake. The matrix polymers were synthesized by copolymerization of glyceryl methacrylate and methacrolein. The acid-catalyzed acetalization of the polymer induced cross-linking, polarity change, and increase in dry-etch resistance. The resist formulated with this polymer and cast in a water-ethanol mixture, showed 0.7 μm line and space patterns using a mercury-xenone lamp in a contact printing mode and pure water as a developer.
Outgassing from the resist causes volume shrinkage of the resist film and extensive damage to optical lenses of exposure tools. Image distortion and throughput loss can take place due to the outgassing. In this study, we designed and synthesized a new acid labile group, 7,7-dimethyloxepan-2-one, which was introduced into the matrix polymers for ArF chemically amplified resists. The 7,7-dimethyloxepan-2-one group was readily cleaved and the carboxylic acid functionality was formed by acid-catalyzed ring-opening reaction in the exposed region after post-exposure bake. The resist patterns of 0.22 μm feature size were obtained with a conventional developer using an ArF exposure tool.
One of the crucial factors to take mostly into account the development and production of 130 nm node in low k1 DRAM process is the lens aberration sensitivity control of optical lithographic tools. To meet the required specification these impact of lens aberration resulting from reducing process window caused by pattern deformation, CD uniformity, CD asymmetry, and pattern shift etc. should be understood and considered. In this study, we mainly focused on the aberration sensitivity control for the DRAM isolation layer that is very sensitive to odd components such as coma and three-foil etc. There are a few methods to do this, but the application of extreme sigma setting that is the powerful manner to improvement of asymmetric pattern and layout rotation were examined. It was confirmed that the simulated image and real patterning results for left-right CD difference came from aberrated lens are well matched. In addition, why is the extreme sigma setting more effective than standard settings was investigated with analysis of diffraction patterns on pupil filling of projection lens optics combined with Zernike coefficients phase map.
A positive working molecular photoresist based on (beta) -cyclodextrin ((beta) -CD) and its inclusion complex ((beta) -CD-IC) has been developed. Cyclodextrin is one of the most important host molecules in supramolecular systems. 1-Adamantanecarboxylic acid (Ad-COOH) is employed as a guest molecule to increase the dry etch resistance. (beta) -CD and (beta) -CD-IC were protected with t-BOC to control the dissolution rate with various feed ratios of di-t-butyl dicarbonate. The t-BOC protecting ratio turns out about 34 mol% which corresponds to the protection of primary hydroxyl groups on the upper rim of (beta) -CD. The t-BOC-protected (beta) -CD has low absorbances at 248 and 193 nm, and good film forming property. Using t-BOC-protected (beta) -CD and (beta) -CD-IC, submicron patterns were delineated when it was exposed to a KrF stepper and developed with a 2.38 wt% aqueous TMAH solution.
Leading chip makers are now trying to develop 130 nm technology node recently, using 0.70NA KrF lithography, whose k1 factor is 0.37. It is, however, accepted that it is a real challenge to apply low k1 process under 0.40 to mass- production. So, it is desirable to produce with higher k1 factor using such as 0.80NA KrF or 0.75NA ArF lithography. But, these advanced tools being not available yet, some chip makers who wish to produce 130 nm technology node device earlier have to choose low k1 process with 0.70NA KrF lithography. In mass-production, throughput and production yield are the most significant parameters that can define productivity and both parameters should be considered carefully when determining the size of a field. It is possible to organize several chips in a large field for better throughput, however it can cause degradation of CD uniformity, which can result in production yield drop, especially in low k1 process whose process window is not wide enough. On the contrary, using a small field may contribute to higher production yield, but at the expense of throughput. In this study, a model procedure to determine optimum field size by simulating the relative product yield and throughput is introduced for 130 nm technology node mass-production with low k1 process.
As the design rule of device shrinks below 0.14 micrometer, the higher resolution is required for real device application. With smaller feature size below 0.14 micrometer, the lower coating thickness of resist is essential because of the pattern collapse issue at the high aspect ratio. However, the lower resist thickness induces the problem of etch selectivity due to the limited etch resistance of resist. In this study, the method of electron beam stabilization has been applied for improving the etch selectivity of resist patterns having an aspect ratio less than 3:1. With applying the electron beam stabilization, the Deep-UV photoresists based on the chemical structures of Acetal (AS106) and Escap (UV82) types have been evaluated in the respect of etch selectivity as the functions of an electron beam dose and etch condition. The metal etch rate reductions of 20 percent and 26 percent have been occurred for the resists of Acetal and Escap type, respectively, at 2000 (mu) C/cm2. And the thermal and chemical properties were characterized before and after electron beam stabilization using DSC, TGA, and FT-IR. The cross-sectional views of resist pattern after electron beam processing were also investigated to know the chemical stability of resist during the electron beam process. Based on the experimental results, the application possibility of electron beam stabilization for real device fabrication below 0.14 micrometer has been presented in this paper.
A chemically amplified resist containing a basic monomer, 3- (t-butoxycarbonyl)-1-vinylcaprolactam (BCVC), in the matrix polymer was synthesized with various monomer feed ratios. Diffusion and evaporation of photogenerated acid in the copolymer films were investigate for various fractions of the basic units in copolymers. It is found that only acid surviving deactivation by the BCVC units diffuses into unexposed areas and evaporates for the copolymer film to bleach the indicator film. Evaporation of a low molecular weight basic additive is also examined. Whereas the low molecular weight basic additive evaporated during baking, the basic monomer units in the copolymer did not evaporate at all due to covalent bonding to polymer backbone chain. Thus, the copolymer with the basic monomer can control the acid diffusion and evaporation effectively. The new resists system enables us to form fine patterns even after post- exposure delay of 2 h without any additional treatment.
Access to the requested content is limited to institutions that have purchased or subscribe to SPIE eBooks.
You are receiving this notice because your organization may not have SPIE eBooks access.*
*Shibboleth/Open Athens users─please
sign in
to access your institution's subscriptions.
To obtain this item, you may purchase the complete book in print or electronic format on
SPIE.org.
INSTITUTIONAL Select your institution to access the SPIE Digital Library.
PERSONAL Sign in with your SPIE account to access your personal subscriptions or to use specific features such as save to my library, sign up for alerts, save searches, etc.