Compact modeling of negative tone development resist with photo decomposable quencher

Abstract

In recent years, compact modeling of negative tone development (NTD) resists has been extensively investigated. Specific terms have been developed to address typical NTD effects, such as aerial image intensity dependent resist shrinkage and development loading. The use of photo decomposable quencher (PDQ) in NTD resists, however, brings extra challenges arising from more complicated and mixed resist effect. Due to pronounced effect of photoacid and base diffusion, the NTD resist with PDQ may exhibit opposite iso-dense bias trend compared with normal NTD resist. In this paper, we present detailed analysis of physical effects in NTD resist with PDQ, and describe respective terms to address each effect. To decouple different effects and evaluate the impact of individual terms, we identify a certain group of patterns that are most sensitive to specific resist effect, and investigate the corresponding term response. The results indicate that all the major resist effect, including PDQ-enhanced acid/base diffusion, NTD resist shrinkage and NTD development loading can be well captured by relevant terms. Based on these results, a holistic approach for the compact model calibration of NTD resist with PDQ can be established.