Effect of Amine Additive in Photoacid Generator Bonded Resist for Extreme Ultraviolet and Electron Beam Lithography

Abstract

Amine additive compounds play an important role in obtaining high sensitivity and low line edge roughness (LER) in photoacid generator (PAG)-bonded resists. It was confirmed that the PAG-bonded resist improved sensitivity and LER simultaneously with an amine additive. High sensitivity and low LER can be achieved simultaneously by optimizing the amine compound ratio in a PAG-bonded resist system. By optimizing the contents of the PAG and the amine compound ratio, the resolution was improved up to 40 nm. The sensitivity and LER of a 40 nm line/space (L/S) pattern of the PAG-bonded resist were 26 µC/cm2 and 4.9 nm (3σ), respectively. Furthermore, by loading the PAG, a sensitivity of 16 µC/cm2 was achieved for a 60 nm L/S pattern. The E0 sensitivity was 1.75 mJ/cm2 under extreme ultraviolet (EUV) exposure. It was also confirmed that the PAG-bonded resist has high sensitivity under EUV exposure.