Effects of deprotonation efficiency of protected units on line edge roughness and stochastic defect generation in chemically amplified resist processes for 11 nm node of extreme ultraviolet lithography

Abstract

The deprotonation of polymer radical cations plays an important role in the acid generation in chemically amplified resists upon exposure to ionizing radiation. In this study, the effects of the deprotonation efficiency of protected units of a resist polymer on line edge roughness (LER) and stochastic defect generation were investigated. The suppression of stochastic effects is essential for the realization of high-volume production of semiconductor devices with an 11 nm critical dimension using extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography. By increasing the deprotonation efficiency, the chemical contrast (latent image quality) was improved; however, the protected unit number fluctuation did not significantly change. Consequently, LER and the probability of stochastic defect generation were reduced. This effect was prominent when the protection ratio was close to 100%.