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Abstract
The effects of a generated photoacid structure on environmental stability at post-exposure bake (PEB) and during post-exposure delay (PED) were investigated for a 193 nm chemically amplified positive resist composed of an ethoxyethyl-blocked alicyclic copolymer and an iodonium sulfonate photoacid generator (PAG). It was found that the influence of airborne contaminants at PEB was less than that during PED. The relationship between environmental stability and generated photoacid properties such as acid strength, reactivity to amine, acid molecular size, reaction efficiency, and activation energy for the deblocking reaction, are discussed. The environmental stability was greatly dominated by the acid strength of generated photoacid, which contributed to the reactivity of the acid with base contaminants. In addition, a good correlation was obtained between the acid molecular size and the lithographic performance. Weak acid (pKa ∼-7) with moderate size (∼100 Å3) exhibited both high environmental stability and high lithographic performance. The high environmental stability of the resist with weak acid was almost the same as that of the 248 nm acetal-type resist, and it is sufficient for practical use.
Published Version
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