The effect of direct PAG incorporation into the polymer main chain on reactive ion etch resistance of 193 nm and EUV chemically amplified resists

Abstract

The incorporation of photoacid generator (PAG) functional groups directly into the resist resin polymer backbone has shown improved lithographic performance in achieving high resolution, high sensitivity, and low line edge roughness (LER) simultaneously in chemically amplified resists. However, the effect of direct PAG incorporation into the resist polymer on the reactive ion etch (RIE) performance in such materials was not previously studied. This paper discusses the dependence of the etch performance of such polymer-bound PAG materials on PAG structure and composition. Increased PAG loadings in both 193nm and EUV polymer-bound PAG resist platforms shows significant improvement in polymer etch resistance. Current polymer etch rate correlations and models were not able to accurately predict the trend of etch behavior within each polymer-bound PAG resist family.