Chemistry controlling nanoscale pattern formation by deep UV photolithography

Abstract

The chemistry of line-edge roughness and acid-catalyst diffusion during post-exposure bake process are studied, considering the local chemical processes and interactions that are central to determining what type of structures can be made in lithography of nanostructured materials. The limits that chemistry places on how reliably a straight edge is printed in a mask is studied as well as the effect of latent image blur during post-exposure resist processing due to coupled reaction-diffusion. A combination of optical and theoretical techniques are used to investigate commercial and model chemically amplified resist systems.