Investigation of deep UV resists by NMR: Residual casting solvents, chemistries, and PAG decomposition in film

Abstract

Inverse gated 1H-decoupled carbon-13 nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy has been employed in the investigation of ESCAP-related deep UV resist films. The concentrations of residual casting solvents were determined as a function of the bake temperature and of storage conditions. In addition to quantification of deprotection, side reactions such as C- and O-alkylation of the phenol unit in the resist film were quantitatively analyzed while varying the exposure dose, bake temperature, resin structure, and acid generator. Furthermore, photochemical decomposition of several acid generators in the resist film was monitored in a quantitative fashion. This paper demonstrates that the 13C NMR technique can provide a wealth of quantitative and indispensable information about constituents and chemistries in resist films. ©1999TAPJ.