The Lithographic Performance and Contamination Resistance of a New Family of Chemically Amplified DUV Photoresists

A new contamination resistant 248nm DUV resist (ESCAP-E) has been developed to alleviate the difficulties encountered with the environmental contamination sensitivity of chemically amplified DUV photoresists. The formulation and processing of ESCAP-I; have been designed to permit thermal annealing of resist films to reduce the free volume and diffusivity of airborne contaminants into the resist film. The resist formulation is robust enough to permit post exposure bake delays of up to four hours without change or reduction of resist lithographic performance. The lithographic performance evaluated on 0.50NA 248nm steppers indicates linearity to 0.25μm, excellent exposure latitude and depth of focus.