Relationship between the Thermal Hardening of Ion-Implanted Resist and the Resist Removal Using Atomic Hydrogen

Using atomic hydrogen for its excellent reduction ability, we demonstrated the removal rates and the hardness of ion-implanted resists. Removal rates of B-ion implanted resists using atomic hydrogen decreased with increasing implantation dose. According to the hardness of the resists, the indentation depth at 100mgf shifted toward the surface of the resists with increasing implantation doses. In contrast, removal rates of thermally hardened resists decreased with increasing baking temperatures. The indentation depth at 100mgf shifted toward the surface of the resists with increasing baking temperature. Ion-implanted resist removal rate using atomic hydrogen decreased compared with non-ion-implanted resist. We believe that this is because the resists were thermally hardened, attributable to the supplied energy from implanted B-ions.