14817results about "Photosensitive materials for photomechanical apparatus" patented technology

A pattern forming method, including: (A) coating a substrate with a positive resist composition of which solubility in a positive developer increases and solubility in a negative developer decreases upon irradiation with actinic rays or radiation, so as to form a resist film; (B) exposing the resist film; and (D) developing the resist film with a negative developer; a positive resist composition for multiple development used in the method; a developer for use in the method; and a rinsing solution for negative development used in the method.

A resist pattern is formed on a to-be-processed film. Ions are implanted in the upper surface of the resist pattern. After ion implantation, an organic film is formed to cover the resist pattern and heated. A crosslinked resin film made of the organic film which has crosslinked is formed on the sidewall of the resist pattern by developing the organic film after heating. After formation of the crosslinked resin film, the resist pattern is removed. The to-be-processed film is processed using the crosslinked resin film as a mask.

The present invention relates to a cross-linker for photoresist compositions which is suitable for a photolithography process using KrF (248 mn), ArF (193 mn), E-beam, ion beam or EUV light sources. Preferred cross-linkers, according to the present invention, comprise a copolymer of (i) a compound represented by following Chemical Formula 1 and/or (ii) one or more compound(s) selected from the group consisting of acrylic acid, methacrylic acid and maleic anhydride. ##STR1## wherein, R.sub.1 and R.sub.2 individually represent straight or branched C.sub.1-10 alkyl, straight or branched C.sub.1-10 ester, straight or branched C.sub.1-10 ketone, straight or branched C.sub.1-10 carboxylic acid, straight or branched C.sub.1-10 acetal, straight or branched C.sub.1-10 alkyl including at least one hydroxyl group, straight or branched C.sub.1-10 ester including at least one hydroxyl group, straight or branched C.sub.1-10 ketone including at least one hydroxyl group, straight or branched C.sub.1-10 carboxylic acid including at least one hydroxyl group, and straight or branched C.sub.1-10 acetal including at least one hydroxyl group; and R.sub.3 represents hydrogen or methyl.

There is provided a composition for forming an EUV resist overlayer film that is used in an EUV lithography process, that does not intermix with the EUV resist, that blocks unfavorable exposure light for EUV exposure, for example, UV light and DUV light and selectively transmits EUV light alone, and that can be developed with a developer after exposure. A composition for forming an EUV resist overlayer film used in an EUV lithography process including a resin containing a naphthalene ring in a main chain or in a side chain and a solvent, in which the resin may include a hydroxy group, a carboxy group, a sulfo group, or a monovalent organic group having at least one of these groups as a hydrophilic group.

An anti-reflection film comprises a high refractive index layer having a refractive index of 1.65-2.40, and a low refractive index layer having a refractive index of 1.20-1.55. Another anti-reflection film comprises only a low refractive index layer having a refractive index of 1.20-1.55. In the invention, the first improvement resides in a high refractive index layer composed of inorganic fine particles having a mean particle size of 1-200 nm in an amount of 5-65 vol. % and a crosslinked anionic polymer in an amount of 35 to 95 vol. %. The second improvement resides in a low refractive index layer composed of inorganic fine particles having a mean particle size of 0.5-200 nm in an amount of 50-95 wt. % and a polymer in an amount of 5-50 wt. %, and two or more of those particles are piled up to form micro voidsby the adjacent particles.

The invention described herein is directed towards spin-on carbon materials comprising polyamic acid compositions and a crosslinker in a solvent system. The materials are useful in trilayer photolithography processes. Films made with the inventive compositions are not soluble in solvents commonly used in lithographic materials, such as, but not limited to PGME, PGMEA, and cyclohexanone. However, the films can be dissolved in developers commonly used in photolithography. In one embodiment, the films can be heated at high temperatures to improve the thermal stability for high temperature processing. Regardless of the embodiment, the material can be applied to a flat/planar or patterned surface. Advantageously, the material exhibits a wiggling resistance during pattern transfer to silicon substrate using fluorocarbon etch.

A method for the duplication of microscopic patterns from a master to a substrate is disclosed, in which a replica of a topographic structure on a master is formed and transferred when needed onto a receiving substrate using one of a variety of printing or imprint techniques, and then dissolved. Additional processing steps can also be carried out using the replica before transfer, including the formation of nanostructures, microdevices, or portions thereof. These structures are then also transferred onto the substrate when the replica is transferred, and remain on the substrate when the replica is dissolved. This is a technique that can be applied as a complementary process or a replacement for various lithographic processing steps in the fabrication of integrated circuits and other microdevices.

This invention relates to antireflective coatings comprising polymeric polyoxyalkylenated colorants. More particularly, the present invention relates to antireflective coatings for utilization in forming thin layers between reflective substrates and photoresist coatings. Such antireflective coatings are very useful and beneficial within the production and fabrication of semiconductors through photolithographic procedures due to the liquid, non-crystallizing nature of polyoxyalkylenated colorants, and the lack of potentially damaging counterions, metals, and/or electrolytes within the inventive antireflective colored coatings. The inventive coatings may also be applied on lenses, mirrors, and other optical components. Methods of forming such antireflective coatings are also contemplated within this invention.

Novel silsesquioxane polymers are formed by methods which avoid the use of BBr3. The novel silsesquioxane polymers are especially useful in negative photoresist compositions and photolithographic processes. Alternatively, improved silsesquioxane polymer-containing negative photoresist compositions are obtained by using a polymer component containing a blend of silsesquioxane polymer and non-silsesquioxane polymer. The photoresist compositions provide improved dissolution characteristics enabling the use of 0.26 N TMAH developer. The photoresist compositions also provide improved thermal characteristics enabling use of higher processing temperatures. The photoresist compositions are especially useful in a multilayer photolithographic processes and are capable of producing high resolution.

A photoresist coating and developing apparatus 1 includes a photoresist film forming unit that forms a photoresist film on a substrate; a heat treatment unit that heats the substrate on which the photoresist film is formed by the photoresist film forming unit; a cooling unit that cools the substrate, on which the photoresist film is formed and which is heated by the heat treatment unit, to normal temperature; a heating unit 61 that heats the substrate, which is cooled to normal temperature by the cooling unit, to a predetermined temperature; a load-lock chamber L1 that unloads the substrate under depressurized atmosphere to expose the photoresist film; and a transfer device 62 that transfers the substrate from the heating unit 61 to the load-lock chamber L1.

The object of the present invention is to provide a radiation-sensitive colored composition which can supress the generation of the contamination of the device.

A radiation-sensitive colored composition including: (A) a dye containing of from 10 ppm to 1000 ppm of a halogen ion; (B) a polymerizable compound; and (C) a solvent.

A heat-sensitive negative-working lithographic printing plate precursor includes on a grained and anodized aluminum support a coating including hydrophobic thermoplastic polymer particles, a hydrophilic binder, and an organic compound, wherein the organic compound includes at least one phosphonic acid group or at least one phosphoric acid group or a salt thereof.

A novel ester compound having an exo-form 2-alkylbicyclo[2.2.1]heptan-2-yl group as the protective group is provided as well as a polymer comprising units of the ester compound. The polymer is used as a base resin to formulate a resist composition having a higher sensitivity, resolution and etching resistance than conventional resist compositions.

Negative working thermally imageable elements useful as lithographic printing plate precursors and methods for their use are disclosed. The elements have a substrate, a layer of imageable composition over the substrate, and, optionally, an overcoat layer over the layer of imageable composition. The imageable composition has an allyl-functional polymeric binder. Optimum resolution and on-press performance can be attained without a post-exposure bake. The elements do not require a post-exposure bake and can be used in on-press development applications.

The following resist composition which is excellent particularly in transparency to light beams and dry etching properties and gives a resist pattern excellent in sensitivity, resolution, evenness, heat resistance, etc., as a chemical amplification type resist, is presented. A resist composition which comprises a fluoropolymer (A) having repeating units represented by a structure formed by the cyclopolymerization of one molecule of a fluorinated diene and one molecule of a monoene, in which the monoene unit in each repeating unit has a blocked acid group capable of regenerating the acid group by the action of an acid, an acid-generating compound (B) which generates an acid upon irradiation with light, and an organic solvent (C).

There is described a method of forming a fine pattern aimed at depositing a silicon-nitride-based anti-reflection film which is stable even at high temperature and involves small internal stress. The method is also intended to preventing occurrence of a footing pattern (a rounded corner) in a boundary surface between a photoresist and a substrate at the time of formation of a chemically-amplified positive resist pattern on the anti-reflection film. The method includes the steps of forming a silicon-nitride-based film directly on a substrate or on a substrate by way of another layer; and forming a photoresist directly on the silicon-nitride-based film or on the silicon-nitride-based film by way of another layer. The silicon-nitride-based film is deposited while the temperature at which the substrate is to be situated is set so as to fall within the range of 400 to 700° C., through use of a plasma CVD system. The method further includes a step of depositing a silicon-oxide-based film immediately below the photoresist. The silicon-oxide-based film is deposited while the temperature at which the substrate is to be situated is set so as to fall within the range of 400 to 700° C., through use of a plasma CVD system.

A photoacid compound having the following general structure:<paragraph lvl="0"><in-line-formula>R-O(CF2)nSO3X</in-line-formula>wherein n is an integer between about 1 to 4; R is selected from the group consisting of: substituted or unsubstituted C1-C12 linear or branched alkyl or alkenyl, substituted or unsubstituted araalkyl, substituted or unsubstituted aryl, substituted or unsubstituted bicycloalkyl, substituted or unsubstituted tricycloalkyl, hydrogen, alkyl sulfonic acid, substituted or unsubstituted perfluoroalkyl, the general structure F((CF2)pO)m(CF2)q- wherein p is between about 1 to 4, m is between about 0 to 3 and q is between about 1 to 4, and substituted or unsubstituted partially fluorinated alkyl, halofluoroalkyl, perfluoroalkylsulfonic, or glycidyl; and X is selected from the group consisting of: organic cations and covalently bonded organic radicals.

There are many inventions described and illustrated herein. In one aspect, the present invention is directed to a technique of, and system for simulating, verifying, inspecting, characterizing, determining and/or evaluating the lithographic designs, techniques and/or systems, and/or individual functions performed thereby or components used therein. In one embodiment, the present invention is a system and method that accelerates lithography simulation, inspection, characterization and/or evaluation of the optical characteristics and/or properties, as well as the effects and/or interactions of lithographic systems and processing techniques. In this regard, in one embodiment, the present invention employs a lithography simulation system architecture, including application-specific hardware accelerators, and a processing technique to accelerate and facilitate verification, characterization and/or inspection of a mask design, for example, RET design, including detailed simulation and characterization of the entire lithography process to verify that the design achieves and/or provides the desired results on final wafer pattern. The system includes: (1) general purpose-type computing device(s) to perform the case-based logic having branches and inter-dependency in the data handling and (2) accelerator subsystems to perform a majority of the computation intensive tasks.

The present invention relates to a method of forming an amorphous carbon film and a method of manufacturing a semiconductor device using the method. An amorphous carbon film is formed on a substrate by vaporizing a liquid hydrocarbon compound, which has chain structure and one double bond, and supplying the compound to a chamber, and ionizing the compound. The amorphous carbon film is used as a hard mask film.

It is possible to easily control characteristics of the amorphous carbon film, such as a deposition rate, an etching selectivity, a refractive index (n), a light absorption coefficient (k) and stress, so as to satisfy user's requirements. In particular, it is possible to lower the refractive index (n) and the light absorption coefficient (k). As a result, it is possible to perform a photolithography process without an antireflection film that prevents the diffuse reflection of a lower material layer.

Further, a small amount of reaction by-product is generated during a deposition process, and it is possible to easily remove reaction by-products that are attached on the inner wall of a chamber. For this reason, it is possible to increase a cycle of a process for cleaning a chamber, and to increase parts changing cycles of a chamber. As a result, it is possible to save time and cost.