Fluorinated Cyclic Acetal Polymers for Immersion Lithography
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current ArF immersion lithography technologies face issues with resist component leaching and water penetration, leading to pattern defects and the need for improved water repellency and sliding properties in resist protective coatings to prevent blob defects and ensure high-speed scanning without water marks.
Innovation Solution
Development of fluorinated monomers with cyclic acetal structures that form polymers with high transparency and tailored properties for use in resist protective coatings, enhancing water repellency and sliding properties, and the use of these polymers in resist compositions to prevent leaching and water penetration.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If water is used as immersion liquid in ArF lithography, then resolution is improved due to higher refractive index, but resist components are leached and water penetrates into resist film causing pattern defects
Solution Approach 1:
A protective coating layer is introduced as an intermediary between the water immersion liquid and the resist film. This coating prevents direct contact between water and resist components, thereby preventing leaching and water penetration while allowing the high-resolution benefits of water immersion lithography to be maintained.
Solution Approach 2:
The protective coating is formed from a composite material system comprising a base polymer and a fluorinated cyclic acetal compound. The fluorinated cyclic acetal component provides water repellency and prevents water penetration, while the base polymer provides film-forming properties, creating a composite material that simultaneously achieves water protection and coating integrity.
2Object-affected harmful factors
If conventional protective coatings are used, then water repellency is provided, but sliding properties are insufficient causing water marks at high scanning speeds
Solution Approach 1:
The surface properties of the protective coating are modified by incorporating fluorinated cyclic acetal compounds, which change the surface energy and chemical composition. This results in enhanced water repellency and improved sliding properties, allowing the coating to maintain performance at high scanning speeds without water mark formation.
3Object-affected harmful factors
If fluorinated compounds are used to improve water repellency, then water sliding property is enhanced, but manufacturing complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The fluorinated cyclic acetal compound is combined with the base polymer to form an integrated protective coating composition. This merging of components achieves enhanced water sliding properties while maintaining ease of manufacture through a unified coating formulation that can be applied in a single process step.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The fluorinated cyclic acetal polymers effectively prevent resist component leaching and water penetration, reducing blob defects and enabling the formation of high-quality resist patterns during immersion lithography, even at high scanning speeds.
Implementation Method 1
the polymer has high transparency to radiation of wavelength 200 nm or shorter and improved water repellency
Implementation Method 2
the polymer has high transparency to radiation of wavelength 200 nm or shorter and improved water repellency
Data Source
AI summary
A fluorinated monomer of cyclic acetal structure has formula (1) wherein R is a C1-C20 alkyl group which may be substituted with halogen or separated by oxygen or carbonyl, and Z is a divalent organic group which forms a ring with alkylenoxy and contains a polymerizable unsaturated group. A polymer derived from the fluorinated monomer may be endowed with appropriate water repellency, water sliding property, lipophilicity, acid lability and hydrolyzability and is useful in formulating a protective coating composition and a resist composition.