Humid Gas Pre-Treatment in Resist Heat Processing

The gas supply unit supplies humid gas to the resist film before heating begins, pre-introducing water molecules that are necessary for the insolubilization reaction. This preliminary action ensures that when heating occurs, the chemical reaction can proceed effectively from the outset, producing sufficient insolubilization and achieving the desired resist pattern width without requiring excessively complex process adjustments

The invention changes the humidity parameter of the atmosphere during heat treatment by introducing humid gas. This parameter modification creates optimal conditions for the insolubilization reaction, enabling sufficient chemical transformation of the resist film to achieve the required pattern dimensions while maintaining a relatively simple overall process structure

The system performs preliminary exposure of the resist film to humid gas before the heating phase begins. This pre-treatment introduces the necessary water molecules into the resist structure, enabling the hydrophilization and dehydration condensation reactions to proceed effectively during the subsequent heating phase, thereby ensuring reliable insolubilization without requiring excessive total processing time

The gas supply and heating operations are coordinated to create a continuous process where humid gas exposure begins before heating and continues through the heat treatment phase. This continuous action ensures that water molecules are consistently available throughout the insolubilization reaction, maintaining reliable chemical transformation while optimizing the overall process duration